Indian batsmen who could have scored a triple century

Virender Sehwag was the first Indian to score a triple century in Test matches. It was after his innings in Multan against Pakistan in March 2008 that he was given the title of Sultan of Multan. In that innings, he scored 309 from just 375 balls.

Sehwag again reached the 300 run mark against South Africa in Chennai in 2008. It was the second time that he scored a triple century. In that innings, he scored 319 from a mere 304 balls. He reached the 300 run mark in just 278 balls and this is currently the fastest triple century in international cricket.

He was the only Indian to score to a triple century until Karun Nair scored one against England in 2016 in the same ground in which Sehwag scored one against South Africa. Karun Nair in the third innings of his Test career scored that triple hundred. He scored 303* from 371 balls.

Even after Karun Nair scoring a triple century, Sehwag is still the only Indian with 2 triple centuries in Tests. Here is the list of players with the most triple centuries.

Many times players came close to achieving the feat of scoring a triple hundred but failed to reach one. Sometimes they got out playing a shot and sometimes they ran out of partners and were stranded in 280s and 290s.

Here is the list of players who could have a triple century to their name.

Many Indian players have scored double centuries in Test matches. Sunil Gavaskar has 4 double centuries to his name and Rahul Dravid has 5 times scored more than 200. Virat and Sachin with 6 double centuries lead the list of most double hundreds by Indians. But only Sehwag and Nair have been able to convert the double hundreds to triple hundreds. Some Indian players came close to scoring a triple hundred in Test matches but were unable to do so. Let us look at these players.

---

#1 VVS Laxman

In the Australian tour of India in 2001, India had lost the first match of the series in Mumbai by 10 wickets. Australians were looking clinical and were aiming for a series victory after the first match.

In the second match at Eden Gardens, Australia posted a massive first innings score of 445 on the back of a hundred by their captain Steve Waugh. India in reply was bundled out for a score of 171 with Laxman top scoring with 59.

India trailed by 274 runs, and Australia enforced the follow-on, which meant an Indian loss was not very far away as there were more than 2 and a half days still left in the Test. India showed an improved performance with the bat but were still 254/4 at the end of the third day with Laxman batting on 109 and Dravid on 7. Almost everybody believed that Australia will win the Test match on the fourth day and take an unassailable lead of 2-0 in the 3 match Test series.

What followed on the fourth day was nothing less than a miracle for India. Rahul Dravid and Laxman batted the entire day and India didn't lose any wicket. At the end of fourth day's play, Laxman was batting on 275 and Dravid on 155 and India had a lead of 315.

Going into the fifth day everyone wanted Laxman to reach 300 and become the first Indian to score a triple century. But early the next day, Laxman was caught off the bowling of McGrath on the score of 281 and Dravid was also run out on the score of 180. Laxman faced 452 balls in his brilliant knock and scored 44 boundaries. India gave a target of 384 to the Australians.

Harbhajan Singh's hattrick and Tendulkar's 3 crucial wickets helped India bowl out Australia for 212 in less than 70 overs and Indian won the match by 171 runs.

India managed to win the next match by 2 wickets and won the series 2-1.

#2 Rahul Dravid

In India's tour of Pakistan in 2004, India won the first match of the series in Multan on the back of Sehwag's triple hundred. Pakistan came back in the second match and won it by 9 wickets. The third Test was a series decider.

India won the toss and elected to bowl first. The Indian bowlers used the conditions really well and bowled out Pakistan for 224. Mohammad Sami with 49 was the highest scorer for Pakistan. India lost Sehwag early but Dravid and Parthiv Patel stitched together a partnership and stabilized the innings. Patel got out on a score of 69 but Dravid continued and build crucial partnerships with Ganguly and Laxman. Both Ganguly and Laxman scored half-centuries. Dravid also scored important runs with Yuvraj, Irfan Pathan, and Anil Kumble. Dravid tried scoring quick as he was losing partners and got out to Imran Farhat on the score of 270. In his mammoth innings, he faced 495 balls and scored 34 fours and a six. He missed a truly deserved triple century.

Indian bowled Pakistan in the second innings for 245 and won the match by an innings and 131 runs and also won the series 2-1.

#3 Sachin Tendulkar

Sachin Tendulkar has quite a few records in International cricket but he never was able to score a triple hundred in Test matches.

But he did score 6 double centuries but was not able to convert those into triple hundreds.

In the fourth Test of India's tour of Australia in 2004 in Sydney, Indian elected to bat first on a good batting pitch. Indian scored a massive 705/7 in the first innings. Sachin Tendulkar scored an unbeaten 241 from 436 balls. He scored 33 boundaries in that innings. Had he got some more time he might have reached 300 that day. Australia in reply scored 474 on the back of hundreds from Justin Langer and Simon Katich. India scored 220/2 in the second innings and gave a target of 443 to Australia in the fourth innings. Australia batted well and managed a draw.

In the same year in the first Test of India's tour of Bangladesh in Dakha, Bangladesh won the toss and elected to bat first. Bangladesh was bundled out for the score of 184 in the first innings. India lost early wickets in the first innings but Sachin and Sourav stabilized the innings with a partnership. Sourav got out but Sachin held the other end. At one stage India was 393/9 and after than Sachin and Zaheer added another 129 runs for the last wicket. Zaheer got out on the score of 75 and had he stayed longer Sachin might have scored a triple century in that match.

Irfan Pathan picked another fifer in the second innings and Bangladesh was bowled out for 202 and India won the match by an innings and 140 runs. Irfan Pathan for his fifer in both innings was awarded the Man of the Match award.

#4 Virat Kohli

Till 2015 Virat Kohli didn't have any double century in international cricket. But in a span of just 2 years, he scored 6 double centuries.

In the second Test of the Sri Lanka tour of India in Delhi, India won the toss and elected to bat first. Murali Vijay scored 155 and Virat Kohli crossed the 200-run mark for the sixth time. He looked to score some quick runs and got out on the score of 243 from just 287 balls. He scored 25 fours in that innings. Had he been able to continue scoring he could have scored a triple hundred as it was a very good pitch for batting.

Sri Lanka gave a tough fight as hundreds from Chandimal and Mathews took them to 373 in their first innings. In the second innings, India scored 246/5 in just 52 overs. Shikhar and Virat scored half-centuries and Rohit Sharma scored unbeaten half-centuries in both innings.

Sri Lanka was given a target of 410 in the fourth innings but Sri Lanka gave a tough fight and managed a draw.

#5 Sunil Gavaskar

Sunil Gavaskar was the first player to score 10000 runs in Test matches. Four times he crossed the 200-run mark but was never able to reach the 300 runs milestone.

In the sixth Test of the West Indies tour of India in 1983, Clive Lloyd won the toss and elected to bat first. Contributions from almost everybody took West Indies to 313 in the first innings. India in reply lost some early wickets and was reduced to 92/5 at one stage. Sunil Gavaskar was holding one end up. He and Ravi Shastri built a partnership of 170. Sunil Gavaskar then had a partnership of close to 150 runs with Syed Kirmani for the 9th wicket. India declared on the score of 451/8 with Sunil Gavaskar on 236* from 425 balls. India tried getting West Indies out but due to lack of overs, the match ended in a draw.

Had the first day not been washed out due to rain, Gavaskar might have got the time to score a triple century.