5 players with most double centuries in Test cricket

Scoring 200 runs in a Test innings is not an easy feat. Virat Kohli made headlines yesterday when he scored his sixth double hundred, going past Brian Lara for the most double-centuries by a captain in Tests. Kohli is sixth on the all-time list of most double hundreds scored by a player.

The list of players with most double hundreds in Tests has some great names and there is no room for legends like Sachin Tendulkar, Sunil Gavaskar, Ricky Ponting, Vivian Richards, Rahul Dravid, Alastair Cook and many more.

On that note, let's take a look at the five players with the most double hundreds in Test cricket:

#5 Mahela Jayawardene (7)

One of the most consistent and prolific players for Sri Lanka, Jayawardene had a penchant for scoring big hundreds. He has two scores of 275+ and was one of the most technically gifted batsmen to have played the game.

Jayawardene played 149 Tests for Sri Lanka, scoring 11814 runs with 34 hundreds and 50 fifties. He often converted starts into big scores, compiling seven double hundreds in his illustrious career, with the highest score of 374 coming against South Africa at Colombo.

His first double hundred was in 2009 at the R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo against India. Jayawardene scored two double hundreds in Colombo, two in Galle, one in Ahmedabad and one in Dhaka. He has not scored a double hundred outside the sub-continent.

#4 Wally Hammond (7)

Wally Hammond was one of the finest cricketers of his era

English cricketer Wally Hammond from the Bradman era was one of the greatest Test batsmen of all time. He ranks only second to Bradman in terms of success as a batsman during the 1920s and 30s and averaged 58.45 in Test cricket.

Hammond had an appetite for huge scores. One of the highlights of his career was when he finished as the highest run-getter with 440 runs in the Bodyline series in 1932-33, which England won 4-1.

Hammond scored 50551 runs in first-class cricket, the third most, with 167 hundreds. In his 85 Tests, Hammond compiled seven double hundreds, fourth most in the history of Test cricket.

#3 Brian Lara (9)

Brian Charles Lara holds many unique records

One of the greatest West Indian batsmen of all time, Brian Lara always had the hunger for scoring big runs. He is the only player in the history of Test cricket to have scored 400 runs in an innings.

Lara holds several cricketing records including being the only player to have ever scored a hundred, a double hundred, a triple hundred, a quadruple hundred and a quintuple hundred in first-class history.

He along with Chris Gayle, Virender Sehwag, and Sir Don Bradman, is one of four batsmen to have scored triple hundreds on two occasions. The left-hander from Trinidad played 131 Tests in total, scoring 11953 runs with 34 hundreds and 48 fifties.

With nine double hundreds, Lara is third in the list of most double hundreds in Test cricket. He scored his first double in Sydney against Australia and his last came against Pakistan in Multan, 2006.

#2 Kumar Sangakkara (11)

A modern-day legend

The second Sri Lankan player to feature on this list, Kumar Sangakkara was one of the most technically gifted batsmen in the history of the game.

In 134 Tests, Sangakkara scored 12400 runs with 38 hundreds and 52 fifties. He converted 11 of those into double hundreds, making him the only cricketer after Sir Don Bradman to have scored more than 10 double hundreds in Tests.

Sangakkara also has three scores in the 190s, including a 199*, showing how close he came to beating Bradman's record. He is also third on the list of most international hundreds, only behind Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting.

#1 Sir Donald Bradman (12)

Bradman is widely accepted as the greatest batsman of all time

Sir Donald George Bradman, widely accepted as the greatest batsman of all time, is the player with the most international double centuries in Tests. Bradman scored eight double hundreds against England, two against South Africa and one each against India & West Indies, making it a total of 12.

Bradman scored 29 centuries in just 80 innings, giving him the highest ratio of centuries scored per innings played (36.25%). During a 20-year playing career, Bradman represented Australia in 52 Tests, scoring 6996 runs at a mind-boggling average of 99.94.

He had an excellent conversion rate, converting 29 of his 42 fifties into hundreds, 12 of them into double hundreds and two of them into triple hundreds. Truly a cricketing legend.