Three batsmen with the most runs for India on their Test debut

Hailed as the purest format of the game, Test cricket is indeed a test of a player’s patience, grit, and resilience.  Unlike white-ball cricket, players can’t make an impact in this format within a span of a few deliveries. Instead, players need to toil for hours and even for days on some occasions to make a mark in this format. Meanwhile, India has produced many great Test batters over the years.

While several took time to make an impact, some burst onto the scenes straightway. In this article, we’ll talk about the players belonging to the latter category. Thriving on debut indeed takes some beating as an individual had to tackle the best players from a particular nation. Nevertheless, several Indians have embraced this challenge. There have been a total of 16 Indians to date, who have smashed a century on Test debut.

Meanwhile, let’s look at three Indian players, who scored the most runs on their Test debut

3. Shreyas Iyer – 170

After toiling hard in the domestic circuit for years, Shreyas Iyer finally made his Test debut in the first Test of the ongoing two-match series against New Zealand. With regular skipper Virat Kohli resting from this fixture, Iyer was handed his maiden Test cap and the 26-year-old didn’t disappoint. Iyer put up a batting exhibition and slammed a staggering century in his maiden Test outing.

He scored 105 runs in total. The right-handed batter scored 65 runs in India’s second innings, taking his run tally to 170 in the game. The contest eventually resulted in a draw.

2. Rohit Sharma – 177

Although Rohit Sharma is an established Test opener now, he made his Test debut as a middle-order batter in 2013. The opposition were the West Indies and the venue was the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata. The home team was tottering at 83/5 in reply to West Indies’ first-innings score of 234. While India looked in all sorts of trouble, Rohit played a calculated knock and pushed the visitors on the backfoot.

He went on to smash a fiery hundred and change the course of the game. He scored 177 runs in total as India emerged victorious by an innings and 51 runs.

1. Shikhar Dhawan – 188

While Shikhar Dhawan is predominantly known for his blitzes in white-ball cricket, he made a sparkling start to his Test career. It was the 2013 home series against Australia and the venue was Mohali. The Aussies looked in command after posting 408 while batting first. However, Dhawan dented their plans with a counter-attacking knock.

The southpaw attacked bowlers from the outset and scored runs all over the park. He went on to score 187 off just 174 balls, the highest score by an Indian on Test debut. India eventually won that contest by six wickets.