In the Test format, batters have the luxury of playing ‘n’ number of balls to accumulate big daddy hundreds. However, some batters have a flair for playing a fearless brand of cricket, bringing up their remarkable milestones in lightning-fast manners.
Indian batters are also not far behind in this aspect, as they have hammered some of the fastest double centuries in the longer format. Here we’ll look at the top 10 fastest double centuries for India in Test cricket.
Fastest Double Century for India in Test
| Player | Balls to 200 | Final Score | Against | Venue | Match Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Virender Sehwag | 168 | 293 (254) | Sri Lanka | Brabourne | 2 Dec 2009 |
| Virender Sehwag | 182 | 254 (247) | Pakistan | Lahore | 13 Jan 2006 |
| Virender Sehwag | 194 | 319 (304) | South Africa | Chennai | 26 Mar 2008 |
| Virender Sehwag | 222 | 309 (375) | Pakistan | Multan | 28 Mar 2004 |
| Virender Sehwag | 227 | 201* (231) | Sri Lanka | Galle | 31 Jul 2008 |
| Mahendra Singh Dhoni | 231 | 224 (265) | Australia | Chennai | 22 Feb 2013 |
| Yashasvi Jaiswal | 231 | 214* (236) | England | Rajkot | 15 Feb 2024 |
| Virat Kohli | 238 | 243 (287) | Sri Lanka | Delhi | 2 Dec 2017 |
| Virat Kohli | 239 | 204 (246) | Bangladesh | Hyderabad | 9 Feb 2017 |
| Rohit Sharma | 249 | 212 (255) | South Africa | Ranchi | 19 Oct 2019 |
Key Insights
168: Virender Sehwag makes his presence felt on the list, and how! The swashbuckling opener had a knack for accumulating runs at a faster pace in red-ball cricket, and he did it in some style. Sehwag hammered the fastest Test double century for India in a mere 168 balls. His whirlwind knock came against Sri Lanka at Brabourne Stadium in 2009.
260: Sehwag, who notched up 6 double tons, scored all of them under 260 balls. And he is the only one to do so in the longer format.
278: Many of the batting legends have failed in front of Sehwag’s aggressive tactics. The right-hand batter converted 2 of those double centuries into triple hundreds, with 319 against South Africa coming off 278 balls — the fastest-ever triple century.
1: India’s star batter, Virat Kohli, has racked up the most double centuries in Test cricket for India. (You can check Kohli’s Test tons here.)
224: MS Dhoni became the first Indian wicketkeeper-captain to notch up a double hundred in Tests. The former captain scored 224 against Australia in 2013 and brought up his 200 mark in 231 deliveries. Moreover, Dhoni’s score is the highest by a keeper-captain in the longer format.
