India’s Highest Test Scores by Batting Position

Position/No.	1	2	3	4	5
Opener	Virender Sehwag – 319	Virender Sehwag – 309	Virender Sehwag – 293	Virender Sehwag – 254	Mayank Agarwal – 243
No. 3	VVS Laxman – 281	Rahul Dravid – 270	Rahul Dravid – 233	Vinod Kambli – 227	Vinod Kambli – 224
No. 4	Shubman Gill – 269	Virat Kohli – 254*	Sachin Tendulkar – 248*	Virat Kohli – 243	Sachin Tendulkar – 241*
No. 5	Karun Nair – 303*	VVS Laxman – 200*	Mohammad Azharuddin – 199	Mohammad Azharuddin – 192	Ajinkya Rahane – 188
No. 6	MS Dhoni – 224	Rahul Dravid – 180	Chandu Borde – 177*	Rohit Sharma – 177	Sandeep Patil – 174
No. 7	Ravindra Jadeja – 175*	Kapil Dev – 163	Rishabh Pant – 159*	Polly Umrigar – 130*	Sandeep Patil – 129*
No. 8	MS Dhoni – 144	MS Dhoni – 132*	Ravichandran Ashwin – 124	Wriddhiman Saha – 117	Kapil Dev – 116
No. 9	Jayant Yadav – 104	Farokh Engineer – 90	A Kumble – 88	Karsan Ghavri – 86	Axar Patel – 84
No. 10	Ramakant Desai – 85	Madan Lal – 63*	Syed Kirmani – 63*	Atul Wassan – 53	Javagal Srinath – 52*
No. 11	Zaheer Khan – 75	Mohammed Shami – 51*	Ghulam Ahmed – 50	Shivlal Yadav – 41	Harbhajan Singh – 40*

---

Key Insights

Virender Sehwag is the only Indian batter to bring up two triple hundreds in Test cricket. One of those scores of 319 against South Africa is also the highest for India.

Sehwag needed 278 balls to reach the 300-mark against South Africa, making it the fastest Test triple century by a batter.

Karun Nair is the other Indian triple centurion in the format. He is one of the five batters to bring up a 300-run knock at No. 5 in Tests. Nair aggregated an unbeaten 303 against England in 2016.

Sehwag is the only Indian Test batter with two or more 250-plus scores. And all of his four such scores came as an opener, the most among all opening batters.

Sehwag scored six double hundreds as an opener, the most for India and the joint most in all Tests.

Vinod Kambli is the youngest double centurion for India in Tests. At 21 years and 32 days, he scored 224 while batting at No. 3 against England in 1993.

Shubman Gill’s 269 against England is the highest score by an Indian Test captain (Check the overall list here). This was his maiden double ton in the longest format while batting at No. 4.

All of Virat Kohli’s seven double centuries came at No. 4, the most for India in Tests. Sachin Tendulkar follows with six double centuries in that position.

Rahul Dravid, Tendulkar, and Mohammad Azharuddin are the three Indian batters with two 190s scores each. Interestingly, Dravid’s scores came at No. 3, Tendulkar’s at No. 4, and Azharuddin did so at No. 5.

Azharuddin and KL Rahul are the two Indian batters to get out on 199 in Test cricket. Rahul is among the five openers, while Azharuddin was the first No. 5 batter to perish on the score of 199.

MS Dhoni has recorded the highest Test score by a wicketkeeper at No. 6. The former Indian skipper brought up 224 against Australia in 2013. Overall, Dhoni’s 224 is the fourth-highest score at No. 6 in Tests.

Later in the same year, Rohit Sharma broke a 48-year-old record. He scored 177 against the West Indies, which is the highest score by a No. 6 batter on Test debut. This is the second-highest score by an Indian Test debutant, though.

Kapil Dev has scored seven Test hundreds while batting at No. 7 or lower, the most for India. Five of those centuries alone came as a No. 7 batter, again the most for India. This included a 163-run knock against Sri Lanka, the highest by an Indian skipper at No. 7. It was the same game, in which Azharuddin got out for 199.

While Dhoni has the top two scores (both as captain) at No. 8, Ravichandran Ashwin has smashed the most hundreds for India. The former off-spinner brought up four 100-plus scores batting at No. 8.

Jayant Yadav is the lone No. 9 batter to score a Test century for India. He scored 104 against England in 2016, which led to the record 8th wicket partnership for India in Test cricket.

Only six and three batters have scored a fifty each at Nos. 10 and 11, respectively, for India in Tests.