Captaining the country’s Test team is one of the toughest jobs ever, and it takes a lot of toll on the player who leads the team in the longest format of the game. The reason a captain needs to maintain the intensity of their game through the course of 5 days and, at the same time, not allow the extra responsibility to distract their own game.
When a captain performs well in a Test match, the whole unit gets lifted, and a skipper always takes pride in leading from the front. One way a captain can put a mark on the game is by scoring a century if he/she is a batter.
Let us take a look at which Test skippers have scored the most centuries while leading the side.
Most Centuries by a Captain in Tests
| Captain | Innings | 100s as Captain | High Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Graeme Smith (SA) | 193 | 25 | 277 |
| Virat Kohli (IND) | 113 | 20 | 254* |
| Ricky Ponting (AUS) | 140 | 19 | 209 |
| Allan Border (AUS) | 154 | 15 | 205 |
| Steve Smith (AUS) | 67 | 15 | 239 |
| Steve Waugh (AUS) | 83 | 15 | 199 |
| Don Bradman (AUS) | 38 | 14 | 270 |
| Michael Clarke (AUS) | 86 | 14 | 329* |
| Mahela Jayawardene (SL) | 66 | 14 | 374 |
| Brian Lara (WI) | 85 | 14 | 400* |
Key Stats
109: Test matches played by Graeme Smith as the skipper of South Africa. This is the most games a player has captained a team in the longest format. In 193 innings, Smith scored 25 centuries, again the most by any Test captain in history.
8: 20 batters have scored 10 or more centuries at the helm of their respective Test teams, and 8 of them belong to Australia.
51: Players with 5 or more Test centuries when they captained their side, and 162 batters have made at least a Test century while leading the team.
6: Number of batters who have scored 14 centuries as skipper. Apart from the 4 mentioned here, Clive Lloyd and England’s former skipper Joe Root have also scored 14 tons each.
6: Captains who have hit more centuries than half-centuries in this list. Sir Don Bradman has made a whopping 14 centuries in just 38 innings and has the best innings-per-century ratio for a captain (min. 38 innings).
400: West Indies Brian Lara, who has scored 14 centuries as skipper, made Test cricket’s highest-ever individual score of 400* while leading his country.
