Centuries in both innings of a Test match: Continuing with his dream run, Jonny Bairstow is the latest entrant in this elite list of players.
Advertisement
A century in the first innings when the rest of the line-up failed to deliver, followed by an equally dominant ton in the second innings as well, England wicket-keeper batter Jonny Bairstow stood like a figure of authority, ready with the best possible answers put before him by the Indian bowlers, until the latter ran out of questions altogether.
His involvement in the 315-ball 269-run stand for the 4th wicket alongside Joe Root, helped England register a record breaking 7-wicket victory against India in the fifth and final Test match of the series, which ended in a fitting 2-2 draw.
Bairstow – 106 and 114*, and Root – 31 and 142* were the architects of England victory in the Test match, thereby providing yet another testament that the team’s new ‘Baz Ball’ era under captain-coach duo of Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum is no farce, and is here to stay and thrive after an ideal start.
While Bairstow went on to smash his sixth Test ton this year, Root scored his fifth to continue leading the chart of highest run-getters in Tests this year amongst all players.
Centuries in both innings of a Test match
Bairstow joins the long list of 89 batters to have smashed centuries in each innings of a Test match.
He is only the fourth England batter since the turn of this century, to have smashed successive tons in each innings of a single Test match, with Michael Vaughan (2004), Marcus Trescothick (2004), and Andrew Strauss (2008) the other three England players to have achieved the feat.
Most 100 in each innings of a Test match
The legendary Indian batter Sunil Gavaskar (1971, 1978, 1978), David Warner (2014, 2014, 2015), and Ricky Ponting (2005, 2006, 2006) are the three players to have registered the maximum of three twin centuries each in both the innings of a Test match in their rich careers.
In the past five years, the likes of Shai Hope, Mominul Haque, Steve Smith, Usman Khawaja, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Brendon Taylor, Imam-ul-Haq, and now Jonny Bairstow have made it to this elite list.
