Sydney, Jan 8: Young India opener KL Rahul today hit his maiden Test century to join former India captain Sunil Gavaskar in an elite list.
Rahul scored his first Test hundred in only 3rd innings after failing in his debut match at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).
The 22-year-old right-hander from Karnataka is only the 4th Indian batsman to get to a maiden three-figure mark in Test in only 3rd innings.
Rahul hit a fine 110 (356 minutes, 262 balls, 13x4, 1x6) during the third day's play of the fourth and final Test against Australia at Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) on Thursday.
Gavaskar, Sanjay Manjrekar and R Ashwin are the other three who scored their maiden Test centuries in 3rd visit to the crease. Gavaskar scored his maiden ton in the Caribbean against the West Indies in 1971.
Also, Rahul is the second youngest Indian to make a maiden Test ton overseas. Youngest ever is Ajay Ratra, who reached the 100-run milestone against West Indies in May 2002 at the age of 20.
Now with Rahul's achievement, there have been 4 Indian batsmen who got to their maiden Test hundreds in 2nd match. Pankaj Roy, Gavaskar and Sanjay Bangar, who is now an assistant coach of the team, are the others.
Indians with maiden Test ton in only 2nd match
Pankaj Roy, Sunil Gavaskar, Sanjay Bangar and KL Rahul
Indians with maiden Test ton in only 3rd innings
Sunil Gavaskar, Sanjay Manjrekar, R Ashwin and KL Rahul
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