Starting with a century, ending with a century… The only batsman of India whose record is ‘immortal’

New Delhi: There have been many such great cricketers in the world, who started their career with some record or the other. One such record is that of a batsman scoring a century in his debut match. It is a dream debut for any batsman to do this, but it is very rare that a batsman not only scores a century in his debut match but also has a hundred in the last match of his career. One such Indian cricketer and former legendary captain is Mohammad Azharuddin.

Mohammad Azharuddin is the only Indian player who started his Test career with a century and also has a century in the last match of his career. Not only this, Mohammad Azharuddin also holds the record of scoring three consecutive centuries in the first three Test matches of his career. It was because of this explosive start that he later became the captain of the Indian cricket team.

When did Mohammad Azharuddin make his test debut?

Mohammad Azharuddin made his Test debut for the Indian team in 1984 against England in Kolkata. The captain of the team at that time was Sunil Gavaskar. In his debut match, Mohammad Azharuddin played a marathon inning of 110 runs while batting at number 5. In this innings, he faced 322 balls, in which Azharuddin hit 10 fours. Azharuddin did not bat in the second innings of the debut match.

Azharuddin’s career ended with controversies

Mohammad Azharuddin was called the wrist magician in cricket, but his brilliant career ended with controversies. After his name appeared in the match-fisching scandal, he could not return to Team India after 2000. In March 2000, Azharuddin came on the field to play his last Test match against South Africa. This was also the 99th test of his career. In this test match, he played a tremendous inning of 102 runs in the second innings against South Africa, but unfortunately Team India could not win this match. In this way Azharuddin also ended his Test career with a century.

Azharuddin’s career for the Indian team

Azharuddin had a brilliant career for the Indian cricket team. He appeared in 99 Test and 334 ODI matches for Team India. In Tests, he scored 6215 runs at an average of 45.03 with 22 centuries and 21 half-centuries. Apart from this, Azharuddin scored 9378 runs in ODIs while batting at a strike rate of 74.02. He has 7 centuries and 58 half-centuries in his name in this format.