Flashback: The first player to hit a century in both innings of a Test thrice

The Test format is the supreme format of cricket. A player dreams of reaching the three-figure mark in the whites. Some legendary batters have hit centuries in both innings of the match more than once in their careers and India’s Sunil Gavaskar was the first one to achieve this special feat.

Gavaskar was the first cricketer to smash a hundred in both the innings of a Test match thrice. The first instance came in 1971 when India toured West Indies for a five-match Test series. The Asian giants batted first in the fifth and the final game at the Port-of-Spain in Trinidad and Gavaskar opened the innings.

The right-handed batter struck 124 with the help of 11 fours in the first innings. He backed up his solid performance with a double century in the second innings, notching up 220 runs laced with 22 fours. The match got drawn but Gavaskar entered the history books by becoming the first player to crack two centuries in a Test.

The second instance came in 1978 against Pakistan in the third and the final match of the series in Karachi, when India batted first and Gavaskar slammed 111 with the help of 15 fours in the first innings followed by a 137 off 240 with 20 fours in the second. India lost the encounter but Gavaskar had doubled up his special feat.

In the same year, the Little Master repeated his heroics, this time against a visiting West Indian side. Skippering the side and opening the innings, Gavaskar cracked 107 in the third of the six-match Test series in Kolkata. He then scored an unbeaten 182 in the second innings with the match getting drawn. Australia’s duo of Ricky Ponting and David Warner are the other two cricketers to achieve this outstanding feat in Test cricket.