Youngest Indian Batsman To Score A Test Hundred

Indian cricket has always been blessed with incredibly gifted batsmen over the years. From Dilip Sardesai, Vijay Merchant, Polly Umrigar, Sunil Gavaskar, Gundappa Vishwanath, Dilip Vengsarkar to Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag and now Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Prithvi Shaw, Shubman Gill, the list goes on and on and on.

India has thus far played 542 Tests in which the batsman has scored a total of 258229 runs racked up including 517 hundreds- the third-most by any team in history. Indian batsmen have a penchant towards scoring hundreds and not only hundreds, daddy hundreds. But, who is the youngest to score a Test hundred for India? Also Read- Cricket Facts And Stories That Beggar Belief But Are True

Madhav Apte- 20 years, 137 days

Madhav Apte’s cricketing career is one of those tragic unsolved mysteries in Indian cricket that the more you read about it, the more you get dumbfounded. Apte, an opening batsman blessed with an array of strokes in his armoury, stormed into the limelight during the 1951-52 Ranji Trophy season when he stroked a brilliant century on debut against Saurashtra. With him scoring heaps of runs in the first two seasons of his domestic career, a national call-up soon arrives for Madhav Apte when he was picked for two Tests against Pakistan.

He scored 30, 10* and 42, thereby earning a place in the Indian touring party for the five Test series against the West Indies. Apte had his finest moment during the Port of Spain Test where he racked up a brilliant 163 not-out to help India draw the Test. At 20 years and 137 days, he became the youngest Indian to score a Test hundred. With a tally of 460 runs at an average of 51.11- second only to Polly Umrigar- any cricketer would think that he had done enough to cement a permanent place in the set-up. Apte never played for India again. Why? As he said during an interview with ESPNCricinfo ”that is an unsolved mystery”  

Abbas Ali Baig- 20 years, 126 days

Six years after Madhav Apte:’s historic feat, the ever-so stylish Abbas Ali Baig claimed the record for being the youngest to score a Test hundred for Team India. He also became the youngest Indian batsman to score a Test hundred on debut and what makes the feat even more astounding is the circumstances that it came under. India needed someone to stand up to the challenge, and, boy, didn’t the 20-year-old did that with disdain? The moment came during the 4th Test between England and India at Old Trafford.

India were up against it. After having conceded 490 in the first innings, they had been shot out for a meager 208, handing England a hefty 282- run lead. The visitors were eventually set a target of 547 in the fourth innings. Batting at No.3, debutant Abbas Ali Baig gave impetus to India’s run-chase courtesy his delightful strokes that glittered the entire Old Trafford. The 20-year-old stitched a 109-run-stand with Nari Contractor [56].

Abbas Ali Baig is 81 today. One of the most charming & stylish cricketers. He was playing for Oxford when he was called up & made a test century on debut against England. Was also the 1st Indian cricketer to be kissed on a cricket field, decades before social media! pic.twitter.com/UJ8log299V

— Joy Bhattacharjya (@joybhattacharj) March 19, 2020

Contractor and skipper Datta Gaekwad were dismissed in quick succession but Polly Umrigar entered the scene to exorcise all the English demons that had plagued his game thus far. But just as it looked like the visitors were cruising at 3-173, Harold Rhodes struck young Baig on the right temple.

He was eventually taken off the field for medical treatment. Polly Umrigar and Bapu Nadkarni dug in to take India to 4-236 at stumps on day 04 and when Nadkarni eventually fell to Fred Trueman on the following day, Abbas Ali Baig came out to bat amidst a thundering applause from the crowd. He was consistently tested by the short-pitch stuff from Harold but the youngster showed immense mental strength and finally reached the three-figure mark courtesy a brutal pull shot. India eventually lost the game but Abbas Ali Baig courtesy his heroic display, ensured that his name was etched in the annals of the cricketing folklore forever.

Kapil Dev- 20 years, 18 days

Abbas Ali Baig’s record stood the test of time for a little over two decades but it was finally broken a 20-year-old all-round prodigy in the form of Kapil Dev during the 1979 Delhi Test against a slightly depleted but still a brilliant West Indies team. It was a Test match that India well and truly does dominate.

Batting first, India, thanks to gritty centuries from Sunil Gavaskar [120] and Dilip Vengsarkar [109] found themselves into a position of ascendancy but it really was Kapil Dev’s stunning counterattack that eventually grounded the Windies bowlers to dust. Coming into bat at No.6, the 20-year-old prodigy smoked a whirlwind 124-ball 126- an innings which included 11 fours and 2 sixes- to help India post 8-566.

A true all-rounder that he was, Kapil Dev notched up three West Indian wickets in the first innings, as India dismissed the visitors for 172. West Indies eventually held on to a draw despite being forced to follow-on, but it gave the fans enough reasons to believe that Kapil Dev- the superstar all-rounder- had well and truly arrived.  

Prithvi Shaw- 18 years, 329 days

Prithvi Shaw became the second youngest Indian cricketer and the youngest [Indian] to score a Test hundred on debut when he smoked the West Indian bowling attack to the tune of 154-ball 134 at Rajkot back in 2018.

Shaw reached his century in a mere 99 balls and such was the magnanimity of his strokeplay and the authority which he played, evoked comparisons with the legendary Virender Sehwag. Overall, Shaw became the 15th Indian batsman to score a hundred on Test debut, and the first since Rohit Sharma, who also scored his maiden ton against the West Indies in Sachin Tendulkar’s maiden series.  

Sachin Tendulkar- 17 years, 107 days

Of course, who else? The original child prodigy who went not to become the ‘God of Cricket’- Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. Having made his debut as a 16-year-old prodigy against Pakistan in 1989, Sachin scored two half-centuries in the series to show his mettle. But, he couldn’t kick on to convert it into a three-figure score and in the process break Mushtaq Mohammad’s record [17 years, 82 days] of being the youngest to score a Test hundred. Two months later, Tendulkar once again came close to scaling the feat during his brilliant knock against the likes of Sir Richards Hadlee.

Unbeaten overnight on 80, the ‘Little genius’ had nearly the whole nation waking up in the wee hours of the morning in anticipation of a debut hundred from their latest hero. But it turned out to be an anti-climax as Tendulkar, after stroking two boundaries off Danny Morrison before getting caught at mid-off for 88. India didn’t play a Test for the next 6 months and hence Mushtaq’s record was saved.

In the summer of 1990, India traveled to England for a full tour. There was a lot of attention on the 17-year-old Sachin, for several reasons, since for the English, a 17-year-old Test player is as rare as water in a desert. And, during the second Test at Old Trafford, most of them realized just why this young batsman was being hailed as the next big thing in world cricket.

After having scored a 68 in the first innings Tendulkar stroked a brilliant 119 in the second innings to become the youngest Indian to score a Test hundred. His masterly knock- one that was a great mix of attacking strokeplay and calm demeanour- and a dodged 160-run-stand with Manoj Prabhakar [67*] ensured that India went on to save the game. Interestingly, Sachin laid the first brick of the historic era on the same day Sir Donald Bradman played his last Test innings in 1948.