Top 5 England Batsman With Most Test Centuries Against India

England and India have a long-standing history in Test cricket. Led by CK Nayudu, India made their debut as a Test-playing nation in England in 1932. The Britishers returned the favour next year when India hosted their first-ever Test series; England won both the series.

India recorded their first Test victory, in their 24th match, against England at Madras (now Chennai) in 1952; 10 years later, they won their first Test series against England at home.

Several players on both sides have graced the game for long against each other. Sachin Tendulkar remains the highest run-scorer in India-England Tests, followed by Sunil Gavaskar, and Alastair Cook; the baton has been passed to Virat Kohli and Joe Root.

We look at the top 5 England batsman to hit most Test centuries against India:

Graham Gooch-5

Graham Gooch’s England captaincy tenure may have been an unsuccessful one, but there have been few more prolific-run scorers than the Essex man. He particularly liked playing against India; he scored five Test tons against India, his join-most as against West Indies.

Gooch made his highest Test score of 333 versus India while batting for 628 minutes at Lord’s in 1990. In the same Test, the opener made another hundred in the second innings. Overall, against the subcontinent giants, Gooch scored 1725 runs at an average of 55.64, with the help of 5 centuries and 8 fifties in 19 Tests.

Ian Botham-5

Legendary England all-rounder Ian Botham notched up 14 Test tons in his career; 5 of which came against India alone, including a double at The Oval. All the five hundreds came in between 1979 and 1983 during his golden run in Test cricket where he tormented opposition with his thrilling all-rounder abilities.

Overall, he averaged a staggering 70.64 against India at a remarkable rate of 72.26. Botham finished with 5200 runs and 383 wickets in Tests, and 2113 runs and 145 wickets in ODIs.

Joe Root-6

Joe Root, England’s current Test skipper, has had success against the Asian teams in the past few years – he averages 55.01 with 11 of his 21 centuries against teams from Asia; 6 of which are versus India.

Earlier in the year, Root crafted out a magnificent double hundred in Chennai to help England clinch a memorable win. He has been carrying the side on his shoulders – not least in the Nottingham Test where he top-scored in both innings with a fifty and a hundred while the next best score in the line-up was 32.

Root is just 13 runs away from crossing Gooch’s record of 8900; in all likelihood, the right-hander from Yorkshire will surpass Alastair Cook as well who sits atop of English cricket with 12472 runs.

Kevin Pietersen-6

One of the most stylish batsmen to even play the game, Kevin Pietersen stalked up runs with elegance and ease against the subcontinent powerhouse – 1581 runs at 58.55. He smashed six three-figure scores against India, including a double century in 2011 at Lord’s.

Pietersen’s 186 in Mumbai in the 2012 series victory is one of the greatest knocks played by overseas batsmen in India. In 2008, he carved another of his engrossing century in Mohali.

He left international cricket under controversial circumstances, but not before aggregating 13779 runs – third-highest for England – and helping England to the 2010 T20 World Cup.

Alastair Cook-7

Former England captain and opener Alastair Cook has whipped 7 Test centuries against India – the most by an Englishman; four batsmen have notched up 8 three-figure scores versus India. 5 of those 7 knocks have come in India itself; two of those when he captained England to the series win in 2012.

Cook averages 47.66 versus the same opposition after scoring 2431 runs with the help of 7 hundreds and 9 fifties. The left-hander’s highest score of 294 also came against the Indian bowlers in 2011

Also Read: India’s Bowlers ‘Demoralized’ England’s Batting From The First Day – Inzamam-ul-Haq