Scoring runs in the subcontinent hasn’t been a cup of tea for foreign batsmen. Several great players have a pretty regular record in India but when it comes to scoring in foreign soil, the runs don’t come that easily. In this article lets discuss four such players who had a lot of batting prowess but never scored a century on Indian soil.
The first name in the list is of Justin Langer who will join Lucknow Super Giants as head for IPL season 2024. He toured India twice (2001 and 2004) and played 7 Tests and his sub-par numbers read 389 runs at an average of 29 with just 3 fifties. Surprisingly, a man who scored 23 hundreds in his Test career did not get one in India. The Spin-friendly Indian conditions coupled with great bowlers like Kumble and Harbhajan proved to be too good for Justin. A player of his pedigree not having a single century in India seems like a rare sight to the date.
The second name in the list is of Brian Lara. However, Lara might rue this fact that he never managed to score a century in Indian conditions. It is surely something he would ponder upon. He played three Tests on Indian soli scoring just 198 runs at an average of 33. His highest score was 91 in 1994. Despite Windies touring India several times after that, Lara never toured India due to some reason or the other.
The third name in the list is of Graeme Smith. South Africa’s greatest Test captain has also been a juggernaut with the bat, churning runs all over the world in Test cricket. However, India has been a tough nut to crack for the ‘Biff’. Graeme Smith toured India thrice in his career for Test matches (2004, 2008 and 2010) but could only manage 431 runs at an average of 36 without a hundred. His rivalry against Zaheer Khan was a treat to watch for the Indian fans as Zaheer has got the better of Smith and it played a major factor in Smith’s dismal tours with the bat to India.
The last name in the list is of Universe Boss Chris Gayle. Despite his impressive record in the match-fixing allegations and the team management marred the team format, Gayle never managed to hit a century on Indian soil. He had toured India twice in his career, once in 2002 and other time in 2013. He had played just five Tests in India scoring 257 runs at a pretty ordinary average of 28. The swashbuckling batsman highest score in India is 88.
