#365DaysOfWriting – Day 193
The Importance of Being Hundreds
Or double hundreds, in the case of Virat Kohli, Indian cricket’s Wild(e) boy. (Get it? Hope you did.)
He’s on the cusp of an interesting record.
If (oh God I hope I don’t jinx him) he reaches a double century against England tomorrow, it will be his 3rd double century in this year (no mean feat) and it will be his 3rd consecutive double century in 3 series.
The second stat is what interests me – 3 consecutive test series, 3 double centuries. How many have done it before him, if any?
If I were to hazard a guess, I’d probably go for Sir Don or Sangakkara in his prime, or Rahul Dravid during the 2003–2004 season.
Let’s take a look at the stats, shall we?
A cursory look at the stats reveals that Sir Don scored double centuries in almost every series for fun (he’s scored 3 in one series alone), so no point of including him in this list (for fairness to the mortal players).
Ah! As I suspected, even Dravid has achieved the feat during that famous purple patch of 2003–2004. New Zealand, then Australia and finally Pakistan.
And…. HAT-TRICK. Even Sangakkara has done it! Against Pakistan, Zimbabwe and South Africa! Can you believe it…?
So boom! If Kohli does it tomorrow, he won’t be the first to do it, but he’ll join a pantheon of greats. And for an angry young man who couldn’t buy a run if he wanted to on his test series debut, that’s quite an achievement.
Go get that 200, Virat!
PS: I haven’t finely combed any of the stats, so some of my data might be wrong. Either way, this will be a magnificent achievement, if and when he gets there.
