Tons on captaincy debut: Kohli, Smith do a first in same series!

How rare is it for two players to score hundreds on captaincy debut in the same series?

Virat Kohli got two when he led India in the first Test against Australia in Adelaide. Now, Steven Smith got one in his first Test as captain in the ongoing second Test at Brisbane. Rajneesh Gupta says it is the first instance in cricket history.

Virat Kohli led India in the first Test against Australia at Adelaide, in place of regular captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, and made his captaincy debut a memorable one by scoring hundreds – 115 in the first innings and 141 in the second.

He thus became only the second player in Test cricket to score hundreds in both innings of the first Test as captain, emulating Australia’s Greg Chappell.

- Scorecard

At 26 years and 238 days Kohli also became the youngest captain to score two hundreds in a Test, wresting the record from Zimbabwean Brendan Taylor, who was incidentally the last player to score a hundred on captaincy debut before Kohli.

In the second Test at Brisbane, it was Australia’s turn to miss out on the services of regular captain Michael Clarke.

- Photos from Day 3

Steven Smith was given the responsibility to lead the side and ended up with the highest innings by an Australian captain on debut since Warwick Armstrong’s 158 in 1920.

At 25 years and 200 days he also became the youngest Australian captain to score a hundred on captaincy debut.

Twin hundreds for Kohli at Adelaide and a hundred for Smith at Brisbane! How rare is it to see two players score hundreds on captaincy debut in the same series?

Well, it is the first instance in Test chronicles.

A total of 29 players have now scored hundreds while leading their respective sides for the first time. The list includes nine Australians, five Englishmen, four New Zealanders, four Indians, three West Indians, two South Africans and two Zimbabweans.

Two players -- New Zealand’s Graham Dowling and the West Indies’ Shivnarine Chanderpaul --  turned their tons into double hundreds.

Australia's Bill Murdoch and Harry Trott scored a century in the second innings of the match after getting a duck in the first innings. Apart from Greg Chappell and Kohli, India's Vijay Hazare also went on to score centuries in his first two innings as captain (in two separate Tests, though).

Kohli's match aggregate of 256 is the highest for any player on debut Test as captain.

Zimbabwea's Dave Houghton is the only player to have done so in his country’s first-ever Test.

A hundred on captaincy debut in Test cricket

The following table lists the highest scores on captaincy debut for each country.

It is really surprising that despite having 30 captains, the highest score on captaincy debut for Pakistan is just 78. Similarly, the record of highest score on captaincy debut for Sri Lanka is held by a leg-spinner!

Highest scores on captaincy debut for each country

# in second innings 

-RAJNEESH GUPTA