On This Day: Three special cricketers made their test debuts for India
XtraTime Web Desk: June 20 is a very significant day in Indian cricket as three legends of cricket debuted in Test cricket on this day and made the country proud across the world. Former India skippers Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid played their first Test match for India at Lord's against England on June 20,1996. They had replaced Sanjay Manjrekar and Sunil Joshi respectively, after India's poor show in the first Test of the series. On the other hand current India captain Virat Kohli played his first Test match against West Indies back in 2011 on the same day.
It was June 20, 1996. On this day 24 years back, Indian cricket’s one of the most successful captains Sourav Ganguly made his grand debut against England at the Home of Cricket- the Lord’s Cricket Ground in London. It was a defining moment for Sourav’s career as he slammed a classy century on his debut.
The current BCCI President on Saturday, recalled his Test debut and said,”Made my debut today...life''s best moment."
His wife Dona also took to Twitter and wrote: "24 years ago Sourav made his debut, so proud of you."
Ganguly played a superb knock of 131 for which he consumed 301 deliveries. The stylish knock was studded with 20 boundaries. With that inning, Ganguly announced his arrival at the international stage in an emphatic manner. He also became the 10th batsman to score a century on Test debut and the first Indian to achieve the feat at Lord''s.
It was, then, Dravid's turn to keep one end intact. He faced an even tougher task as he had to partner largely with the bowlers, but the debutant remained firm in his resolve.
He forged brilliant partnerships with Anil Kumble and Javagal Srinath for the seventh and eighth wicket respectively, before eventually missing a hundred by 5 runs. When he was dismissed, India were 419/9.
Lastly It was nine years to the day since India captain Virat Kohli made his Test debut at the age of 22.
Kohli contributed just 19 runs in the two innings of his Test bow in a victory against West Indies at Sabina Park, twice snared caught behind by Fidel Edwards.
