England vs India, Day 1: Records broken by KL Rahul
KL Rahul, on Thursday, slammed his sixth century in Test cricket. He achieved the feat on Day 1 of the ongoing second Test against England at Lord's. Rahul smashed a brilliant 127* and was also involved in a 126-run partnership with Rohit Sharma for the opening wicket. The former stitched another century-plus stand with Indian skipper Virat Kohli. Here are the key stats.
10th Indian with a Test ton at Lord's
Rahul has become only the 10th Indian to smash a hundred at the Mecca of cricket, Lord's. The likes of Vinoo Mankad (1952), Dilip Vengsarkar (1979, 1982, 1986), Gundappa Viswanath (1979), Ravi Shastri (1990), Mohammad Azharuddin (1990), Sourav Ganguly (1996), Ajit Agarkar (2002), Rahul Dravid (2011), Ajinkya Rahane (2014) are the other Indian batsmen to have reached this landmark.
Fifth Test century away from home
Rahul slammed his fifth century away from home (fourth outside Asia). Incidentally, his last century in Test cricket also came in England (149, The Oval in 2018). He has become the fifth Indian opener with more than one hundred in England. Others on the list are Rahul Dravid, Sunil Gavaskar, Vijay Merchant, and Ravi Shastri (two each).
Rahul attained this feat
The Indian openers have scored four centuries in Test cricket outside Asia since the start of 2015. Notably, all four have been registered by Rahul. He slammed two tons in England, and one each in Australia and West Indies, during the period.
Joint-second-most tons by an Indian opener in Tests outside Asia
Rahul now has the joint-second-most hundreds (4) by an Indian opener outside Asia in Test cricket, along with Virender Sehwag. The duo is only behind the legendary Gavaskar, who recorded 15 tons as an opener in such Test matches.
A record stand for first wicket
Rahul and Rohit put on 126 for the first wicket. This was the first century stand by Indian openers outside Asia in Tests since the start of 2011. The last Indian pair to do so was Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir (137 at Centurion in 2010). Meanwhile, Rahul and Sharma became the first visiting pair with a century stand in England since August 2016.
