Twenty-two years ago, on 22nd June 1996, former Indian cricketer and one of the best Indian captains Sourav Ganguly hit a brilliant century on his Test debut.

Almost four-and-a-half-year later of his ODI debut, Ganguly made his Test debut in June 1996. It was the second Test of three-match Test series between the hosts England and the visitors India at Lord’s (London).

After India had lost the first Test of that series by 8 wickets at Birmingham, Ganguly made his Test debut at Lord’s along with Rahul Dravid.

On the day 2 of the second Test, England was bundled out for 344 runs while India finished the day on 83/2 with Ganguly’s unbeaten 26 runs.

The 22nd June 1996 was the third day of that Test match where Ganguly began the day with 26 not out. In that morning, Ganguly completed his half-century in 108 balls with 8 fours. Later on the day, ‘The Bengal Tiger’ completed his unforgettable debutant Test century in 237 balls with 17 fours.

The no.3 left-handed batsman spent a total of 435 minutes in the crease and scored 131 runs off 301 balls with 20 fours before the left-arm pacer Alan Mullally bowled him. Ganguly played a crucial century knock when most of the other senior batsmen failed to play the mature innings.

In the same innings, another Indian Test debutant Rahul Dravid just missed his century as he was caught behind on 95 runs on the next day.

With the help of those innings, India managed to score 429 runs before getting bundled out and got an 85-run lead at the end of the first innings fights.

Later in the second innings, England scored 278/9 before declaring their innings at the last moment of the Test match. The match was finally drawn as India didn’t get chance to bat in the second innings.

Apart from scoring a century, the right-arm medium bowler Ganguly also bagged two wickets in the first innings (2/49) and one more wicket in the second innings (1/5).

Stats on Sourav Ganguly’s debutant Test century

• 61st player to score a century in debutant Test match.
• 10th Indian to score a century in debutant Test match.
• 7th Indian to score a century in debutant Test innings.
• Ganguly’s 131 was the second highest knock by an Indian batsman in debutant Test match (currently, it is fourth highest knock). In that time, the record was 137 by Gundappa Viswanath.
• Ganguly’s 131 was the third-highest knock by any left-handed batsman in debutant Test match (currently, it is ninth highest knock).
• Ganguly’s 131 was the highest debutant Test knock by any left-handed batsman who made his Test debut outside the home soil (currently, it is the fourth highest knock).
• Ganguly’s 131 is still the highest individual knock by a debutant Test batsman at Lord’s (London).