5 Indian batters who never hit 3-digit score in Tests in South Africa

South Africa is considered to be one of the most difficult places to bat for the batters. Given the steep bounce and seam position on offer for the pacers, there is almost a feeling among the batters that scoring runs in SA is not that easy. Add to it the fact that the home side has never had a bad bowling attack in their history. It makes run-scoring only more difficult than usual. Particularly for the teams that are not familiar with the playing conditions, it only gets tougher.

India is a place where the batters mostly play in spin-friendly wickets. India and other teams in Asia have pitches that turn and have a bit of bounce with the progression of the innings. It is entirely different from the ones in SA that are seam-friendly and have extra bounce for the pacers. Getting set from a low bounce surface to a high bounce surface in a matter of few days is not easy for the batters. Hence, many Indian batters tend to struggle away from home.

Many batters from India have not been able to score a single hundred in South Africa. Check out five such batters in the list, which includes some big names.

5. MS Dhoni

MS Dhoni is an underrated batter in Test cricket. The former Indian captain is criticised to date for his inability to score a hundred outside Asia. However, the stats might be misleading the readers who find milestones of the batters. Dhoni had a very good record outside India in conditions like England and New Zealand where the ball used to swing a lot.

Having said that, Dhoni was not that good a batter against seam bowling. In Australia and South Africa, the Indian batter had a bad record. In South Africa, the WK batter played 7 matches and scored 370 runs in 13 innings at a batting average of 28.46. Dhoni scored only one fifty in SA and registered a best score of 90 runs in an innings. But he never scored a hundred in SA.

4. Rohit Sharma

Rohit Sharma has played in different positions as a batter in SA. The star batter was a middle-order batter when he toured SA in 2012/13 and 2017/18. In that period, Rohit was not a regular in the team and often missed out on the side. In the ongoing tour in 2023/24, Rohit is the opener and leading India as the captain. However, Sharma's record in SA is poor, to say the least.

Rohit has not been able to make an impact with the bat yet in South Africa. In 6 matches in South Africa, Rohit has scored 167 runs in 11 innings at a batting average of just 15.18, with a best score of 47. Let alone scoring a hundred, the Indian opener has not been able to score even a fifty in South Africa in Test cricket. It just shows how difficult batting in SA is.

3. Ajinkya Rahane

In his prime, Ajinkya Rahane was one of his kind in Test cricket. The star batter was considered a perfect replacement for VVS Laxman. In the first three years of his Test career, Rahane had gained immense popularity for his numbers away from India. Everywhere India toured, Rahane made runs. When Rahane hit hundreds, an Indian win was almost assured.

However, things have not gone well for Rahane in the last few years. As a result, his numbers have not been good away from home at the moment. But till 2018, Rahane's numbers were very good in SA. But even in his best form, Rahane could not score a hundred. In 12 innings, Rahane has scored 402 runs at a batting average of 36.55 including 3 fifties and a best score of 96 runs.

2. Sourav Ganguly

Sourav Ganguly was such a beautiful batter to watch. With his elegance and the way he scored runs son the off-side, Ganguly was regarded as the 'God of off-side' by many. But even in his prime form, Ganguly was not able to master SA as a batter. In 8 matches in SA, Ganguly scored 506 runs in 16 innings at a batting average of 36.14.

Ganguly managed to score 4 fifty-plus scores, which is very good. However, the star batter could not convert any of them into a big one. His best score in South Africa was 73. Ganguly was known for his captaincy in Test cricket. Under the captaincy of Ganguly, India won its maiden Test series in Pakistan. But there was no huge focus on the batting of the star batter when he was the captain.

1. VVS Laxman

VVS Laxman was arguably the best lower middle-order batter India ever produced. The star batter was regarded as one of the biggest match-winners for India in Test cricket. At his peak, Laxman won many matches with his might. Bowlers rate him very highly as a batter in the longest format of the game. For such a batter, a hundred in South Africa remained a dream.

It is not that Laxman did not perform well in SA. He had a very good record in SA as a batter. One of the reasons why milestones do not do any justice for the players. In 10 matches, Laxman scored 566 runs in SA in 18 innings at a batting average of 40.43. Laxman as a batter scored 4 fifties in SA. However, he could not convert them to big ones and remained hundred-less in Test cricket on South African soil.