3 players who scored a century in their first match after returning from injury ft. KL Rahul

The last few months have been quite a tough ride for Indian batter KL Rahul. He first lost his spot in India's T20 team after a poor run in last year's T20 World Cup down under. Then during this year's IPL, he suffered an injury which kept him out of the game for more than seven months.

During this period, he also lost his spot in the Test side. Having not played any competitive cricket for a while, many fans and experts felt that India should not not pick him in the ODI side for the Asia Cup and the World Cup. Still, skipper Rohit Sharma, chief selector Ajit Agarkar and coach Rahul Dravid showed confidence in the Karnataka batter and selected him in the side.

KL Rahul honoured the trust that was shown in him, by scoring a sensational century against Pakistan in his first came on return. Batting at number 4, he scored an unbeaten 111 to help India post a total of 356 against the arch-rivals.

He delivered against the odds and scored big despite facing plenty of criticism in the last few months.

On that note, here's a look at three more players who scored a century in their first match after returning from injury:

#1 Rohit Sharma

Rohit Sharma made a mockery of the bowling as he smashed 264 at the Eden Gardens

During India's tour of England in 2014, Rohit Sharma suffered a finger injury which kept him out of the game for a fair while. After a few months, India played a five-match series against Sri-Lanka and Rohit went on to miss the first three games. India had won all the three games and had in the process, taken an unassailable lead in the series.

In the fourth game, Rohit Sharma finally returned to the side and scripted a comeback story like none other. He blasted an unbelievable 264 as the Sri Lankan bowlers had no answers to the questions that he posed.

His remarkable knock was decorared with 33 boundaries and nine maximums and it was his second double-hundred in ODIs. Rohit's batting blitzkrieg helped India crush Sri Lanka, who were unable to even match his individual score of 264, and were bowled out for 251.

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#2 Sachin Tendulkar

The tennis elbow injury was the one of the biggest issues that the great man faced in his career

Injuries are a common occurrence in the lives of athletes, and Sachin Tendulkar was no exception. He suffered from a tennis elbow injury between 2004 and 2006, which put his career in jeopardy.

He returned to the side in 2006, during a tri-series which involved India, West Indies and Australia. In a game against the West Indies, which was his first match after his layoff, Sachin Tendulkar smashed an unbeaten 141 to announce his comeback in thrilling fashion.

His knock which included 13 fours and 5 maximums helped India post a total of 309 on the board. Such was the quality of his knock that despite him being on the losing side, he was adjudged the player-of-the-match.

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#3 Devon Conway

Devon Conway injured his hand after punching his bat

In January 2022, New Zealand's reliable batsman, Devon Conway, made a remarkable comeback from injury with a superb century against Bangladesh in a Test match at Mount Maunganui. His outstanding innings was studded with 16 boundaries and one six.

Conway had been on the sidelines for a few months after suferring from an injury that he picked up at the 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup. He sustained the injury when he punched his bat after being dismissed in the semi-final of the tournament and had to miss out on the Final.