4 Indian batsmen who scored a century in their first Test as opener

#2 KL Rahul (110 vs Australia)

K. L. Rahul

During India’s 2014-15 tour to Australia, KL Rahul made his Test debut under the captaincy of MS Dhoni in the Boxing Day match. But Rahul didn’t bat at his usual position and failed to make much of an impression.

In his next game at Sydney, he was promoted to open in Virat Kohli’s first match as permanent Test captain. Although all eyes were on Kohli for obvious reasons, Rahul also wanted to make a name for himself.

The Karnataka-born player had scored tons of runs in the domestic circuit before bursting into the national team. In 44 first-Class innings before his Test debut, Rahul had amassed 2100 runs at an average of exactly 50.

Facing the likes of Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood, the right-hander scored a fine century to set the Indian innings up. Rahul stitched a stand of 97 runs with Rohit Sharma for the second wicket and a huge partnership of 141 runs with the skipper Kohli for the third wicket.

Despite significant efforts by Rahul, Kohli and Murali Vijay (in the second innings), India couldn't win the match. But Rahul, who is the only Indian to score a ton away from home in his first innings as an opener, ensured that he got a long run as opener.