5 batsmen who scored most Test runs before their first double century

Sourav Ganguly

Sourav Ganguly celebrating his 200 vs Pakistan

Matches: 99, Innings: 161, Runs: 6016, Average: 41.48, 100s: 14, Highest: 173

2007, India vs Pakistan, Eden Gardens, India were reduced to 61-4 by the modest swing bowling of Yasir Arafat when a returning Sourav Ganguly knitted a 300 run partnership (in one day) with Yuvraj Singh (169 runs) and scored 239 runs himself to steer India to safety.

Ganguly's penchant for theatrics and occasion gave him the prize he had yearned for his entire career. While his Test average never dropped below 40, he had not quite risen to the heights expected of him after his brilliant debut in 1996. After all the controversy that brewed during his feud with Greg Chappell, he had a point to prove when he was recalled to the Test side for the 2006/07 tour of South Africa after an 11-month absence. A string of useful performances meant that he was retained over the next year but one felt that a defining performance was in the reckoning.

And here he was, against an arch-rival, with the series on the line, producing a masterclass, sending 32 hits to the fence (30 fours and 2 sixes).

Typical Dada, coming good when it mattered most.