5 Indian batsmen who got out in the nervous 90s on most occasions in Tests

A batsman might blaze his way from 0 to 90 but scoring the last 10 runs to reach a century can be really difficult. Most of the batsmen struggle in the nineties and take a lot of time to score those all important 10 runs.

There was a time when the nineties used to be called nervous nineties, then came batsmen like Sehwag and Gilchrist who used to be even more attacking during their nineties and often used to reach their centuries with a six. Most of the modern day batsmen follow this template and try to reach their century at the earliest leaving out the scope of getting stuck in the nineties.

There have been few Indian batsmen in the Test cricket history who have often got out in the nineties. Let's take a look at 5 Indian batsmen who got out the most number of times in the nervous nineties.

---

#5 Sunil Gavaskar (5 times)

Gavaskar was an expert in scoring centuries

Sunil Gavaskar is easily the best Indian opener to date. His exploits against the great West Indian pace quartet is the stuff of the legends. In fact, he is one of the most loved and admired overseas cricketers in the West Indian islands. He commanded this admiration on the basis of his performance against the West Indian team in their own backyard. He was instrumental in India winning their first series in West Indies in 1970-71.

Gavaskar was a run machine who scored 34 Test centuries, but, in spite of having such a strong temperament, the nineties got Gavaskar as well, he got out in the nineties five times. If he would have crossed the line a few times during these nineties his record would have been even more phenomenal.

#4 Virender Sehwag (5 times)

Sehwag used to play in the fifth gear all the time

Sehwag defied all the experts' opinion with his technique and approach towards Test batting. He had a nonchalant way of batting. His approach was 'see the ball, hit the ball'. His batting was all about hand-eye coordination, but, boy what a destructive player he was. With two Test triple hundreds to his name, he could make best of the bowlers run for cover on his day.

Sehwag scored 23 Test centuries in total and often he used to reach his hundred in style- with a six. In spite of not having an iota of nervousness in his system, Sehwag got out five times in the nineties, which shows that his attacking style failed him at times.

#3 MS Dhoni (5 times)

Dhoni never quite fulfilled his potential in Test cricket

Dhoni's Test career as a batsman is pale in comparison to his limited-overs career. He has scored runs all over the world in limited-overs cricket which he failed to replicate in Test cricket.

Dhoni scored just six centuries from 90 Test matches he played, which are too few for the batsman of his calibre. His number of hundreds could have been more if he would not have got out in the nineties on five occasions.

#2 Rahul Dravid (10 times)

Dravid is one of the all-time Indian greats

Rahul Dravid is one of the most respected Indian batsmen purely for his batting exploits in overseas conditions. He used to play the ball very late and was considered to be technically very good. He won many matches for India in alien conditions.

Although Dravid ended his career with a mammoth 36 Test centuries, he used to struggle to go past the nineties in the early part of his career. In fact, he started his Test career with a knock of 95 in England. By the time he came to the end of his career, he had got out 10 times in the nervous nineties.

#1 Sachin Tendulkar (10 times)

Sachin was a hundred machine

Arguably, the best batsman of all time, Sachin scored runs all around the world. He scored a century at Perth (considered to be the fastest wicket in the world at that time) in 1992 during his first tour of Australia when he was just 18. Sachin went on to score 51 Test centuries.

In spite of churning out so many centuries, Sachin had the blemish of getting out in the nineties on 10 occasions. If Sachin would have converted even half of those nineties into hundreds, his record would have been even more monumental.