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2000s in Review

Wisden’s Test innings of the 2000s, Nos.5-1

by Wisden Staff 3 minute read

The Wisden Test innings of the 2000s have been announced. Below is the full list from No.5 to No.1 of the knocks  to make the cut.

No.5: Virender Sehwag 201* (231 balls)

Sri Lanka v India, 2nd Test
Galle International Stadium, Galle
July 31-August 3, 2008

Virender Sehwag’s extraordinary ability to build monumental innings at breathtaking pace puts him in a rare category of genius. It was astonishing enough when he did it in conducive conditions, but when he did it on unplayable tracks, we knew we were witnessing a special human being at work.

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No.4: Graeme Smith 154* (246 balls)

England v South Africa, 3rd Test
Egbaston, Birmingham
July 30-August 2, 2008

England had spent three and a bit days clawing out an advantage, only for Smith to win the game in two sessions. Vaughan was in tears, the captaincy was Pietersen’s, and Biff was just getting started.

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No.3: Ricky Ponting 156 (275 balls)

England v Australia, 3rd Test
Old Trafford, Manchester
August 11-15, 2005

Steve Waugh billed it Ricky Ponting’s graduation to Test captaincy. For a skipper with an unmatched Test record, Ponting’s magnum opus, surprisingly, came in a draw, but it was his remarkable tenacity that single-handedly kept the 2005 Ashes level after the third Test.

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No.2: Kevin Pietersen 158 (187 balls)

England v Australia, 5th Test
The Oval, London
September 8-12, 2005

“I remember reading on the back of one of the papers that morning that England needed a hero,” the protagonist later wrote. “I decided that I was going to be that hero.”

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No.1: VVS Laxman 281 (452 balls)

India v Australia, 2nd Test
Eden Gardens, Kolkata
March 11-15, 2001

Had 281 not happened, perhaps India would have been stuck in the nineties. They were a fine team at home, yes, but the age-old struggle overseas still plagued them. Perhaps without Kolkata 2001 they would never have acquired that appetite for a fight, to scrap it out, a feature that defined them in the Noughties.

“It changed our mindset as a team,” Laxman told Wisden India in 2013. “It instilled in us the belief that we must never give up. If 167 [at Sydney in 2000] changed the way I viewed cricket, 281 altered the cricket world’s perception of India.”

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