Credit: BCCI
Truth be told, modern cricket is a complex but also complicated sport where the top honours with the bat, specifically speaking, don't always come to rest with the very best or frontline runmakers. The usual flow of runs and considerately so also happen to belong to the nightwatchmen, especially in Test cricket. An ample evidence of this has been the kind of effort several of India's bowlers have produced in Tests from the onset of 2000. Many nightwatchmen in Tests or red ball cricket have put up 50-plus scores, and even a ton to surprise India's opponents endlessly.
Akash Deep's valiant fifty as seen recently brought back a lot of focus on this under appreciated aspect of the game. Let us, therefore, spend a moment or two to relive the great temerity amid pressure as shown by Test cricket's nightwatchman from India.
List of top 4 knocks by an Indian nightwatchman in Test cricket:
1. Akash Deep 66 runs in 2025 at The Oval
In the second innings, when India desperately had to score runs against England in the ongoing fifth Test of 2025 series at The Oval in London, but also guard against losing quick early wickets up the order, of all batters, Akash Deep, a frontline red-ball exponent, was sent up at the fall of Sai Sudharsan's wicket. Together with Jaiswal, who most famously scored a hundred in this vital innings, Akash Deep looked stoic, comfortable and composed when his team most needed that and ended up scoring 66 off 94, with 12 boundaries.
These were vital runs that eventually helped India challenge England to score 374, at the very ground where never before has a 300-run Test total been chased. As on date!
2. Zaheer Khan 75 runs in 2004 in Dhaka
This is a great and inspiring tale centred around one of the best Test knocks by an Indian nightwatchman but one that's largely been forgotten. Two decades back in the day, perhaps most of us have forgotten that Zaheer Khan, one of the best fast bowlers India produced in all times, shone brightly for his team, though with the bat.
In Dhaka against Bangladesh in 2004, India's Zaheer Khan clubbed his Test best score of 75, in an innings where the team eventually starred with a 526-run score in the first innings in reply to the host's 184. After Tendulkar's monumental 248 and Ganguly's timely 71 had already derailed Bangladesh, Zaheer Khan, a proper #11 scored 75 of his own and lasted for 115 deliveries. He even nailed the Bangladeshi bowlers for two huge sixes in a knock that deserves to be remembered in the annals of Test cricket as a solid contribution from a nightwatchman.
3. Anil Kumble 110* runs in 2007 at The Oval
At the very ground where India are hopefully going to register a memorable, and should it come true, a series levelling Test win in 2025, Kumble had hit a glorious 110 unbeaten runs, but back in the day at The Oval in London.
In the important 2007 Test match, Kumble's wonderful Test century from number #8 helped India mount a mountain of runs against the English, 664 of them after useful contributions from Dinesh Karthik (91), captain Dravid (55), and Tendulkar (82) helped India derail England's plans to dominate with the red-ball.
In his 193-ball fluent stay at the wicket, Anil Kumble, ever a legend looked in sublime touch and absolutely at ease despite coming against bowlers like Chris Tremlett, Ryan Sidebottom, and a very young James Anderson. This great knock coupled his three wickets in England's first batting innings, helped India shape a good contest at The Oval, the game eventually ending in a draw. But Kumble's defiant ton deserves to be counted among the best Test knocks by an Indian nightwatchman.
4. Jasprit Bumrah 31* runs at Edgbaston in 2022
In the 2022 Edgbaston Test against England, Pant and Jadeja hit massively important hundreds in a Test match where the ultimate honours belonged to England, with India scoring 416 in the first innings. But an impotant part of that scoreline was Jasprit Bumrah hitting 35 runs, including a few extras, in a single over against Stuart Broad of all bowlers.
His 31 not out can be counted among the best ever knocks by a Test nightwatchman from India not only because it helped India stick out for long in the game against England but also because in so doing, Bumrah broke a record previously held by Brian Lara, who had scored the most number of runs in a single over, those being 28. With four fours and two sixes, Jasprit Bumrah was the batter, not the searingly good fast bowler at that time.
Frequently Asked Questions FAQs
Q1. What has been Anil Kumble's finest contribution as a nightwatchman?
Kumble, the legend, hit 110 not out and that too, at The Oval against England in 2007.
Q2. How many runs did Bumrah score in single Test over, something that none of India's legends manage?
Three years back Bumrah clubbed Stuart Broad, England's best for 35 runs off just a single over. which included a few extras. A world record!
