Duleep Mendis became the only batsman in Test history to score identical centuries — 105 and 105 — in both innings of a Test, in Sri Lanka's first ever Test in India at Madras in September 1982.
Mendis had taken over the captaincy from Warnapura and won the toss at Chidambaram Stadium.
Sri Lanka's first Test tour of India came less than a year after their inaugural Test against England. Captain Bandula Warnapura, an out-of-form opener at home, was replaced by Duleep Mendis as captain. At Chidambaram Stadium Mendis won the toss, batted, and made 105 — his maiden Test hundred. Sri Lanka declared at 346, India replied with 566 for 6 declared (Sandeep Patil 114). Following on or facing a deficit of 220, Mendis came in at first drop and made another 105 — exactly the same score. He remains the only batsman in Test history to have scored identical hundreds in both innings of a Test. The match was drawn. Sri Lanka had, in their first Test in India, more than held their own; Mendis's twin centuries became the symbol of a country that, while losing, was clearly belonging.
Mendis 105 in 1st innings
Sandeep Patil 114 for India
Mendis 105 again in 2nd innings
Match drawn
Identical-score record set
Day 1
Mendis 105 in 1st innings
Day 2-3
India 566/6d (Patil 114)
Day 4-5
Mendis 105 in 2nd innings
Result
Match drawn
“I had not realised it was the same score until they told me at the end.”
“He played us with the calm of a player from a Test nation of fifty years.”
Sri Lanka drew the series 0-0 — a major moral result for them.
A unique Test record — and the day Sri Lanka batting first declared itself a competitive Test entity.
The identical-twin 105s remains the only such instance in 150+ years of Test cricket. Mendis remains a Sri Lankan cricket icon.
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1932-06-16
On 15-16 June 1932 Herbert Sutcliffe (313) and Percy Holmes (224*) put on 555 for the first wicket against Essex at Leyton, breaking the world first-class record for any wicket and adding a layer of folklore — including a scoreboard that read 554 for several minutes and a hastily reversed declaration — that has clung to the partnership ever since.
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1933-02-14
With the fate of the Bodyline series in the balance and England 216 for 6 chasing 340, Eddie Paynter checked himself out of a Brisbane hospital where he was being treated for acute tonsillitis, taxied to the Gabba in pyjamas and a dressing gown, and batted for nearly four hours to score 83. England drew level on first innings, won the Test by six wickets and the series 4-1.
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1934-09-25
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