Plenty of cricket legends have played the last Test of their illustrious career against India, be it Steve Waugh in 2005 in Sydney or Kumar Sangakkara in 2015. South Africa’s Dean Elgar is set to be added to the list of players who played the final Test. Series against India.
The 36-year-old made his debut in red-ball cricket for the Proteas in 2012 and has been a regular player at the top of the order for them. The left-handed opener scored 5,146 runs in 84 Test matches at an average of 37.28. He has recorded 13 centuries in the form.
The former South African Test captain has a strong record against India, scoring 811 runs in 13 Tests at an average of 36.86. Moreover, he prefers to bat in home conditions, with his overall average in the longest format of the game jumping to 46.16 in South Africa.
The Proteas will have a big void to fill once this series ends, as Dean Elgar will be difficult to replace. In this regard, let’s take a look at the top three players whose last Test series was against India:
#1 Muttiah Muralitharan
Muttiah Muralitharan was perhaps the best off-spinner in the history of cricket. The Sri Lankan legend is the leading wicket-taker in both Test cricket and ODI cricket. He has 1,347 wickets in international cricket, 346 more than the second highest wicket taker in cricket.
Muralitharan played his last Test series against India in 2010. In fact, he entered his last Test match in Galle with 792 Test wickets under his belt. The crafty spinner picked up exactly eight wickets in that match, taking his Test tally to 800.
#2 Jacques Callis
One of the best players of all time, Jacques Kallis’ records speak for themselves. He has scored over 25,000 runs and taken over 500 wickets in international cricket, making him the only player to achieve this feat. The South African was good enough to feature in the team as a pure player or pure player as well.
Kallis played his last Test match against India in Durban in 2013. He smashed 115 in the first innings, his 45th in Test cricket. Overall, the right-handed batsman scored 13,289 runs in 166 Test matches while also taking 292 wickets.
#3 Adam Gilchrist
Adam Gilchrist is one of the greatest wicket-keeping batsmen to ever grace the men’s game. Primarily, as an opener in limited overs cricket, Gilchrist had to bat in the lower middle order in Test cricket, with Matthew Hayden partnering Justin Langer.
Gilchrist brought the curtain down on his Test career against India in Adelaide in 2008. He did not have a memorable outing with the bat, but he did pick up six. The left-handed batsman has scored 5,570 runs in Test cricket at an average of 47.60 and an impressive strike rate of 81.95.