Meet the first triple centurion of 21st century – And no, he’s not Indian

When we talk about triple centuries in Test cricket, names like Virender Sehwag and Brian Lara usually come to mind. But here’s something every cricket enthusiast tends to forget: the first triple hundred of the 21st century wasn’t scored by either of them. It was Pakistan’s legendary wicketkeeper-batter Inzamam-ul-Haq who reached the milestone before anyone else. Back in May 2002, during a Test match against New Zealand in Lahore, Inzamam played a career-defining knock. He smashed 329 runs off 436 balls, hitting 38 fours and sending nine deliveries out of the park.

Inzamam batted for close to 10 hours. It was a powerful and sublime innings that helped Pakistan post a massive total of 643. New Zealand couldn’t recover from that gritty innings and Pakistan eventually won the match by an innings and 324 runs within just three days.

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While Sehwag created history in 2004 by becoming the first Indian to score a triple century with his 309 in Multan and Brian Lara broke records the same year with his unbeaten 400 against England, Inzamam had already done it quietly and brilliantly two years earlier. Notably, Lara is the only cricketer in the history of Test cricket to touch the 400-run mark.

The Lahore innings remains Inzamam’s highest score in Test cricket and one of the greatest knocks by a Pakistani batter. Over his 15-year Test career, Inzamam played 120 matches and scored 8,830 runs at an average of 49.60, including 25 hundreds and 46 fifties.

Among Inzamam’s many standout performances, his 177 against a strong West Indies attack in 1997 featuring legends like Ambrose, Walsh and Bishop remains a major highlight. Another golden phase came in 2000, when he struck four centuries in six Tests, dominating bowling attacks from England, New Zealand, and Bangladesh.