THE decade of the 1990s and 2000s witnessed an explosion of Test cricket and not surprisingly, a torrent of memorable hundreds, even as Zimbabwe (1992) and Bangladesh (2000) became the ninth and tenth Test-playing nations respectively. Sachin Tendulkar of India achieved the record for most Test hundreds, currently at 51. Perhaps his most memorable is his first, an undefeated 119 at Trent Bridge that saved a Test against England.
Among his record horde, it is difficult to find a truly memorable innings. His greatness really lies in his longevity that has seen him deservedly crowned the greatest accumulator in the history of the game.  
Graham Gooch carried his bat for an undefeated 154 against the ferocious West Indian four-prong pace attack of Curtly Ambrose, Patrick Patterson, Malcolm Marshall and Courtney Walsh on a seaming pitch at Headingly in 1991.
He scripted a famous victory for England over the West Indies. Sanath Jayasuriya belted 152 against England at The Oval that included a square-cut for six, a shot that the veteran commentator Richie Benaud regarded as a new invention to the game.
Jayasuriya’s blitzkrieg provided the cornerstone for a masterful tactical display by the Sri Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga who shrewdly set the stage for Muttiah Muralitharan to defy the critics and bowl Sri Lanka to an improbable victory.
Brian Lara played the greatest Test innings when he scored 213 not out to lead West Indies to victory against Australia at Bridgetown in 1999.
All of the necessary perquisites of a great Test match were present and accounted for in that contest, including two strong teams, a galaxy of stars on both sides, a famous ground, a sporting pitch and a Test match that ebbed and flowed during each session over five days.
In the end West Indies triumphed because of Lara’s magnificent 153 not out, a truly memorable effort.
Andy Flower of Zimbabwe established the highest hundred by a wicketkeeper, 232 not out against India at Nagpur in 2000. As his country plummeted into anarchy, he was stripped of the captaincy in June 2000, a sacking that came as a “complete bolt from the blue.”
Despite that shocker, he had the mental fortitude to keep his eye on the ball and displayed batsmanship of the highest class.
Animul Islam of Bangladesh celebrated his country’s inaugural Test with a superlative innings of 145 in a losing effort against India at Dhaka in 2000. Unfortunately, during eleven years, Bangladesh has flattered to deceive as a Test nation.
VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid established one of the most highly acclaimed partnerships in Test history at Eden Gardens in 2002. Having being forced to follow-on by the all-conquering Australians, India were in deep trouble before Laxman (281) and Dravid (180) defied the Australians with an epic fifth-wicket partnership of 376 in the searing heat of Kolkata.
It set the stage for Harbhajan Singh (seven for 73) to bowl India to an historic victory: only the second instance a team won after being asked to follow-on. Laxman’s supreme effort overshadowed a memorable effort by Dravid.  
The Australian Ricky Ponting made a hundred on his 100th Test appearance against South Africa at Sydney in 2006. He joined an elite band: Colin Cowdrey, Javed Miandad, Gordon Greenidge, Alec Stewart and Inzamam-ul-Haq.
Ponting then upped the ante with another hundred in the second innings of the same Test to cap a truly memorable 100th Test appearance.  
Inzamam-ul-Haq’s 138 not out was a classic ‘one-man’ partnership in that he partnered the lower half of the innings – numbers six thru 10 – to add 163 in a fourth-innings run-chase as Pakistan defeated Bangladesh by one wicket at Multan in 2003.
It is dubbed a ‘one-man partnership’ because of Inzi’s contribution – 97 out of 130 with numbers seven through ten, the pressure he was under in his home town and the stigma associated with losing to Bangladesh; put it all together and you have a truly memorable innings.
Ramnaresh Sarwan (105) and Shivnarine Chanderpaul (104) formed the backbone of West Indies 418 to win against Australia at St John’s in 2003. It is the highest successful fourth innings chase in history.
They defied the odds against Steve Waugh’s all-conquering Australians to script a memorable victory at the historic Antigua Recreation Ground.  
It was Lara again in 2004. To achieve the most identifiable record in Test cricket – the highest individual score – happens only once in a batsman’s lifetime.
Prior to 2004 the record was held by ten different men, Lara among them with his 375 against England at St. John’s in 1994.  No one had ever regained it.
So when Matthew Hayden took it from Lara with 380 against Zimbabwe in 2003 it seemed as if it was the permanent end of Lara’s reign as the world record holder. However, Lara redefined the paradigm a mere six months later.
He became the first man to regain the record with a monumental score 400 not out against England at St John’s. For sheer magnitude and historical significance it is indeed a memorable innings.
Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene of Sri Lanka established the granddaddy of all partnerships: a monstrous 624 for the third wicket against South Africa at Colombo SSC in 2006.
It is the highest partnership in every form of the game, decapitating the first-class record of 577 by Vijay Hazare and Gul Mahomed for Baroda against Holkar in 1947. While Jayawardene (376) did not reach Lara’s world record and Sangakkara (287) fell short of a triple hundred, their partnership will remain one for the ages.
Despite a torn ribcage, the mercurial South African Jacques Kallis held India at bay with an undefeated 109 to draw the Test at Centurion Park in 2010. Kallis’s courageous innings exemplified the cliché ‘service beyond the call of duty.’ Incidentally, he also made 161 in the first innings of that Test.  
Don Bradman achieved a Test career batting average of 99.94 that towers above everyone else: almost 40 above his nearest rivals Graeme Pollock of South Africa (60.97), George Headley of the West Indies (60.83) and Herbert Sutcliffe of England (60.73).
He needed a mere four runs in his last Test innings to average exactly 100. Amidst great fanfare, he walked out to bat at The Oval in 1948. He was bowled for a second-ball duck by Eric Hollies to leave his career average tantalisingly short of 100. It is the most memorable hundred that was never made.
The scope of this article is Test hundreds. Nevertheless, if we were to wander further then a certain score of 501 not out would immediately present itself.
Incidentally, the only two men to simultaneously hold both world records for the highest individual scores in first-class and Test cricket are Bradman (452 and 334) and Lara (501 not out and 400 not out, previously 375). How memorable is that!