Written by - SUBHRADEEP CHOUDHURY
Cricket is a gentle man's game, played among the most wonderful and skillful players around the globe. It requires both the physical and mental ability to play the game. It’s not only a game but a religion in our country, India.
It’s impossible to live in India without getting affected by the love-wave of bat and ball. I mean, if you are given a chance to part our nation, we may end up by dividing on those who love Cricket and those who worship Cricket. So, all in all, it’s going to be so much necessary for us to know about some refreshing facts in the history of game, the facts that being the Cricket lovers, you may not have come across.
1. Chris Gayle, the only batsman to hit a six off the first ball of a test match :-
In the 140yrs of test match Cricket, no Cricketer had ever hit a six off the the first ball of a test match before Crishtofer Henry Gayle achieved the feat against Bangladesh in 2012 off debutant Sohag Gazi. Hard luck for the Debutant !!!
2. On the morning of 11/11/11, South Africa needed 111 runs to win at 11:11:-
If you are a mathematics lover, you will look for such amazing numbers always. The coincidence occurred during the first test between the Proteas and the Aussies at the Cape Town at 11:11 on 11/11/11 with South Africa being 125-1, needed more 111 runs for victory.
3. World Cups and test wins at Lord’s :-
IND won the 1983 World Cup and won their first ever test match at Lord’s 3years later in 1986.
IND won their second World Cup in 2011 and remarkably won their second Lord’s test match victory in 2014 and that’s too 3years later. Wow.. quite surprising.... Isn’t it ??
4. Shahid Afridi used Sachin’s bat to hit the fastest ever ODI Century:-
Afridi had straightly flown away to play for the Pakistan from West Indies to Nairabi in 1996 and didn’t have a proper bat to play the game. That’s when Waquar Younis gave Afridi his bat which he had borrowed from Sachin Tendulkar during a test match. And with that bat, young Afridi hit the fastest ODI century of 37 balls with 11 sixes and 6 boundaries against Sri Lanka. Though later on the record was broken by Corey Anderson (36 deliveries) and now it belongs to the South Africa’s Ab de Villiers of 31 balls.
5. Sunil Gavaskar and a first ball duck thrice of a test match :-
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| Sunil Gavaskar : Image Source - Wikipedia |
This man was the first batsman to reach 10000 runs and ended his career scoring 34 test centuries. But did you know he was out three times off the first ball of a test match ?? And the bowlers who did it was Malcolm Marshall (kolkata,1984), Geoff Arnold (Edgbaston,1974) and Imran Khan (Jaipur,1987).
6. All the four innings of a test match on the same day :-
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| Source : YouTube |
The 2000 Lord’s test match between England and West Indies saw all the four innings of a test match on the same day. What’s more surprising is that the same feat was repeated again 11 years later in the Cape Town test. Just think, spectators would regret of their ticket for all the five days !!!!
7. The Longest Match :-
The longest match in the history of the game took place in 1939. England and South Africa played the single match for 2weeks. Though, the game wasn’t over at the end of 14 days as England required further 42runs to win. Now just take your time to think why this occurred ??? Actually England’s ship to home was scheduled for departure the next day and that was why the game was declared a draw .
8. Alec Stewart and his Birthday :-
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| Alec Stewart : Image Source - Wikipedia |
Sometimes, I think Cricket legends are so much attached to the game and I find this example of Alec Stewart. This legend of Cricket was born on 8th April in 1963 i.e 8/4/63 and the number of test runs that he scored in his career was 8463. Unbelievable !!!!
9. The length of Cricket pitch :-
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| Image Credit - Pixabay.com |
The Cricket pitch is always a rectangular area of 22 yards i.e 20.12m. Coming in 2020, there are so many changes in the laws and rules of playing the game. The only law which hasn’t been changed yet in the history of Cricket is the length of the Cricket pitch.
READ MORE : THE MIRACLE IS TEST CRICKET
10. IND to win 60 over, 50 over and 20 over WC :-
India is the only team to win the 60 over World Cup vs West Indies in 1983 under Kapil Dev, 50 over World Cup in 2011 against Sri Lanka under Ms Dhoni and the 20 over World Cup in 2007 vs Pakistan under Dhoni’s captaincy.
11. Peter Siddle and his test match hat-trick :-
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| Peter Siddle : Image Source - Wikipedia |
Peter Siddle is the only bowler in international Cricket arena who have taken a hat-trick on the same day as his birthday (25th November,2010). He had achieved the feat against the touring Eng side.
12. Shocking but true :-
Richard Stokes watched only two test matches in his whole life till now. At the age of 10, he witnessed Jim Laker taking all the 10 wickets against Australia in 1956 in Old Trafford.
Forty years later, he had come to Delhi for some business work. And when Kumble took all the 10 wickets against Pakistan, he was present at the iconic Feroz Shah Kotla ground. So, in that way he became the only man to witness both the world records.
Don’t Know whether he can come again to give us the chance of witnessing such rare records again.
13. Batting on all the 5 days of a test match :-
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| Ravi Shastri : Image Source - Wikipedia |
ML Jaisimha and Indian current coach Ravi Shastri are the only Indians to bat on all the five days of a test match.
14. Veteran Rhodes :-
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| Wilfred Rhodes : Image Source - Wikipedia |
Age is something that stands as a wall in a Cricketer's life. Because of age, sometimes don’t be able to carry forward their game. But that didn’t happen with Wilfred Rhodes. He was the oldest Cricketer to have ever played for England. His last match was on the 12th April, 1930 when he was 52 years old.
15. Lala Amarnath and Don Bradman :-
The only bowler to dismiss the greatest of all time batsman Sir Donald Bradman hit wicket in test Cricket is Lala Amarnath and that record occurred in Brisbane in 1948.
INTERESTING CRICKET FACTS THAT A CRICKET FAN MAY WANT TO KNOW (PART-2)
Cricket is a gentle man's game, played among the most wonderful and skillful players around the globe. It requires both the physical and mental ability to play the game. It’s not only a game but a religion in our country, India.
READ MORE...
There are more Cricketing facts that as a Cricket fan you may want to know. But as this article has already become a bit lengthy, I think of parting the blog into parts. In this first part, we have already talked about 15 top intersting facts of the game. And in the next part, we will discuss about more interesting facts about Cricket, which will come on 11th May,2020 at around 11 in the morning. So, Stay tuned !!!!
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