SPORTZWIKI continues its trip down memory lane and digs deep into the history books to unearth some of the most amazing facts about Indian cricket in our Part II of ’24 amazing facts about Indian cricket’
13. To honor the great Rahul Dravid‘s contribution to Indian cricket, a wall has been erected at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in his hometown Bangalore. Exactly 13,288 bricks were used in its construction. Yes, that’s the total number of runs scored by Dravid in a glittering test career.
14. Rahul Dravid has seen the fall of 453 wickets from the non-striker’s end during his entire test career, most by any batsman. Legend!
15. In the 2nd ODI between India and Pakistan at Sialkot in 1984, India were batting at 210 for 3 with the stylish Dilip Vengsarkar at 94 not out. The match was eventually abandoned after hearing the news of Indira Gandhi’s assassination.
16. On the day the great Sunil Gavaskar was born, his uncle, Mr Masurekar had visited him at the hospital and noticed a small hole near the top of his left ear lobe. But the next day, when he came to see Sunny, the hole was missing. After a swift search for the kid, Sunny was found sleeping blissfully beside a fisher-woman. The little master had been switched at birth, but luckily been restored. Wonder how differently India’s cricketing history would have been written if Sunny’s uncle wasn’t as observant as he was!
17. Virendra Sehwag holds the record for the highest individual score in all three forms of cricket, but the format of the scores is rather interesting i.e, T20 119, ODI 219 and Test 319.
18. Before the 1983 cricket world cup, India had defeated only one team in the world cup, East Africa. Little did the world know that this team would win the grand prize itself. Great achievement for Kapil Dev and co.
19. VVS Laxman‘s outstanding knock of 281 against Australia at Eden Gardens in 2001 is the third highest ever by an Indian batsman and is ranked 6th in Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack list of 100 great Test innings in cricket history.
20. Sourav Ganguly is the only cricketer in ODI history to have won four successive Man of the Match awards in the limited overs format. Simply the best, eh?
21. The men in blue hold the record for 17 successful run-chases in ODIs, which ended in a dramatic finish to the game against West Indies in May 2006, in which India lost by just 1 run when Yuvraj Singh was bowled by Dwayne Bravo’s full toss.
22. We must have heard this story from our parents and grandparents : India were in tatters at 17 for 5 when Kapil Dev walked in and played a captain’s kncok of 175 to clinch victory for India against Zimbabwe. This match turned around Indias’ fortunes in the 1983 WC and India eventually became champions!
23. When India played hosts to Sri Lanka, Kapil Dev was close to breaking Sir Richard Hadlee’s world record 431 wickets in test cricket, the Indian captain Mohd. Azharuddin asked Kumble to intentionally bowl outside the off stump so as to avoid taking too many wickets, and thus former captain Kapil Dev a chance to beat the record. Eventually Kapil Dev had Hashan Tilekaratne caught at forward shot leg to takehis 432nd test wicket.
24. After Australia famously lost the test match at Kolkata in 2001 even after making India follow on, Australian skipper Steve Waugh labeled India “The Final Frontier” as a result of his dominating side’s inability to win a test series in India. Australia lost to Sourav Ganguly-led India 2-1 in the 3-test series.
