Cricket was first introduced in India by our colonial patriarch England, it has become our religion gradually since then, and it is the only sport for which we don’t have any dearth of spirit. India with many great cricketers scripted many history since the game first played in the country. The passion of spectators to this game is unmatchable to other country.
Here we bring you three dozens of interesting facts about your favourite sport that you must know.
1. Till date 2073 Indian cricketers out of 2086 have managed to score half of Sachin Tendulkar’s total ODI runs in their personal ODI career. That is 99.37 per cent cricketers worldwide.
2. Cricket is nearly three hundred years old sport in India. It was first game was played in India in 1721 between English sailors of the East India Company playing a game at Kutch. By 1792 the Calcutta cricket and football club had been formed.
3. Indian cricket team was the first cricket team to be dismissed twice in a single day of a test match in 1952 against England (58 in the 1st Innings & 82 in the 2nd innings). The only other team to hold this record is Zimbabwe, who were dismissed twice in a single day not once, but twice (2005 and 2011), both of them against New Zealand.
4. Lala Amarnath is the only bowler in hisotry to have got Sir Donald Bradman of Australia out hit wicket.
5. The only wicket keeper to have stumped Sir Donald Bradman of Australia was Prabir Sen of India.
6. Bhausahib Nimbalkar of India was on 443*, with one day to go in a first-class match, just 9 short of the then world record 452* held by Bradman. He was however unable to break the record because with the total standing at 826 for 4 at the lunch interval, the opposition captain Pradyumansinhji Lakhajirajsinhji conceded the match to prevent embarrassment on the part of his team. Bradman however sent a personal note to Nimbalkar saying that he considered Nimbalkar’s innings better than his own.
7. Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s 183 not out against Sri Lanka in 2005 has never again been equaled by a wicketkeeper in one day internationals.
8. Mohammed Azharuddin is the only batsman to have scored three centuries in debut his first three test matches against.
9. Wilfred Rhodes (England) has batted at all 11 positions in test cricket. This feat was only equaled emulated by Vinoo Mankad of India).
10. The best test bowling figures on debut are those of Narendra Hirwani of India. He took 16 for 136 versus the West Indies. He broke Bob Massie’s record of 16 for 137.
11. In 1999, Anil Kumble became the first man since Jim Laker of England to take 10 wickets in a Test match innings when he took 10-74 against Pakistan in Delhi.
12. India played its first test match in 1932, but won the first Test match 19 years & 230 days later in 1951-1952 against England in Madras.
13. A wall has been erected in the honour of Rahul Dravid at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore (his hometown). Exactly 13,288 bricks were used in its construction. That’s the number of runs scored by him in Test cricket.
14. In 1984 during the 2nd ODI between India and Pakistan at Sialkot, India were 210/3 with Vengsarkar at 94*. The match was eventually abandoned after hearing the news of Indira Gandhi being assassinated.
15. Rahul Dravid has seen 453 wickets falling at the other end during his entire test career, most by any batsman.
16. On the day when Sunil Gavaskar was born, his uncle, Mr Masurekar had come to his hospital to see him. The uncle noticed a small hole near the top of his left ear lobe. But the next day, when he came to see Sunny, he did not find the hole. A search was made and Sunny was found sleeping blissfully beside a fisher-woman. The little master had been switched at birth, but luckily been restored. One often wonders how different India’s cricketing history would have been if Gavaskar’s uncle had not been come to see him that day.
17. The surname “Patel” have quite well in international cricket as at least five countries have found cricketers with “Patel” surname in their team. Countries are – India, New Zealand, Kenya (as well as East Africa), Canada and England.
18. World’s richest cricket governing body BCCI is a society, registered under the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act. It often uses government-owned stadiums across the country at a nominal annual rent.
19. India before the 1983 world cup had defeated only one team in previous the world cups and that was East Africa – now Kenya.
20. VVS Laxman is the great grandnephew of Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, former President of India.
21. Bishen Singh Bedi has the record for the most economical figures in the 1975 World Cup. He conceded just 6 runs in 12 overs of which 8 were maidens and took 1 wicket against East Africa.
22. V.V.S Laxman is the only Indian player to have played more than 100 tests, but not a single World Cup match. He was in the 15 member squad of 2003 world cup.
23. Bishen Singh Bedi during the ODI match of 1978 against Pakistan had given up the match because of the excessive use of bouncers by the Pakistani Bowlers. Sarfraz Nawaz’s last 4 deliveries were all out of reach of the batsmen, and umpire even did not call wide any of the delivery. India needed 23 runs from 14 balls with 8 wickets in hand when this happened.
24. Sourav Ganguly is the only cricketer to have won four successive Man of the Match awards in One-day Internationals.
25. By 1912, the Parsis, Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims of Bombay played a quadrangular tournament with the Europeans every year.
26. The Indian cricket team holds the record for 17 successful run-chases in ODIs, which ended in a mouthwatering match against the West Indies in May 2006, in which India lost by just 1 run when Yuvraj Singh was bowled by Dwayne Bravo’s full toss.
27. Kapil Dev`s only break of one Test in his 131 Test career came after 65 Tests.
28. When India hosted Sri Lanka, Kapil Dev was nearing Sir Richard Hadlee’s world record 431 wickets in test cricket, the Indian skipper Mohammed Azharuddin asked Kumble to bowl outside the off stump to avoid taking too many wickets, and thus allowing Kapil Dev a shot at the record in that match. Eventually Kapil succeeded in having Hashan Tilekratne caught at forward short leg by Sanjay Manjrekar to secure his 432nd test victim.
29. M. L. Jaisimha of India in 1959 became the first batsman to bat on all five days of a test that included both innings, but just scored 94 runs.
30. Bapu Nadkarni sent down 131 deliveries without conceding a single run against England at Madras in 1964.
31. The first Indian to play Test Cricket was K.S. Ranjitsinjhi, who represented England between 1896 and 1902.
32. After Australia famously lost to India at Kolkata in 2001 after making them follow on, Australian skipper, Steve Waugh labeled India “The Final Frontier” as a result of his otherwise all-conquering side’s continued inability to win a Test series in India.
32. The only cricketer to have played, both for England and India is Nawab of Pataudi (Senior).
34. In 1999, Anil Kumble became the first man since England’s Jim Laker to take 10 wickets in a Test match innings when he took 10-74 against Pakistan in Delhi.
33. MS Dhoni holds the world record for 6 dismissals by a wicket keeper in a one-dayer v/s England at Leeds in 2007.
34. 26. Sunil Gavaskar batted the entire 60 overs of a one-dayer, scoring just 36* in the 1975 World Cup against England.
India lost the match by a huge margin of more than 200 runs.
35. After Australia famously lost to India at Kolkata in 2001 after making them follow on, Australian skipper, Steve Waugh labeled India “The Final Frontier” as a result of his otherwise all-conquering side’s continued inability to win a Test series in India.
36. In the 1983 World Cup at the famous INDIA VS ZIMBABWE match, India were in tatters at 17 for 5. Kapil Dev walked in and scored 175, which won the match for India. After this match India’s fortune in World Cup 1983 changed and India eventually became world champions.