20 Incredible Cricket Facts That Will Blow Your Mind!
People in India have a blind love for cricket. You will meet die-hard fans of cricket in every corner of the country. If we think of a scenario where we have to divide our nation into two parts on the basis of cricket, then in one part you will find people who love the game and others who worship the game. We got the perfect set of incredible cricket facts for you!
There is no denying the fact that even if someone is not much interested in the game, they will never miss the opportunity to witness a match between India and Pakistan. This particular sport has too many emotions attached and cricket facts are something that every citizen turns their ears to. Even after being not much curious about the sports, I make it a point to never miss a world cup match where India is participating.
Let us have a look at some refreshing cricket fun facts for all the cricket fans out there.
1. Chris Gayle was the only batsman to hit a six for the first ball of a test match
Test cricket has been played around for like 137 years now. In its entire journey, no cricketer other than Chris Gayle has ever hit a six off the first ball in the Test Match. Courageous Chris Gayle attained his first feat against Bangladesh in the year 2012 off debutant Sohag Gazi.
2. Sachin Tendulkar’s bat was used by Shahid Afridi to hit the fastest ever ODI century
Shahid Afridi was selected to play for the Pakistan team against West Indies in Nairobi in the year 1996. He didn’t have a proper bat to play. It was then Shahid Afridi was given Sachin Tendulkar’s bat. That day Afridi hit 11 sixes and six boundaries in total with the bat. He scored a century in only 37 balls and the match was then regarded as the fastest ODI century. This is one of the most interesting cricket fun facts for Sachin Tendulkar’s fans.
3. The average of the test match score of Vinod Kambli is better than his childhood friend Sachin Tendulkar
Vinod Kambli has played only 17 test matches and the test average of Kambli is 54.20 while that of his friend Sachin Tendulkar is 53.78. Tendulkar has played around 200 test matches.
4. Sunil Gavaskar was out on the first ball in a Test match for a total of three times in his career.
Sunil Gavaskar was the first batsman to have reached the 10,000 test runs mark. He also ended up scoring 34 test centuries. Are you aware that he was out three times off the first ball in a test? And the bowlers to dismiss him were Malcolm Marshall (Kolkata, 1984), Geoff Arnold (Edgbaston, 1974), Imran Khan (Jaipur, 1987).
Might like to know the Top 20 Developed Cities in India
5. Lala Amarnath was the only bowler who dismissed Don Bradman hit wicket in one of the Test matches.
6. During a World Cup match, where 335 runs were required, Sunil Gavaskar scored an unbeatable 36 runs off 174 balls.
The World Cup match of 1975 was between India and England. England set the target in 60 overs. It was a tough innings for Sunil Gavaskar where he managed to score only 36 runs in 174 balls. The total score of India for that match was only 132 with 7 wickets in hand.
7. Sanath Jayasuria has taken many more ODI wickets than Shane Warne probably had.
Being a Sri Lankan all-rounder Sanath Jayasuria has successfully picked 323 wickets in his career. Shane Warne is a legendary spinner from Australia and he has managed to pick 293 wickets.
8. In 1983 India won the World Cup and also won their first-ever Test at Lord’s in 1986, which was only 3 years later.
Surprisingly India won their second World Cup 28 years later in 2011 and won its second Test at Lord’s in 2014.
9. Wilfred Rhodes managed to take a whopping amount of wickets that counts to 4,204 in first class cricket.
Yes, you read that right! He actually did take more than 4k wickets and you will be more astonished to know the runs scored. He happened to score 39,969 runs. Isn’t it one of the most interesting cricket facts.
10. Alec Stewart’s birth-date is 8-4-63, and he scored 8463 runs in his journey as a cricketer.
11. Ishant Sharma was responsible for the three highest scores made by a batsman against India in the 21st Century.
Alistair Cook – 294 runs, Edgbaston 2011
Michael Clarke – 329 runs, Sydney 2012
Brendon McCullum – 302 runs, Wellington
Ishant Sharma dropped all of them early on in their innings.
12. Wilfred Rhodes, a famous cricketer of England have played Test Cricket matches till he was 52.
13. Distinct 4 innings of a test match were played on the same day
It was the 2000 Lord’s match between West Indies and England, and the audience witnessed that all the four innings were played on the same day. This accomplishment was repeated after a long time period of 11 years in the famous Cape Town test where Australia was bowled out by South Africa for 47.
14. England was beaten by Australia with 45 runs twice. Once in the first-ever Test Cricket and in the Centenary Test in 1977 as well.
Australia beat England by 45 runs in the first-ever test match that was played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in 1877. The best part is that even after 100 years the same thing happened where the opponent parties were the same, the venue and the results were the same as well.
15. On the morning of 11/11/11 South Africa needed 111 runs to win at 11:11.
This coincidence occurred while the first Test Match was being played in between South Africa and Australia at Cape Town. South Africa needed 111 runs further to win.
16. Jim Laker and Anil Kumble were witnessed by only a single person taking 10 wickets in an innings.
Richard Strokes was only 10 years old when he witnessed Jim Laker taking all 10 wickets in 1956. It was an Old Trafford Test against Australia. Forty-three years later he was in India and while watching an India-Pakistan test match he saw Anil Kumble taking all 10 wickets in the innings. These were the two test strokes that he witnessed in his life.
17. Peter Siddle is the only bowler who took a hat-trick on his birthday.
Peter Siddle is till now the only bowler in International cricket who on his birthday scored a hat-trick. This incident happened during the Brisbane Test against England in 2010 on November 25. Keep enjoying some of the best cricket fun facts.
18. Test cricket for India is played by two Robin Singhs and both never got a chance to play after their debut Test.
India’s one-day expert Robin Singh played a test match in his career against Zimbabwe in 1998. His namesake, Junior Robin Singh was a fast bowler and he also played only a Test Match against New Zealand in 199.
19. Sachin Tendulkar played for Pakistan before he started playing for India
The most surprising cricket facts are no one can ever imagine. Can you imagine Sachin Tendulkar playing for Pakistan? This happened when a practice match was held between India and Pakistan at the Brabourne Stadium in 1987. Tendulkar came on the field to play on behalf of Pakistan as a substitute fielder.
20. Adam Gilchrist holds the record for playing the highest number of Test matches right after his debut.
Adam Gilchrist played 96 matched between November 1999 and January 2008. He didn’t drop out from any one of them.
These are some of the mind-blowing cricket facts that we could find!
Let us know in the comments if we’ve missed any cricket facts that you’d like to see!
Stay tuned to NowBuzzing!
