35 moments in cricket that will make you feel old

In cricket, or indeed any sport, sometimes there is so much going on that it is easy to lose track of time.

So freshly imprinted are they in our minds that moments which took place years ago seem like they happened only yesterday.

On that note, we bring you 35 moments in cricket that will make you feel old and question Father Time himself.

In the last 7 years…

35 – Muttiah Muralitharan became the first bowler to claim 800 Test wickets. Pragyan Ojha was his 800th victim, off the last ball of his last Test match, at Galle.

34 – In August 2009, Zimbabwe’s Charles Coventry broke Saeed Anwar’s record of the highest score in ODIs. Coventry scored 194* in a match against Bangladesh. This record was subsequently broken by Sachin Tendulkar (200*) against South Africa and Virender Sehwag (219*) against West Indies.

33 – In January 2008, Harbhajan Singh was banned for three matches after he was alleged to have called Andrew Symonds “monkey” in a Test match at SCG. The ban was later overturned following a tribunal hearing.

8 years have passed since…

32 – Cricket suffered a huge blow when Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer was found dead under mysterious circumstances, following Pakistan’s exit from the World Cup at the hands of Ireland.

31 – Herschelle Gibbs became the first batsman to hit 6 sixes in an over in an ODI match. He did that against Netherlands in the 2007 World Cup.

30 – Yuvraj Singh became the first batsman to hit 6 sixes in an over in a T20 match. Stuart Broad and England were the unfortunate victims of Yuvraj’s assault.

29 – Lasith Malinga became the first bowler to take 4 wickets in four balls in a Super 8 World Cup match against South Africa. Despite this feat, SA held on for the win

9 years ago…

28 – Irfan Pathan took a hat-trick against Pakistan in the first over of a Test match in Karachi.

27 – South Africa and Australia fought out an epic 872-run ODI, which South Africa won with 1 ball and 1 wicket to spare.

26 – Sri Lanka notched up the highest ever score in ODIs by hammering Netherlands for 443 runs at Amstelveen. 7 years on, the record is still intact.

25 – In August 2006, Pakistan refused to take the field after being penalised for ball-tampering by umpire Darrell Hair and Billy Doctrove. The umpires awarded the match to England on grounds of forfeiture, the first time in cricket history a Test match was decided in this manner.

24 – In December 2006, Shane Warne became the first bowler in cricket to notch up 700 Test wickets when he dismissed Andrew Strauss at the MCG in the Boxing Day Test match.

23 – It’s been 7 years since Sreesanth performed his legendary pelvic thrust at Andre Nel after hitting the latter for a six in a Test match against South Africa in Dec 2006.

It’s been 12 years since…

22 – Chaminda Vaas became the first bowler to take a hat-trick off the first three balls of an international cricket match in any format. Bangladesh was the opposition, the 2003 WC was the tournament.

21 – The Kenyan team surprised many by upsetting more accomplished teams and reaching the semifinals of the 2003 World Cup.

20 – Brian Lara broke Matthew Hayden’s record of the highest score in Test cricket by notching an unbeaten 400 in a Test match against England at Antigua. Remarkably, Lara’s knock of 375, when he beat Sir Garfield Sobers’ record of 365, was also on the same ground, and against the same opposition.

More than 13 years ago…

19 – Nathan Astle notched up the fastest double century in Test cricket against England at Christchurch, 2002. Astle reached 200 off 153 balls, and eventually got out after hitting 222 runs off 168 balls.

18 – Sourav Ganguly went down in cricket folklore as the only man to take off his shirt and wave it around on the Lord’s balcony, as part of celebrations following India’s memorable win over England in the final of the Natwest Trophy, July 2002.

17 – In March 2001, VVS Laxman scored a chanceless 281 as India overcame the odds and beat Australia after being made to follow-on in a Test match at the Eden Gardens.

16 – 13 years ago, Hansie Cronje was found guilty of having fixed cricket matches and was banned from cricket for life. Two years later, in June 2002, a plane carrying Cronje crashed near George airport, killing him and the two pilots instantly.

16 years ago…

15 – Shiv Sena activists dug up the pitch at Kotla, Delhi to prevent the visiting Pakistan team from playing on Indian soil.

14 – Despite this, the match was rescheduled and Anil Kumble became the second bowler in cricket history to take 10 wickets in an innings. Wasim Akram was Kumble’s tenth victim, and he finished with figures of 10/74.

13 – Debutant Shoaib Akhtar brought Eden Gardens to a standstill after dismissing both Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar off consecutive deliveries in the Asian Test Championship match.

12 – Sachin Tendulkar was given out LBW while ducking to a bouncer from Glenn McGrath in a Test match at the Adelaide Oval, in Dec 1999.

11 – Bangladesh upset Pakistan in the 1999 World Cup match, sparking allegations of match-fixing.

10 – “You’ve just dropped the World Cup, mate” – The (alleged) immortal words of Steve Waugh after Herschelle Gibbs dropped his catch in a Super 6 match of the 1999 WC.

9 – South Africa and Australia fought out a nail-biting tie in the semifinals of the 1999 World Cup.

It’s been 17 years since…

8 – Hrishikesh Kanitkar shot to fame by virtue of scoring the winning boundary against Pakistan in the final of the Sahara Independence Cup. India chased down Pakistan’s 314/5 and finished with 316/7, the then highest score chased in an ODI.

7 – Sachin Tendulkar piled on two mammoth centuries, 143 and 134, against Australia in the Coca-Cola Cup, Sharjah. The later knock resulted in India winning the cup.

It’s been 18 years since…

6 – Saeed Anwar recorded the then highest score in ODIs – 194 – against India at Chennai.

5 – Sri Lanka recorded the highest team total in a Test match by scoring 952/6 against India at Colombo.

4 – The Toronto incident, when Inzamam-ul-Haq assaulted a member of the crowd who had been showering the Pakistani batsman with abusive language. The incident occured in a Sahara Cup match in September 1997.

19 years ago…

3- Venkatesh Prasad etched his name in Indian cricket folklore by bowling out Aamer Sohail, right after the Pakistani batsmen was seen taunting the lanky paceman, in the quarterfinals of the 1996 World Cup.

2 – The image of Vinod Kambli crying was smeared across the minds of Indian cricket fans as the 1996 World Cup semifinal match between India and Sri Lanka was abandoned due to crowd trouble.

It’s been 22 years since…

1 -Following a rain interruption, South Africa were politely told that they needed to score 22 runs off 1 ball to defeat England, win the semifinal and progress to the final of the 1992 World Cup.

Soon after, the South African duo of Duckworth and Lewis came up with a new system to calculate targets.