5 myths in Indian cricket proved wrong

“Myth is, after all, the never ending story” – Joan D. Vinge

There are a plethora of myths that have engulfed Indian cricket over the years. Billions of Indian cricket fans are so obsessed with the gentleman’s game that they are ready to believe fanciful stories that hardly bear any legitimacy.

We dug deep to find out five such myths about Indian cricket which should be busted.

Here is the list:

1. Yuvraj Singh’s ODI Debut

Yuvraj Singh bowled 4 overs in his debut against Kenya (Image Credits: EspnCricinfo)

One of the most prolific limited-overs batsmen of India, Yuvraj Singh burst on to the scene in the ICC KnockOut Trophy 2000 in Nairobi when he played a wonderful innings of 84 against Australia.

There is no doubting the quality of that knock, but not many know that that match was not the southpaw's debut game. He, in fact, made his debut against Kenya in the same tournament.

But in the game against Kenya, he was not required to bat as the Indian top-order chased down the target of 209 with consummate ease. Ganguly and Dravid both scored half-centuries in that game.

Yuvraj bowled 4 overs in the match against Kenya and conceded 16 runs without picking up any wicket.

2. The 'myth' about Sachin Tendulkar's tons and India losing

Sachin Tendulkar scored 33 tons in winning causes for India

The man with the improbable hundred 100s has often been dragged into unpleasant discussions around the 'fact’ that India mostly lost the matches in which he scored a ton.

However, with the help of statistics, the myth can be easily busted. There is no denying the fact that some of his hundreds did come in losing causes. But if you go deep into the record books, you can easily see the truth.

Out of his 463 ODIs, India lost 200 matches and in those 200 matches, the maestro scored 14 tons with the highest being 175 against Australia at Hyderabad in 2009.

On the other hand, in the ODIs that India won, Sachin scored 33 tons at an astounding average of 56.63. The master blaster has also won the highest number of man of the match and man of the series awards in ODIs (62 and 15 respectively), which is a testament to his immense contributions in India’s wins in ODIs.

In Tests, Tendulkar has 20 hundreds in winning causes which clearly shows the man’s impact across the formats. So one should really think before saying that his hundreds only came in losing causes.`

3. Sourav Ganguly's overseas Test series wins

Under Sourav Ganguly, India won 6 Tests outside the subcontinent

Undoubtedly one of the finest skippers to have ever led India, the charismatic Sourav Ganguly led his team with his usual flair. It was under him that India went on to achieve many memorable Test victories outside India.

But did India win any Test series under his stewardship outside the subcontinent? The answer is a ‘no’, barring a Test series triumph against a beleaguered Zimbabwe side in 2005. Ganguly's Team India failed to win any Test series outside the sub-continent apart from that insignificant triumph.

No, we are not trying to denigrate Ganguly by any means as we know he was the one who built the team that went on to achieve unprecedented success in the future. But he is not the one under whom India achieved any memorable Test series triumph outside the sub-continent.

Under Ganguly's leadership, India won one Test each at Leeds and Adelaide against England and Australia respectively and drew both the series 1-1. India later won a Test series in England after 21 years under the leadership of Rahul Dravid. That team under Dravid also managed to notch another memorable Test series triumph in West Indies, after a gap of 35 years.

Later India won against New Zealand in the Kiwis’ den in 2009 under MS Dhoni.

Ganguly will definitely remain one of India’s most successful skippers of all time but one should also have a look at the statistics before jumping the gun about any aspect. Except for the three wins against Zimbabwe in Zimbabwe, under Ganguly, India managed to win only three Tests outside the subcontinent (one each against Australia, England and West Indies).

In this regard, Dhoni eclipses Ganguly with four wins outside the subcontinent – his wins coming against New Zealand (2009), South Africa (2010), West Indies (2011) and England (2014).

India did manage to draw more Tests back then though, and one can say that the team learned to play aggressively outside the sub-continent during the tenure of Ganguly.

4. Australia stopped enforcing the follow-on after that epic Eden Test

VVS Laxman(L) and Rahul Dravid did the improbable as India scripted a memorable win in 2001

One of the greatest matches of all time, the epic Test at the Eden Gardens in 2001 between India and Australia saw a tremendous reversal of fortunes as India famously scripted a victory after being enforced to follow-on.

There have been only three instances when a team has won after being enforced to follow-on and India’s triumph at Eden was the last time something like that happened.

There's a popular myth that after that unbelievable debacle, neither the then-Australian skipper Steve Waugh nor his successors ever enforced the follow-on.

However, there is no basis to that myth; we have found out that after that particular Test at Eden, Steve Waugh himself enforced the follow-on in seven subsequent opportunities and he won all seven of those matches.

Only months after Kolkata, in the Ashes, Waugh had no hesitation forcing England to follow on at The Oval. And his bowlers justified his decision by rolling the opposition out for a paltry total to complete a thumping innings and 25-run win over their arch-rivals.

His immediate successor Ponting enforced the follow-on four times from 13 chances, and after him others too enforced it as required. The drop in the rate of the follow-on can be attributed to the fact that the mighty Australian team was going through a transition phase which saw many of the stalwarts hanging their boots up; they were not the team they used to be earlier.

So it is understandable that Australia didn’t quite stop enforcing the follow-on because of what happened in Kolkata in 2001. Under Steve Waugh, they continued enforcing it and after that due to purely cricketing reasons, their rate of enforcing the follow-on decreased.

5. Did Sehwag really say, “Baap Baap hota hai, beta beta”?

There has been no conclusive evidence of the words that Sehwag said to Akhtar

One of the most colourful characters on the cricket field, Virender Sehwag had many anecdotes in his bag to share which he experienced during his playing career.

Known to be a light-hearted cricketer, Sehwag is a master at pulling others’ leg, and some of the stories that he has shared can really make the fans break into laughter.

However, one famous line attributed to him, which has almost become a part of Indian cricket folklore, seems to have no solid proof. Sehwag, during an appearance in a television show, talked about a Test match in which he was batting near 200 and the Rawalpindi Express Shoaib Akhtar was peppering him with short balls and also asking him to either hook or pull them.

Tendulkar was batting at the non-striker's end and, referring to him, Sehwag apparently said to Akhtar, "Woh tera baap khada hai non-striker end pe, usko bol wo maar ke dikhayega" (Your father is at the non-striker's end, ask him to play the shot).

And the story supposedly reached a crescendo when, after an over, Tendulkar hit Shoaib Akhtar’s bouncer out of the park and led Sehwag saying, "Beta beta hota hai, baap baap hota hai." (Son is son but the father is always the boss).

But is it true? When we tried to dig deep, we found that in the four Tests in which Sehwag had a score near 200 against Pakistan, Akhtar played in only two of them and in those two Tests in Multan and Lahore, Tendulkar didn't hit a six.

In the other two Tests Akhtar didn’t play at all, so that led us to wonder whether Sehwag was referring to ODIs rather than a Test. But in ODIs, Sehwag got near 200 only once when he scored 219 against West Indies, and there was no question of Tendulkar hitting Akhtar there.

There is no video or recording either which can prove the legitimacy of the claim made by Sehwag. Was it only a publicity gimmick to spice up the India-Pakistan contests, or was it some sort of a prank pulled off by Sehwag?

The answer is best known to him and Shoaib Akhtar.