Ask Bharath: Axar Patel's golden duck on birthday and other stats

Axar Patel

1. In World Cup, how many times have a team bowled through a complete innings without conceding any extras? – Asked by Amit Kumar, India

There hasn’t been any complete innings (all out or full quota of overs) without an extra by the bowlers. The innings in World Cups with most runs without having any extras is 178/5 in 37.3 overs for South Africa where the New Zealand bowlers did not concede any type of extra run defending their total of 177/9 in 50 overs. The least number of extras conceded in a complete innings of 50 overs is 3 wides by Kenya bowlers to West Indies (246/7) in the World Cup in 2003.

2. Whose record did Srikar Bharat break for the highest individual score by a wicketkeeper in Ranji Trophy? – Asked by Mit Chowdhury, India

Srikar Bharat became the first wicketkeeper to score a triple century in Ranji Trophy in the last match of the group stage of this Ranji Trophy season. He scored 308 for Andhra against Goa. The previous record for the highest individual inning by a wicketkeeper was held by Sagar Jogiyani who scored 282 for Saurashtra against Gujarat inthe 2012/13 season. CM Gautam is the only wicketkeeper to score two individual 250+ scores in Ranji Trophy.

3. Axar Patel was out for a golden duck on his 21st birthday (against England on January 20, 2015). How many players have that feat in ODIs? – Asked by Kaushik Saha, Mumbai, India

Axar Patel became the fourth player to get a golden duck on his birthday in ODIs. The three players to get this before Axar Patel are Pat Symcox (36th birthday) in 1996, Junior Murray (29th birthday) in 1997 and Azhar Mahmood (26th birthday) in 2001. Makhaya Ntini was out for a diamond duck (dismissed without facing a ball) on his 23^rd birthday in 2000. Overall, Axar Patel is the 18th player to get out on duck on birthday in ODIs.

4. How many players have taken a wicket off their first ball in ODI, Test and T20I career? – Asked by Kalpesh Malpani, Kalyan, India

19 players in Tests, 18 in ODIs and 6 in T20Is have taken a wicket on their very first ball of the career. Latest to do in Tests was Dane Piedt of South Africa in 2014. In ODIs, it was Kenneth Kamyuka of Canada and in T20Is, Nadeem Ahmed for Hong Kong and Paras Khadka for Nepal took a wicket on their first ball in the same match. In T20Is, Michale Kasprowicz took two wickets off his first two balls and Virat Kohli took a wicket of his first ball which was a wide. In ODIs, Sadagoppan Ramesh and Wavell Hinds did it in the same ODI in 2009.

5. Which bowler holds the record for taking most number of five-wicket hauls and ten-wicket hauls in a season in Ranji Trophy? – Asked by Ayush Gandhi, India

Both these records are held by the same bowler and in the same season. Bishan Singh Bedi took eight 5-wicket hauls in an innings and four ten-wicket hauls in a match in the 1974/75 season for Delhi. In that season, he took 64 wickets which is again a record for the highest number of wickets by a player in a season in Ranji Trophy.

Maninder Singh in 1991/92, Rajesh Chauhan in 1996/97 and Laxmipathy Balaji in 2002/03 took seven five-wicket hauls in the season. CS Nayudu in 1942/43, Padmakar Shivalkar in 1972/73, BS Chandrasekhar in 1973/74, Rajinder Goel in 1978/79, Bharat Vij in 1996/97 and Laxmipathy Balaji in 2003/03 all took three ten-wicket hauls in a Ranji Trophy season.