5 current cricket facts that no fan could have predicted 20 years ago

Player contracts rows and chaotic management has plagued West Indian Cricket

Twenty years ago, thanks to satellite TV, cricket slowly but surely began spreading its wings across the world. Pakistan was savoring its World Cup win in Australia and Sri Lanka was at the cusp of achieving the impossible. White ball cricket was starting to dominate the game and limited overs cricket in the form of ODI was gaining in popularity. The run rates were skyrocketing and ODI teams had begun to breach the 300 run barrier.It was the early nineties and an off-spinning wizard from the island nation of Sri Lanka had emerged to lock horns with Australia’s spinning sensation in Shane Warne. It was also the time when two young batsmen had captured the imagination of fans the world over. Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara would carry the fortunes of their team’s for years to come.Precedence’s were being set and the old order was being laid to rest. That said, if a cricket fan in 1995 were to peek into a crystal ball while aspiring to witness what the future held, he/she would perhaps be in for a rude shock. For what the future had in store was far beyond the fan’s imagination.Here are five current cricketing facts that no fan could have predicted twenty years ago.

#5 West Indies being knocked out of the Champions Trophy

Player contracts rows and chaotic management has plagued West Indian Cricket

Consider this - the West Indies won the Cricket World Cup in 1975 and 1979 and through the 1980s were recognized as unofficial world champions. Their team composition was quite simple - four menacing fast bowlers and the best batsmen in the world. A recipe for success so simple yet so potent that teams shuddered with the thought of facing up to the formidable men from the Caribbean.

The eighties was also the period when the West Indies tasted unprecedented success in Test cricket. Their then-record of 11 consecutive Test victories had two five-love series results against England.

Should an ecstatic West Indian fan from the eighties have fast forwarded to present times, he would be jolted to hear that the current side has failed to qualify for the 2017 Champions Trophy - nudged aside by Bangladesh. Since their decline began in the late 1990s, things have gone from bad to worse for the Caribbean side.

When Darren Sammy’s side won the 2012 World Twenty20, a revival seemed to be around the corner. However, player contracts rows and chaotic management has plagued West Indian cricket. The suspension of coach Phil Simmons over his criticism of team selection only adds to the woes.

The West Indies’ failure to qualify marks the first time that they would have missed out on any of world Cricket’s big limited-over events. It certainly is a crushing indictment for a side that is just one of three teams to have won all three titles - the World Cup in 1975 and 1979, the Champions Trophy in 2004 and the World Twenty20 in 2012.

#4 Sri Lanka winning two World Cups

Sri Lanka went from being minnows to world cup winners.

In the early nineties, Sri Lankan cricket was galvanizing but their team was yet a force to be reckoned with in international Cricket. Despite being awarded Test status in 1982, a majority of their away series featured “one-off” Tests. Humble and hard-working, the Sri Lankans played admirably in the backdrop of the fearsome civil war.

It was during this time that stalwarts in the form of Roshan Mahanama, Sanath Jayasuriya, and Aravinda De Silva emerged. And in Arjuna Ranatunga, they had an astute leader who dared to take on the best in the business and dream of inflicting defeats.

Despite their sincere resolve, Sri Lanka still languished in the shadows of their illustrious sub-continental neighbors. Going into the 1996 World Cup, despite their hearts suggesting a win, Sri Lankan fans perhaps knew that the task on hand was improbable.

Twenty years later, those very fans have been “dancing in the isles” for two decades now since that famous win at Lahore. With the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 safely in their pouch as well, the islanders now boast of having won two World Cups. That they were consecutive runners-up in the 2007 and 2011 World Cups is vindication of the fact that Sri Lanka is a formidable cricketing nation - a team that has well and truly reversed the tide in world cricket.

2014 World T20 in Bangladesh

#3 Tendulkar outscoring Lara

Tendulkar would end up outscoring Lara by 11,988 international runs.

Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara shared several similarities. Both made their international debuts in Pakistan - Tendulkar in November 1980 and Lara a year later. If Tendulkar was the lynchpin of India’s batting through the nineties, Lara held fort for the West Indies during the same period. And needless to say, both stalwarts made stroke-play a feature of their batting.

The only difference, however, was their approach. With a periscope-like back lift and a follow through akin to a sword wielding warrior, Lara went about decimating the opposition while exhibiting typical Caribbean flair. Tendulkar, on the other hand, punched his way through the opposition barracks while wielding a seemingly mighty piece of willow.

By January 1995, Lara had amassed 2,490 ODI runs from 78 innings and Tendulkar had scored 2,441 runs from 91 innings. At this juncture, Lara had four ODI tons and Tendulkar had three. The cricketing world was set for a legendary rivalry and Lara seemed to have gotten off the blocks early. He was the pride of the West Indies and looked set to turn the record books alight.

Twenty years later, the record books tell a different story - one that the oracles couldn’t have foretold. With both batsmen having retired, Tendulkar had scored 34,346 international runs (Tests & ODI) while Lara had amassed 22,358 runs.

In sport, much to the dislike of players and fans, there are spots to be claimed and someone finishes a runner-up. And in this head-to-head battle amongst batting wizards, Tendulkar finished on top by an incredible 11,988 international runs - a fact that no fan could have predicted twenty years ago.

#2 Sir Vivian Richards\' record of fastest century remaining unbroken

Sir Viv Richards’ Test hundred from 56 balls is still the fastest ever.

When David Gower led his team to West Indies for the five-match Test series in 1986, he was hoping to avenge the whitewash sustained at home in 1984. Little did he know that he was to suffer a five-love result and Sir Viv Richards would add insult to injury.

The fifth Test at Antigua witnessed a resounding 240 run victory for the West Indies. Set a target of 411 runs to win, England never seemed to have recovered from the hiding that Sir Richards conferred upon them. When he chose to declare, Richards has smashed seven boundaries and seven sixes. His hundred of 56 balls was then a world record for the fastest Test match century.

Fast forward twenty-nine years and you’ll still find Sir. Viv Richards sitting pretty atop the list of fastest Test hundreds. With ODI and Twenty20 cricket gaining prominence, surely someone ought to have broken it by now. Misbah-ul-Haq equaled it and Adam Gilchrist got to within a ball of eclipsing the record. But in all the years of cricket since that day at the Antigua Recreation Ground, Sir Richards’ feat has stood the test of time and evolution that the game has witnessed.

#1 Muttiah Muralitharan being the highest wicket-taker

Muralitharan would finish with 800 Test wickets

In August 1992, a 20-year-old Sri Lankan with an unconventional off-spinning action was handed a debut in the second Test of a home series against the visiting Australians led by Alan Border. In a drawn game, Muttiah Muralitharan sent down a mammoth 34 overs in the second innings and finished with match figures of 3/141.

It certainly wasn’t an eye-popping display that would earmark him for greatness. That said, his long spell in the second innings and his dismissal of Tom Moody and Mark Waugh of consecutive balls were indicators of strong abilities that the off-spinner possessed.

A year later, when he took his first five-wicket haul against South Africa, he proved beyond doubt that he could bowl long unyielding spells and produce vicious turn. And it was for this very reason that Arjuna Ranatunga used Muralitharan as his potent weapon. With his skipper backing him, the young Sri Lankan looked set to scale great heights.

But his world would come crashing down when Darrell Hair called the off-spinner for throwing in 1995 on Boxing Day Test. His bowling action was deemed suspect and drew microscopic scrutiny. Thereafter, the skeptics seemed to grow with every ball he bowled and every wicket he took. That he bowled with elastic wrists and a rapid shoulder rotation were overlooked and instead, perceived as objects of deception to hide a flawed action.

At the time, owing to the growing number of critics, it seemed highly improbable that Muralitharan would bowl in the next series. Any thoughts of a prolonged career seemed absolutely far-fetched.

Fast forward twenty years and a Sri Lankan fan from that infamous Boxing Day Test would be thrilled to bits. With an astonishing 800 wickets, Muralitharan stands proudly atop the Test match bowling records. And with the only active bowlers in the distant 400 wicket bracket being the ageing Harbhajan Singh, James Anderson and Dale Steyn - Muralitharan’s record looks more than secure.

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Edited by Staff Editor