5 fascinating coincidences the game of cricket has witnessed

Cricket is a game of uncertainties. The first-ever test match was played in the year 1877 and since then, the game has witnessed many radical changes in the ensuing 143 years. The game has evolved big time, especially in the last two decades.

The game of cricket is an unpredictable one. Be it Test cricket, ODI cricket or T20 cricket, each format has a large number of fan following.

Despite the unpredictable nature of the game, there have been certain coincidences the game of cricket has witnessed. Here is a look at 5 such coincidences which are indeed fascinating:

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# 1: A son is given out by a father in international cricket

A father being an on-field umpire ruled his son out in international cricket.

In an ODI involving Kenya and Bangladesh in 2006, Hitesh Modi, the Kenyan batsman was ruled out LBW by his father Subhash Modi. The bowler was Mashrafe Mortaza and Hitesh was adjudged LBW by his father.

Subhash Modi was an umpire appointed by the ICC in the said game in Nairobi and had no hesitation in ruling his son out. The said incident remains the only one in the history of cricket where a son has been ruled out by his father.

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# 2: Same team winning a Test by the same margin after 100 years:

The first-ever Test was played between England and Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground ("MCG") in 1877, where the hosts won by 45 runs. The Australian opener Charles Bannerman was the lone centurion in the said Test as he scored 165 runs in the first innings for his team.

To mark the 100th anniversary of the first-ever test between England and Australia, a test was organized between both the nations at the MCG in 1977.

Australia emerged victorious in that said test too by a margin of 45 runs i.e. the same margin by which they had won the Test in 1877. Interesting isn't it?

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# 3: Score 183 runs in an ODI and become India's next skipper:

Sourav Ganguly scored a brilliant 183 against Sri Lanka in an ODI in Taunton in the 1999 World Cup. Courtesy Ganguly's innings, India defeated Sri Lanka in the same game. A year later, Ganguly was named the Indian skipper in Tests as well as ODI cricket.

6 years later, Mahendra Singh Dhoni too scored 183 runs against the same opponents i.e. Sri Lanka in Jaipur in the year 2005. His innings included 15 boundaries and 10 huge sixes.

Dhoni was made the captain of the Indian limited-overs team in the year 2007 and took over the Test captaincy in the year 2008.

Also see – MI team

The third Indian batsman to score 183 runs and being made skipper soon thereafter is the current Indian captain Virat Kohli. In an ODI against arch-rivals Pakistan in Dhaka in the year 2012, Kohli scored a brilliant 183 in the said game and led India to an impressive run chase. Kohli has been the Indian Test captain since 2015 and has been the leader of the ODI and T20 team since 2018.

183 indeed seems to be a lucky number for Indian cricket and its future captains.

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# 4: Alec Stewart's date of birth and his test runs

Alec Stewart was indeed a great servant of English cricket, playing 133 tests and 170 ODIs for his country. Stewart played international cricket from the year 1989 till 2003 and scored plenty of runs for England.

What is interesting to note is that Stewart was born on 8th April, 1963 (8/4/63) and scored the same number of test runs i.e. 8463 after playing test cricket for around 13 years.

He was an integral part of the English team in the 1990s and early 2000s. An effective wicket-keeper, Stewart had a hand in 451 international dismissals behind the stumps.

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# 5: The curious case of Mahendra Singh Dhoni

Former Indian skipper, MS Dhoni, again makes it to the list of coincidences in the game of cricket.

Dhoni's first century in ODIs and test matches were scored against Pakistan in Vishakapatnam (2005) and Faisalabad (2006) respectively. It is interesting to note that the said centuries were scored by Dhoni in his 5th respective game in the concerned format.

Another interesting coincidence here is that Dhoni scored exactly 148 runs in both the said ODI and test match.

This indeed is a mother of all coincidences.