25 Unbelievable facts about Indian cricket

India has always been a cricket-crazy nation. Cricket is one sport that gets the entire country united irrespective of various differences. While the sport is adored by a few, it is worshipped by a few others. People who don't watch the sport much are also drawn into it in the country and such is the popularity of cricket.

Ever since India made its debut at the international stage in 1932, there have been several records shattered. Many players created several records. Apart from these laurels, there are a few intriguing facts about Indian cricket which are quite mind-boggling. Here is a collection of such most astounding truths.

1. Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi - The only cricketer to play for India and England

Nawab Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi was the 8th Nawab of Pataudi. He is the grandfather of Bollywood actor Saif Ali Khan. His son, Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi also represented the country and led the team. IAK Pataudi was born on 16 March 1910 and lived till 1952.

In his cricketing career, IAK Pataudi played 6 Tests - 3 for England and 3 for India. Between 1932 and 1934, he plied his trade for the English cricket team. Later, when the Indian team toured England in 1946, he led the team in three Tests against the same team for which he played earlier.

In 10 Test innings, IAK Pataudi scored 199 runs at an average of 20. He registered one century in his career. Also, he has got massive experience playing in first-class cricket. He played 127 games and scored 8,750 runs at an average of 48.60. He struck 29 centuries in first-class cricket in that day and age. The former captain is regarded to be one of the finest cricketers the country ever produced. His ill-health, however, didn't allow him to continue playing cricket for a long time.

2. An Indian bowler got Sir Don Bradman out hit-wicket for the only time in his career

The legendary Sir Don Bradman, who averaged 99.94 in his Test career got out hit-wicket only once. It was an Indian bowler, the great Lala Amarnath who accounted for his wicket then. This incident dates all the way back to 1948 Test match in Brisbane.

Bradman had scored 185 runs in that game before he was out hit-wicket. It was his first-ever Test match against the Indian Cricket Team. Lala Amarnath represented India in 24 Test matches. He scored 878 runs at an average of just over 24.

With the ball in hand, he picked up 45 wickets at an average of 33. He further also picked two five-wicket hauls in his career. While his best figures in an innings are 5/96, his best figures in a match are 8/167. Amarnath played for India for almost 19 years.

3. Shahid Afridi played with Sachin Tendulkar's bat when he scored the then fastest ODI century

Twenty20 International: England v Pakistan

In 1996, a young Shahid Afridi made the headlines for scoring the fastest ever century in ODI cricket. The all-rounder reached the triple digits in only 37 balls in Nairobi against Sri Lanka to create a record that couldn't be broken for 18 long years. He walked in at number three in the game after the wicket of Saleem Elahi fell. His innings included 11 sixes and 6 fours.

Such was his carnage that out of the 126-run partnership, he alone scored 102 runs. Interestingly, Afridi didn't have a proper bat back then. Hence, Waqar Younis gifted him Sachin Tendulkar's bat. The record was later broken by Corey Anderson (36 balls) and is now held by AB de Villiers (31 balls). In 398 ODI games, Afridi scored six centuries in his career.

4. Abbas Ali Baig was the first Indian cricketer to be kissed during a cricket match

Although it is a rarity nowadays, fans running onto the cricket field was quite common back in time. In recent times, we have witnessed fans rush onto the field breaching the security to meet their favourite cricketers. But about till a few years ago, the security wasn't that high and it was quite easy to enter into the cricket field. On most of the instances, all the audience used to make their way into the middle once the match ended.

On one of such instances, a young lady had no hesitations to race her way into the middle. In the third Test against Australia, Abbas Ali Baig reached his half-century at the Brabourne Stadium in 1960. The pretty lady ran all the way from the North Stand to greet the cricketer and further gave him a peck on his cheeks.

5. 'Never again mate'

This incident took place during an ODI match in Hyderabad in 2007. Brad Hogg dismissed the great Sachin Tendulkar. After the game, Hogg went up to the Master Blaster with a photograph. It the chinaman bowler's own words: "(It) had the stumps in the frame with the bails on the ground, he was walking off, Adam Gilchrist trying to control my enthusiasm and I was celebrating ecstatically as though the wicket had saved my career."

Sachin Tendulkar blissfully signed this photograph along with the words 'Never again mate'.They two were involved in 7 ODIs and 3 Tests after this incident which sums up to 13 innings in the next two years. But, not for a single time was Brad Hogg able to dismiss Sachin on these instances. Hogg termed this as: 'Never a truer word said!'. The Western Australian picked up 157 wickets in his ODI career.

6. The unlucky Indian cricketer who was prevented to surpass Don Bradman's first-class score

Bhausaheb Nimbalkar is the man who is extremely popular for the highest ever score in Ranji Trophy. He is the only cricketer to have got to a quadruple hundred in the domestic tournament and scored an unbeaten 443 runs in the 1948-49 season. This is also the highest score for any cricketer who hasn't played any Test cricket.

At that time, he was only second to Sir Don Bradman who scored 452* and currently, it is the fourth-highest all-time. Nimbalkar's team scored 826/4 at the lunch interval and he was all set to break the record of Don. But, the opposition captain, the Thakore Saheb of Rajkot, conceded the match to prevent embarrassment on the part of his team.

Sir Don Bradman, later, wrote a letter to Bhausaheb Nimbalkar saying that the innings was better than his own innings.

7. Only two Indian bowlers picked more wickets than the runs that they scored in Tests (min. 100 wickets)

India v Australia - Second Test: Day Two

Nearly 300 players represented India in Test cricket till date. However, there are only two cricketers who have picked more Test wickets than the number of runs they have scored. Incidentally, both of them spinners. While the first Indian to enter this club is the great BS Chandrasekhar, Pragyan Ojha is recent one to enter this list.

Chandrasekhar made his Test debut for India in 1964 and his career spanned for 15 long years. He represented the nation in 58 Tests and scored 167 runs at an average of 4. But, with the ball, the leg-spinner accounted for 242 wickets.

Similar is the case with Ojha who played 24 Tests for India. He scored 89 runs at an average of 9. However, he picked up 113 wickets with the ball. Overall, only four cricketers are a part of this club with Chris Martin (123 runs, 233 wickets) and Bruce Reid (93 runs, 113 wickets) being the other two.

B.S. Chandrasekhar tops the list if all first-class cricket is taken into consideration. In 246 games, he scored 600 runs and picked up 1063 wickets. The leading wicket-taker in Tests, Muttiah Muralitharan with 800 wickets has scored 1,261 runs.

8. The only Indian Test cricketer to be knighted

Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Vijay Ananda Gajapathi Raju, the Maharajkumar of Vizianagram is the only Indian Test cricketer to be knighted. He was fondly referred to as Vizzy back then. He was the second son of his father and thus his title is 'Maharajkumar' meaning prince. After the death of his father, his brother became the king while he moved to family estates in Benares.

He represented India in 3 Test matches and scored 33 runs at an average of 8.25. However, he decided to renounce his knighthood after India gained Independence in 1947. Even though he isn't as well-versed with his cricketing skill, Vizzy's wealth and contacts brought him great influence in Indian cricket. There were several controversies that were created by him during his playing days.

Post his retirement, he came back as the administrator and was the BCCI President from 1954 to 1957.

9. Only three Indian batsmen to have batted on all the five days of a Test match

Till date, only nine batsmen batted on all the five days of a Test match. Out of these, three are Indians. ML Jaisimha was the first to have achieved the feat back in 1960 against Australia when he scored 20* and 74. Ravi Shastri recreated the feat in 1984 against England scoring 111 and 7*.

Cheteshwar Pujara is the latest entrant into this elite club. He got there in 2017 against Sri Lanka when he got 52 and 22 runs in both the innings. Interestingly, all these three batsmen achieved the feat at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

Pujara's aggregate of 74 in both in innings is lowest amongst all these nine batsmen. Geoffrey Boycott, Kim Hughes, Allan Lamb, Adrian Griffith, Andrew Flintoff are the other batsmen who are in the elite club.

10. The uncanny similarities between the World Cup and the Lord's Test

England v India: 2nd Investec Test - Day Five

In won the World Cup in 1983 for the first time. Three years later, they won a Test match against England at Lord's Cricket Stadium. Nearly 28 years later, the side won a World Cup yet again and a Lord's win followed it up three years later in 2014. Some of the similarities between the 1986 and 2014 Lord's wins are listed below.

The similarities between the 1986 and 2014 Lord's win:

Both the captains are World Cup winners.
A Sharma picked up 5 or more wickets - Ishant and Chetan.
A Binny scored 9 off 19 balls in the first innings - Roger and Stuart.
A Mumbai batsman scored a century - Dilip Vengsarkar and Ajinkya Rahane.
Both the wins about three years after the World Cup triumph.
The FIFA final was played between Germany and Argentina in both those years.

11. Sachin Tendulkar played for Pakistan before he played for India

Sachin Tendulkar was only 13 years old when he made his international debut as a fielder. An exhibition match was played between India and Pakistan at the Brabourne stadium on 20 January 1987. This game was played to mark the Golden Jubilee of the Cricket Club of India (CCI). Also, this was Sunil Gavaskar's last limited-over game.

The Pakistan cricket team was a fielder short as Javed Miandad and Abdul Qadir left the field at lunchtime. Sachin then was sent to field for Imran Khan's team and was deployed at long-on by the Pakistan skipper. Soon, Kapil Dev hit a skier in his direction. Despite running hard for about 15 metres, Sachin failed to reach the ball.

Recounting the incident in his autobiography 'Playing it my Way', Sachin actually recalls complaining to a friend that he could have taken the catch had Imran placed him at mid-on instead of long-on.

"I don't know whether Imran Khan remembers this or has any idea that I once fielded for his Pakistan team," Sachin wrote in his book.

12. Only one person witnessed both Jim Laker and Anil Kumble pick a 10-wicket haul in an innings in Tests

Richard Stokes only watched two Tests throughout his life and both of them have left him with some of the best of memories. The first he watched when he was a 10-year-old kid. This game took place in 1956 at the Old Trafford. In this match, England's Jim Laker picked up all the ten wickets of Australia's innings making him the first bowler to achieve this monumental feat.

43 years later, Stokes was in India and went to the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi to watch the match between India and Pakistan. Yet again, in this match, Indian leg-spinner Anil Kumble ended up picking all the ten wickets in the game. Thus, he became the only person to witness both the legends gulp all the wickets of the opposition live in the stadium.

13. Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid got stumped out only once in their career and both of them were dismissed by the same bowler

Sachin Tendulkar played 329 Test innings while Rahul Dravid played in 286 Test innings throughout their career. However, both these men got stumped out only once amongst all these instances. It was England's left-arm spinner Ashley Giles who accounted for their wickets on both these instances.

There is quite an interesting anecdote associated with Sachin Tendulkar's stumping. It was actually because of former Indian opener Virender Sehwag due to whom Sachin went onto the front foot. Giles was bowling from over the wicket into the rough with a strong leg-side field.

Sehwag convinced Sachin for about 2-3 overs that there wasn't much of turn and persuaded him to go on to the front foot to hit Giles over the top. But, the only time the ball turned was when Sachin went onto the front foot and thus was stumped out.

14. Prabir Sen is the only Indian wicket-keeper to stump out Sir Donald Bradman and he was born in Bangladesh

In his 80 Test innings, Sir Donald Bradman was out stumped on eleven occasions. However, only one Indian wicket-keeper turned out to be lucky enough stump him out. Prabir Kumar Sen was the man who had the opportunity to do the same.

Prabir played 14 Tests for India between 1948 and 1952. He was born in Comilla, Bangladesh. He breathed his last in 1970 in Kolkata, India. Prabir scored 165 runs in 18 innings at an average close to 12. His highest Test score was 25.

However, despite the poor international run, he is quite experienced in first-class cricket. He was around for about 15 years and played 77 games. Prabir scored 2,386 runs at an average just over 23 including the highest score of 168. He hit three hundreds at this level.

15. The Indian bowler who bowled 21 maidens in a row

Rameshchandra Gangaram Nadkarni, who is famously referred to as 'Bapu' Nadkarni once bowled 21 maiden overs in a row. He achieved this feat when India played England for the first time in Tests back in 1964. The left-arm spinner is known to be a miser with the ball in hand and was famous for the highly economical spells that he bowled.

Nadkarni was also pretty much capable with the bat. He scored 1,414 runs in 41 Tests (67 innings) at an average of nearly 26. He hit one century and seven half-centuries in his career. Bapu bowled over 9,000 balls and picked up 88 wickets in Tests. He has got four five-wicket hauls in an innings and one ten-wicket haul in a match.

Bapu was quite a force in first-class cricket and has piled up 8,880 in 191 games. He also has 500 wickets to his name.

16. Ishant Sharma dropped all the top-three highest scorers against India in the 21st century

Michael Clarke, Brendon McCullum and Alastair Cook registered the top-three highest scores against India (Tests - to be specific) in the 21st century. However, Ishant Sharma had a contribution in these batsmen getting to some monumental scores. All these men were dropped by the lanky fast-bowler in the early stages of their innings and thus they had a second life.

The former Australian skipper registered the highest score in this bracket of an unbeaten 329. This is the fourth-highest score ever for an Australian. His innings at Sydney in 2012 included 39 fours and one six. Australia won this match by an innings and 68 runs.

302 by Brendon McCullum is the highest ever score by a New Zealand batsman. By getting there at Wellington in 2014, he became the only Kiwi to have a triple century in Tests. He helped his side save the game with this innings and the match ended in a draw. Alastair Cook scored 294 runs at Birmingham in 2011 when Ishant dropped him. England won that match by an innings and 242 runs.

17. Amar Singh - The man who received the first Test cap for India

"He came off the pitch like the crack of doom" - Wally Hammond, an English great who played 85 Tests between 1927 and 1947.

Ladhabhai Amar Singh is one of India's first genuine all-rounders. He was considered to be the most accurate bowler for India at that point in time. Amar Singh was known for his stamina and he had the ability to swing the ball miles in the air itself. He is one of those few bowlers who had found a lot of success while playing in England where the conditions suited his style.

Amar Singh is the first Indian to score a half-century for India when he got there in the country's maiden Test in 1932 coming in at number 9. Also, he picked up four wickets in the same game. He played 7 Tests for India - scored 292 runs and picked up 28 wickets.

But, the country was rather unfortunate to have lost him at only 29 years of age as typhoid had the better of him. Amar picked up 506 wickets in 92 first-class games in that day and age.

18. Mohinder Amarnath is the only cricketer to be dismissed both obstructing the field and for handling the ball

NOV 1984: PORTRAIT OF MOHINDER AMARNATH OF INDIA.

India's Mohinder Amarnath is the only cricketer to be dismissed both for obstructing the field and handling the ball. In the game against Australia, the ball hit Amarnath's inside edge and the ball almost went on to hit the stumps. But, moments before it hit the stumps, he used his hands to push the ball away before it could knock the wickets over.

Even before the on-field umpire declared him out, Amarnath started walking and thus was judged out handling the ball. He was given out for kicking the ball in a game against Sri Lanka in 1989 to avoid being run out. Thus, he became the first man to be given out obstructing the field.

Mohinder, also known as Jimmy Amarnath, is the son of Lala Amarnath.

19. Lala Amarnath - The first Indian to score a Test century for the country

Lala Amarnath Bharadwaj was the first captain of independent India. He led the team in its first Test win against Pakistan in 1952. Lala only played three games before World War II and thus lost a majority of his prime years as India did not play any official Tests at that point in time. Later on, he went on to play another 21 Tests for the team.

Also, he is the first batsman to score a Test century for India. In 24 Tests, Lala scored 878 runs at an average of 24.38 including one century and four half-centuries. Furthermore, he picked up 45 wickets at the highest level.

He played 184 first-class games in his career including teams from Australia and England. He scored 10,426 runs and picked up 463 wickets and is known to be one of the finest all-rounders of the game. Lala Amarnath also has two stumpings to his name in first-class cricket.

20. The similarities between the Indo-Pak match at the Australasia Cup of 1986 and Asia Cup 2014

There are numerous similarities between the Indo-Pak match in the Australasia Cup in 1986 and Asia Cup 2014. Some of those are listed below:

Both these games were played at a neutral venue. While the 1986 game was played at Sharjah, the 2014 game was played at Dhaka.
Both these games were the finals of the tournament.
India was put into bat first in both these games and the side put up 245 runs on the board.
The openers (K Srikkanth - 1986 & Rohit Sharma - 2014) hit two sixes in their innings.
Three Indian batsmen scored half-centuries on both the instances.
There were two Pakistani batsmen dismissed in the form of a run out in these games.
C Sharma picked up 3 wickets and bowled the last over in 1986. In 2014, R Ashwin - the man who took 3 wickets bowled the last over.
Javed Miandad hit a six in the last over to win the game while Shahid Afridi hit a six in the last over to get over the line. Both these men hit three sixes in their innings.
Pakistan lost nine wickets in the chase in both the matches.

21. Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi is the youngest ever captain to have led India

Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi led the Indian Cricket Team at just 21 years and 77 days of age. He was the youngest captain ever until a 20-year-old Tatenda Taibu broke his record in 2004. Fondly called Tiger Pataudi, he is still the youngest to have led India.

Even though he had just one eye functional for a bulk of his career, Tiger Pataudi is a master of his art and it was highly pleasing to watch him bat. He was named the skipper of the side midway through India's tour of West Indies in 1962 taking over from Nari Contractor.

Even though he lost his first game as the skipper, MAK Pataudi was the Indian skipper for a majority of the next 14 years. Chandu Borde, Ajit Wadekar and S Venkataraghavan had short stints as the captain of the side in between. He led India to it's first ever overseas victory against New Zealand in 1967.

22. Col. CK Nayudu is the first Indian cricketer to endorse a brand

CK Nayudu is the first-ever captain of the Indian Cricket Team in Tests. In 1923, he was made the captain (land and air) in the Holkar army and then was conferred with the honour of Colonel. At 31 years of age (in the 1926-27 season), Nayudu smashed 153 runs in 116 minutes for the Hindus at Bombay Gymkhana against the MCC. His innings included 11 sixes out of which one landed on the roof of the stadium. He was presented a silver bat by the MCC for this special innings.

Nayudu played 7 Tests for India and scored 350 runs at an average of 25 and picked up 9 wickets. He made his India debut at the age of around 37. He regularly played first-class cricket until he was 63 and has scored 11,825 runs in 207 games. He returned to the field for one last time in 1963 at the age of 68 to play for one last time. The Indian Government also awarded him with the third highest (second highest then) civilian honour, the Padma Bhushan in 1956.

In 1941, he became the first Indian cricketer to endorse a brand - Bathgate Liver Tonic.

23. The Indian team is the first to get bowled out twice on the same day in Tests

Only three teams in the history of the game were bowled out twice on the same day in Tests. The Indian cricket team is the first to face this humiliation. The incident took place when the side toured England in 1952 under the captaincy of Vijay Hazare.

In the first innings, they were bowled out for 58 runs followed by 82 runs in the second innings. The duo of Alec Bedser (7/46) and Fred Trueman (9/40) picked 16 wickets between them to achieve a unique feat.

Zimbabwe and Afghanistan are the other two teams to have faced this embarrassment. Zimbabwe is the only team to have got bowled out on the same day twice - both against New Zealand. The first of such instance took place in 2005 while the same incident repeated in 2012. Afghanistan, in their maiden Test against India, were bowled out twice on the same day.

24. The millionth run in ODIs was scored by Dinesh Mongia

ICC Champions Trophy - Australia v India

The 10,00,000th run in One Day International (ODI) cricket was scored by the Indian batsman Dinesh Mongia. The left-hander played 57 ODIs and a lone Test for India and was also a part of the World Cup 2003 squad. The selectors extended him with a very long rope and he got several opportunities between 2001 and 2007. However, he failed to create an impact.

But, he will be forever remembered for scoring the one-millionth run in ODIs back in 2006. He became a part of the history in the 6th ODI of the DLF Cup between India and Australia. 9,99,735 runs were scored prior to this game. Australia, who batted first, added 213 runs and took the tally to 9,99, 948 runs.

India was down to 47/3 when Mongia walked into bat. 9,99,995 runs were scored by the time he walked out. On the fifth ball of the 14th over of the match, he took a single towards fine leg to bring the total to 9,99,999 and the sixth ball of that over was a dot. On the fifth ball of the next over from Stuart Clark, he got a lucky boundary between the keeper and the first slip to cross the 10,00,000-run mark.

Even though he was unbeaten on 63 in that game, he ran out of partners and hence India lost the game. It took 35 years for ODI cricket to reach the landmark as opposed to 109 years in Test cricket.

25. 'Mummy se puch ke aaya hai?'

When Sachin Tendulkar made his debut in 1989 against Pakistan, Wasim Akram asked him: "Mummy se puch ke aaya hai?" [Meaning: Did you take the permission of your mother before coming here?]. Wasim Akram by that time established himself as a dangerous bowler in international cricket.

Sachin Tendulkar was up against a fierce bowling attack including the likes of Imran Khan, Akram and Waqar Younis. Akram, in an event, said that the Pakistan team read about a 16-year-old sensation coming up. But, when he actually saw him on the field, Akram felt that Sachin looked like a 14-year-old and thus raised the question.

"We had read about Sachin.... that there's a sensation coming.. a 16-year old. But when he came (out to bat), he looked 14 years old and I told him, "mummy se puchke aaya hai?" (Did you ask your mother before coming?)," said Wasim Akram recalling the incident.

Brand-new app in a brand-new avatar! Download CricRocket for fast cricket scores, rocket flicks, super notifications and much more! 🚀☄️