5 enviable records that little known Indian cricketers hold

2. Rajeev Nayyar – Longest innings in terms of time taken

Hanif Mohammad claims he batted for 990 minutes and not 970

Rajeev Nayyar had a long two decade career in domestic cricket and was a major figure in Himachal Cricket, but failed to catch the attention of national selectors. And so he dug in. Well, almost quite literally, when he played out the longest First Class innings in terms of time taken in a match against Jammu and Kashmir in 1999. The patience the man had shown in dealing with his Cricket board was put on exhibition on the pitch. For more than a thousand minutes(yawn), he proved impossible to dislodge for the opposition bowlers and when his marathon knock came to end finally, he had scored 271 runs in 728 balls.

Nayyar, who till yesterday didn't even exist on selectors' radar, had made heads turn all over the world as he ‘crawled’ past names like Hanif Mohammed, Sanath Jayasuriya and Sir Len Hutton to have the record of the longest First Class innings ever played to his name. Till date, no one has come close to crossing the 1000 minute barrier and with the advent of T20, Nayyar’s record of 1015 minutes of stay on the pitch seems safe.