6 forgotten records in cricket which are simply unbelievable

Chaminda Vaas is the only bowler to take a hattrick in the first over
Chaminda Vaas is the only bowler to take a hattrick in the first over

Cricket has always been a game of numbers. Every match, every innings, every spell and every moment of the game produces some stats which gets etched in history. There are wizards like Mohandas Menon who capture every bit of this. When the stats are on display, it looks magical and also goes to show the achievement of a particular player.

Some of the most famous cricket records include Sir Don Bradman's Test average of 99.94, Sachin Tendulkar's 34000 International runs and his 100 International centuries, Muttiah Muralitharan's 800 Test wickets and AB de Villers' fastest 50, 100 and 150.

Apart from this, there are some cricket records which were simply amazing, but they have been forgotten over a period of time.

Lets look into 6 such amazing records in cricket.


#1 Chaminda Vaas takes a hattrick in the first over against Bangladesh

When Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bowl against Bangladesh in Pietermaritzburg in the 2003 World Cup, people had almost predicted the result.

When Chaminda Vaas bowled the first 3 deliveries, he accounted for Hannan Sarkar, Mohammed Ashraful and Ehsan-Ul-Haq and Bangaldesh were derailed at 0 for 3. The fourth ball was a wide, which got Bangladesh off the mark.The 5th ball, Sanwar Hossain got an edge which flew to the boundary. As fate may have had it, he was trapped plumb in front by Vaas of the 5th legitimate ball, which led to Bangladesh reeling at 5 for 4 in the first 5 balls of the match. Vaas finished with a match winning figures of 6 for 25.

Alok Kapali and Mashrafe Mortaza played some useful knocks and Bangaldesh could manage a decent 126 which was chased down with disdain by the Sri Lankan opening pair comprising of Sanath Jayasuriya and Marwan Atapattu.

#2 The worst possible start in an ODI - 1 run and 4 wickets

Pakistan had the worst start versus West Indies in 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup
Pakistan had the worst start versus West Indies in 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup

When Pakistan were playing against a weakened West Indies side in the 2015 World Cup, it was obvious that they were the favorites. When Pakistan opted to bowl against West Indies, no one imagined that West Indies would muster 310 on the board.

Pakistanis have a history of capitulating in a run chase and they tried their best in doing that. They lost Nazir Jamshed of the second delivery and lost Younis Khan by the end of the first over bowled by Jerome Taylor. The scoreboard read 1 for 2, with Ahmed Shehzad scoring the solitary single.

When Taylor returned to bowl the second over, he accounted for Haris Sohail which worsened the scorecard to 1 for 3 at the end of the 3rd over. To make matters worse Ahmed Shehzad, got out to Jason Holder, and the scorecard became 1 for 4.

However Umar Akmal and Sohaib Maqsood had useful partnerships and Pakistan reached 160 and handed West Indies a thumping 150 run win.

#3 Nathan Lyon becomes the top scorer for Australia batting at Number 11

Nathan Lyon once top scored for Australia
Nathan Lyon once top scored for Australia

When Australia played South Africa at Cape Town in the 2011 Test series, Australia were put into bat by South Africa. Michael Clarke played a captain's knock scoring 151 and Australia put 284 on the board.

Shane Watson and Ryan Harris derailed the South African batting line up and bowled them out for 96 picking 5-fers and 4-fers, respectively.

When Australia started their second innings, no one anticipated that Vernon Philander in his debut match will wreak havoc and reduce them to 21 for 9. Peter Siddle and Nathan Lyon put on a 26-run stand for the last wicket in which Lyon, batting at number 11, created a record for being the top scorer in the Australian innings.

Australia eventually managed to score 47 courtesy Lyon's 14 and lost the Test to South Africa by 8 wickets.

#4 Muttiah Muralitharan has the highest number of ducks in International cricket

Muttaiah Muralitharan: The legend with most number of ducks
Muttaiah Muralitharan: The legend with most number of ducks

Muttiah Muralitharan has always been renowned for his bowling. Sanath Jayasuriya would mention time and again that, Murali could turn the ball even on water. After all he is the only bowler in International cricket to start the 800 club in Test cricket with a staggering 67 5-fers. He has a total of 1347 International wickets when the next best Shane Warne only has 1001 to his name.

But Murali has an unwelcome record to his name as well. He holds the record for the highest number of ducks in International cricket. Murali's ducks are evenly distributed, as he has 25 ducks in Tests and another 33 in ODIs with a solitary duck in T20s. Even though Murali's highest Test score is 67 versus India and he has a better Test batting record than Courtney Walsh, Danny Morrison and Glenn McGrath, the length of his career has contributed in Murali having the most number of ducks.

If Jasprit Bumrah has a long career, he might come close to Murali or even break the record, because he is a proper number 11 in the modern era.

#5 Most balls faced in Test Cricket - 31258

Rahul Dravid : The Wall
Rahul Dravid : The Wall

When Rahul Dravid was given the title called "The Wall", critics and fans never really disagreed with it. They knew that here was a man, who had loads of concentration, single minded dedication and more importantly the hunger to bat for life. Rahul Dravid enjoyed occupying the crease for long periods of time.

A testimony of this feat, is the 88 hundred-plus partnerships which he holds in Test cricket with different batting partners. He also holds the record for scoring 6980 partnership runs with Sachin Tendulkar alone.

However Rahul Dravid has also faced 31258 deliveries in Test match cricket. He has played 164 Test matches and batted in 286 innings, if we equate he faced an average of 109 deliveries every innings.

If we summarize Rahul's career, in every innings on an average he scored 52.3 runs and faced 109 deliveries. What more can we expect from a number 3!

#6 Ricky Ponting is the only player in history to feature in 100 Test wins

Ricky Ponting: An all time great
Ricky Ponting: An all time great

When you are Ricky Ponting, you really don't need any introduction in the world of cricket. Ponting was arguably the most successful Australian batsman in terms of runs and centuries scored. He scored more than 25000 International runs with a grand total of 70 centuries in all the 3 formats of the game.

Ponting was also the most successful One Day captain with 165 wins in 230 matches with a win percentage of 71.7. He also joined Clive Lloyd in an elite club to win two back-to-back ICC Cricket World Cups as a captain in 2003 and 2007. Any space is way too small to write about his cricketing achievements both as a player and as a captain.

What many are not aware of though is that Ponting is the only player in the history of Test cricket to feature in 100 Test wins and his 100th win came against Sri Lanka at Galle in 2011.

To add to this, he is also the only batsman to score a century in each innings in his 100th Test.There is no doubt that Ponting's favorite number was 100.

This is a very special achievement considering, how difficult it is to secure a win in Test match cricket.

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