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Cricket has always been a game of numbers. Individuals light up cricket arena with their stupendous performances, which gives an opportunity to fans and statisticians to rake up more numbers.
There are some records which seem impossible to break. Yet, there are some champions, who produce performances making the entire cricket fraternity sit back and applaud.
Indian cricket has been fortunate to have witnessed some all-time legends in the last couple of decades. Be it the centuries, wickets or milestones, an Indian cricket fan has seen it all. But there were a few moments of magic which were hard to forget and it will stay for decades to come. These moments will inspire the next generation to follow the pursuit of excellence.
Anil Kumble's 10 wickets haul in one innings against Pakistan
India and Pakistan were playing a Test series in 1999 after 10 years. Amidst the political turmoil between the 2 countries, cricket was seen as a unifier. India had a heartbreak in Chennai, losing by 12 runs after Sachin Tendulkar's masterclass of 136. The series was on the line when the spotlight shifted to Ferozshah Kotla in Delhi.
India batted first and posted a decent 252. Pakistan got bowled out for 172 giving India a handy lead of 80. India, in their second essay, batted well to score 339, eventually asking Pakistan to chase an impossible 420 on a wearing pitch. Pakistan got off to a blazing start with Saeed Anwar and Shahid Afridi putting up 101 runs for the first wicket.
The introduction of Anil Kumble dramatically changed the proceedings for the hosts and he dismissed Shahid Afridi and Ijaz Ahmed off successive deliveries. He then accounted for Inzamam and Yousuf in a space of 3 balls. Moin Khan and Saeed Anwar were next to go. Even though Salim Malik resisted for some time, he was Kumble's 7th victim. Mushtaq Ahmed and Saqlain Mushtaq were bamboozled in successive balls. Even though Waqar Younis tried his best to slog Javagal Srinath and deny Kumble from getting 10 wickets, destiny had different plans. Wasim Akram was caught by VVS Laxman in forward short leg to give Kumble his 10th wicket, what he calls as the "Perfect 10".
India won the match by 212 runs and it was time for a celebration. Anil Kumble, who was already a star, was given a hero's welcome in his hometown, Bengaluru. One of the streets near Bengaluru's famous MG Road was named "Anil Kumble Circle". He even received a car from KSCA which had the number "KA-10 N 10" as a gift.
History was made in Indian cricket and even though Kumble's 10-74 came second to Jim Laker's 10-53, every Indian cricket fan has a smile on his face when people talk about this sensational spell from Kumble. The fact that the feat was achieved against Pakistan, made the achievement even more special.
VVS Laxman scoring 281 versus Australia in Kolkata
Steve Waugh's Australia had won all over the world barring the exception of India. The series was labelled as the "Final Frontier". Australia had also won 15 consecutive Test matches when they toured India in 2001. A series with India was a mouth-watering contest considering India's performance in home conditions.
The first Test in Mumbai was a disaster for the home side as they could not stop a rampaging Australia from securing a comfortable 10-wicket win. Australia won an important toss in the second Test in Kolkata and had no hesitation in batting first.
Australia mustered 445 in the first innings with Steve Waugh scoring 110 and Harbhajan Singh getting a 7-fer which included a hattrick. India were bundled out for a mere 171 with Laxman top scoring with 59.
India had their backs to the wall after conceding a massive lead of 274 which prompted Steve Waugh to ask India to follow on. This time, India got off to a decent start with openers Shiv Das and Sadagopan Ramesh together putting up a partnership of 52 runs for the first wicket.
After Ramesh's dismissal, Ganguly promoted Laxman to number 3 who continued his rich vein of form. By the end of Day 3, India had scored 255 for the loss of 4 wickets, still facing a deficit of 20 runs with Laxman batting on 107 and Dravid batting on 4.
March 14th 2001, is one of the most famous days in Indian cricket as the duo turned the match and the series around with their breathtaking display of batting. After seeing off a disciplined spell from McGrath and Gillespie, Laxman continued to dominate the Australian attack and scored 281.
What was noticeable was his method of playing Shane Warne in that innings. He would step out 3 meters and drive against the spin on a regular basis. Ian Chappel once mentioned it as the best display of batting against quality spin.
His superhuman effort coupled with Dravid's support, helped India score a mammoth 657, which gave Australia an improbable target of 384. Harbhajan Singh spun a web around the Aussies and Sachin Tendulkar also contributed with 3 wickets. Australians lost the match by 171 runs. India went on to win the next match too and thereby won the series 2-1.
Laxman's innings 281 runs became the fulcrum of an Indian fightback. Many years have passed and peoples have scored triple hundreds for India, but an honest Indian fan will always remember the special innings played by this man under extreme adversity against a world class side.
Yuvraj Singh's six sixes in one over of Stuart Broad
India were up against England in the Super 8's of the inaugural T20 World Cup. India had lost a close contest to New Zealand by 10 runs. Team India's hopes of advancing through to the semifinals hinged on this match.
India were the underdogs against the strong English side which had some big names like Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood and Andrew Flintoff.
India won the toss and MS Dhoni had no hesitation in batting first. The opening duo of Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag got India off to a scintillating start by scoring 136 in 14.4 overs. Considering the strong batting line-up of England, a score of above 200 was an absolute necessity for the Indian bowlers.
India were 171 for 3 in 18 overs, when Andrew Flintoff needled Yuvraj. Yuvraj, being the aggressive person he has been throughout his career, had a word with Flintoff only to be intervened by umpire Billy Doctrove. What followed later, was a sight to savour for the cricket fans.
Yuvraj went after the hapless Stuart Broad and sent the first one over deep mid-wicket, a 105 m six sailing out of the ground. The second one was nonchalantly flicked over deep fine leg. The third one was hit back straight over long-off. The fourth one was a wide full toss dispatched over deep point. The fifth one was nailed into the deep mid-wicket stands. England, all of a sudden, had a conference with Stuart Broad. Meanwhile, Yuvraj looked like an angry warrior waiting to butcher the last one out of the ground.
As Broad dished up another length delivery, Yuvraj hammered it over cow corner. He had completed his 50 in a mere 12 deliveries! He eventually got dismissed after a breezy knock of 58 runs in 16 deliveries. Stuart Broad became the only Test bowler in cricket history to concede 6 sixes in an over.
Ravi Shastri, the second man in cricket history to hit 6 sixes, was in the commentary box. He, with his commentary, made it all the more exciting for the fans.
Yuvraj's superlative effort helped India brush England aside by 18 runs. He followed the performance by a magnificent 70 against Australia in the semi-finals.
Sachin Tendulkar becomes the first batsman to score 200 in ODI history
Sachin Tendulkar had broken numerous records in ODI cricket. He was already the highest scorer and the highest century-maker in the format. But somehow, he had not breached the highest score of 194 in ODIs which was jointly held by Saeed Anwar and Charles Coventry. He had come close to the magical figure of 200 runs in an ODI multiple times with scores of 186*, 175 and 163*.
South Africa and India were playing a bilateral series with India leading the series 1-0. When MS Dhoni won the toss, he had no hesitation in batting first on a flat wicket in Gwalior. When Sachin stuck the first boundary, people did realize that he would be in for a long haul.
Cover drives, on-drives and straight drives were flowing off his bat and he completed his 46th hundred in the 28th over. This gave a glimmer of hope to the fans that there was a possibility of a double hundred.
When Yusuf Pathan gave the impetus in the batting powerplay, Tendulkar went on overdrive mode and was batting on 180 at the end of 43rd over. Since he was tiring, MS Dhoni took the responsibility to go for the big shots.
Sachin was taking singles and eventually moved past 194 in the 47th over. He was congratulated by Mark Boucher on this feat. The historical 200 runs individual score in an ODI moment came in the 50th over when he dabbed a delivery from Charl Langaveldt to the point region.
India scored 401 and comfortably won the match and took an unassailable lead in the 3 match series. This match is mainly remembered for Sachin's masterclass versus Steyn and company.
Sachin Tendulkar reaching the record milestone of 100 international hundreds
The talk about Tendulkar's 100th century had actually begun during the semi-finals of the 2011 World cup. The talk continued when India went to play an overseas series in England and Australia. Sachin was scoring 70s and 80s, but he was not just able to convert it into a century.
When India played the Asia Cup in 2012, they won the first match comfortably but Sachin could only score 6. In the second group match versus Bangladesh, he took his time to build the innings. It was an un-Tendulkar like innings as the flowing drives and wristy flicks were missing. He hung in there and had scored 80 of 102 balls, but took an another 36 for his 100. This slowed down the innings, but nevertheless, he got his 100th International hundred.
He soaked in the applause and was eventually dismissed for 114 of 147 deliveries. Finally, the monkey was off his back.
India scored 289 after the late blitz by Dhoni and Raina. Bangladesh chased it down with the help of substantial knocks by Tamim Iqbal, Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib-al-Hasan. Even though India lost the match and eventually lost a place in the final, no one could ever forget the achievement of the great man, as it was one of the rarest feats ever achieved in International cricket.
Rohit Sharma's innings 264 versus Sri Lanka
Rohit Sharma has always been a talented cricketer. Until 2013, he was given multiple opportunities in different batting positions, but he never fulfilled his potential.
The 2013 Champions Trophy was a major turning point in his career when MS Dhoni decided to make him an opener in ODIs. He played a major role in India's triumph in that tournament and established himself as a regular opener in India's limited overs setup, continuing to dominate attacks at the top.
In 2014, after recovering from an injury, Rohit was making a comeback into the Indian side in a series against Sri Lanka. India had already won the series 3-0 and the fourth ODI in Kolkata seemed inconsequential.
Virat Kohli won the toss and decided to bat first on a good wicket. Rohit Sharma started his innings nervously and was dropped on 4 by Thisara Perera. Little did the Islander knew that it would prove to be one of the costliest drops in cricketing history. Rohit motored along well and scored his century at run a ball.
What followed after this, was absolute carnage which was hard to digest for the hapless Lankans. Rohit suddenly switched over to 7th gear and started decimating the Lankan bowling from the 30th over. He scored 14 runs off 4 balls in that over and announced his intentions.
Once Rohit got on a roll, he was unstoppable and the ball, more often than not, was smacked from the sweet spot of his bat.
The last 164 runs were scored off a mere 73 balls, and when he was finally dismissed, he had broken several records. He had the highest number of boundaries and the highest boundary percentage. It included 33 hits to the fence and 11 over it. India scored 404, and Rohit, after massacring the Lankan attack, ended up with 264.
Sri Lankans, who were dented psychologically, combined to manage just 257. Rohit Sharma, at that point in time, became the only batsman to score 2 double hundreds in ODI cricket, something, he would change in 3 years time when he scored 208 against the same opposition in almost a similar manner.
Virat Kohli becoming the fastest to 10000 runs in ODIs
There is no list in Indian cricket that doesn't feature Virat Kohli in recent times. When he comes in to bat, statisticians and analysts have their work cut out as he keeps breaking records at the speed of light. Some of his feats seem unreal and many have even gone on to say that he is an alien who has descended from a different planet.
When India started the ongoing ODI series against West Indies, Virat had 9779 runs and still needed 221 to break the 10000 runs barrier. In the first ODI, West Indies batted well and set a stiff target of 323 to chase. The hosts lost Dhawan early and Kohli started to consolidate the innings with Rohit Sharma.
Virat was aggressive right from the start and brought up his 50 in 34 balls. He was on a rampage and completed his 100 from 88 balls. He eventually finished with 140 from 107 balls and also became the fastest to score 36 ODI hundreds.
The next game was at Vizag, a ground where Kohli has a great record synonymous to his record in Adelaide Oval. India, batting first, lost both the openers within 10 overs. Kohli built the innings with caution, running the singles hard and scoring the occasional boundary.
The historic moment came when he drove the ball to long-on and took a single. Virat was on 81 and he had completed 10000 runs in a mere 205 innings, 54 innings faster than the next best which is Tendulkar himself. He completed his 37th ODI hundred and became the only batsman to score 3 successive hundreds against 2 different oppositions.
Even though the match ended in a tie, Virat's 157 gave India many reasons to smile. This record of his, set Twitteratti's on a frenzy and tweets started pouring in from all quarters. Michael Vaughan summed it up best, he hailed Kohli as GOAT.
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