World Cup 2019: 5 interesting records that might surprise you 

Sport is a platform where players and teams set a benchmark while others strive hard to not only breach it but also set high standards. Cricket being a game decorated with several tournaments, it gives more opportunities to create records.

Over the history of the game, many records seemed impossible to break but once it is done the stat seemed like a number than a record. The prime example being the double hundred in ODIs. Despite Saeed Anwar scoring 194 in 1997, many thought that it is highly unlikely that 200 could be scored by a batsman.

Like many other batting records, Sachin Tendulkar was the first to reach the target and now batsmen are scoring 200s at ease. As much as the time that took to break it, the previous holder of the record surprises us as well. Let's look at five such records.

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#1 Most number of 300+ successful run chases in World Cup history - Ireland (3)

Kevin's hundred against England is the fastest in WC history

Ireland has recently been drawing a lot of attention in Cricket World Cups. The impact was evident in their debut WC when they knocked Pakistan out of the tournament in 2007. In the next two tournaments, they went one step ahead to create records which no other team could achieve.

To be precise, Ireland holds the record for the most number of successful 300+ chases in WC history. First of it came in 2011, when they chased down 329 to beat England on the backdrop of Kevin O'Brien's 113 off 63 balls.

Although Ireland lost the next three games, they finished off the tournament well with a win over the much-fancied Netherlands. They registered their second successful 300+ run chase as Paul Stirling's quickfire 101 eased past 307 with three overs to spare.

Having made their mark in chasing runs, Irish had a brilliant start to the 2015 WC as they chased West Indies' 304 in 46 overs.

It is quite surprising to see Ireland topping the list of successful run chases in WC history.

#2 India - the only team to win 60-over, 50-over & 20-over World Cup

India's WC winning captains (Image Courtesy: BCCI)

India is the only team in the history of cricket to win a 60-over, 50-over, and a 20-over World Cup.

The first three editions of the WC held in 1975, 1979, & 1983 had 60 overs per side matches. Kapil Dev led India stunned the two-time defending champions, West Indies in the final to win the 1983 World Cup. Going into the tournament India had only registered a solitary win in the first two editions. Hence the performance of the team surprised everyone.

After opposing the T20 format, India sent a team without big stars under MS Dhoni to South Africa, in 2007. Beating all the odds, India became the inaugural T20 World Champions.

In 2011, performances from the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, and Zaheer Khan took the team to the final. Gautam Gambhir's 97 in the final steered India to lift the trophy after 28 years. This record could be matched only by Windies who are the ones who have won a 60-over WC other than India.

#3 Craig McDermott & Nuwan Kulasekara - bowlers to have bowled the last ball of a WC & first ball of next the WC

Craig McDermott and Nuwan Kulasekara holds this unique record

Everyone would remember the iconic six that Dhoni hit off Nuwan Kulasekara over long-on to make India a two-time World Champion in 2011.

Although Kulasekara wouldn't have been happy to end the WC on that note. Four years later, it was he who bowled the first ball of 2015 World Cup against New Zealand in Christchurch. The Sri Lankan was the second bowler to take this honor.

The First man to achieve this feat was Australian legend Craig Mcdermott. The leading wicket-taker of the 1987 WC was given the responsibility to defend 17 off the last over. He only gave away nine runs and Australia won the cup for the first time.

Playing as co-hosts for 1992 WC, Australia played the first game against fellow hosts New Zealand. It was McDermott who took the new ball and dismissed John Wright in the first ball of the tournament.

#4 Imran Tahir - the only spinner to bowl the first ball of a World Cup

Imran Tahir opened the 2019 WC with a wicket off the second ball

Batsmen have always liked pace on the ball as it is easier to score against them. The confidence of a batsman would also increase if he times a pacy delivery to a boundary in his first few deliveries.

In order to take away that advantage, New Zealand captain Martin Crowe gave the new ball to the off-spinner Dipak Patel in the 1992 World Cup. It paid rich dividends as he strangled the batsman in the powerplay. As New Zealand batted first in the game, Dipak could open the bowling only in the second innings.

Despite the quadrennial event happening in sub-continent thrice, no spinner has bowled the first ball of the tournament. Imran Tahir got the privilege of becoming the first spinner to bowl the first ball of a World Cup when he took the new ball to open the 2019 CWC.

#5 England - the only team to lose the finals of every version of ICC tournament

Ben Stokes was distraught as he failed to defend 19 runs in the final over

There are quite a few things which don't have an explanation. One such phenomenon is England's failure in ICC tournaments. Despite having the best domestic infrastructure for the game, England hasn't performed the way they would have liked in the ICC tournaments.

After being unbeaten in their journey to 1979 WC final, they failed to get past the West Indies juggernaut as they lost the 60-over final by 92 runs. Eight years later they lost a 50-over final to Australia by just seven runs.

They came close to take home their first ICC trophy in 2004, but an unbeaten 71-run 9th wicket partnership from Windies' bowlers denied them the Champions Trophy. Although England went on to win the T20 World Cup in 2010, they suffered a couple of heart-breaking loss in finals after that.

First of it came in the 2013 Champions Trophy when they lost a 20-over rain affected final to India by just five runs. 2016 saw Carlos Brathwaite snatch the T20 World Cup as he smashed four sixes in the final over.