Cricket is an outdoor sport that originated in England. It requires eleven players on each side and two umpires who check the rule obligation during the game. The game has three basic requirements, a bat, a ball, and six stumps. Tree stumps are fixed on each side of the playing area, and then two batsmen are called from aside. The bowling side places its fielding unit to prevent the runs, and the batting unit has to set up a target. Subsequently, the sides are reversed, and the team that bowled first has to chase down the target set up previously.
The game became an instant hit with commonwealth nations. Today, more than 50 nations participate in this gem of a game. The game is more than a hundred years old, and over the period, some extraordinary records have been set up and broken. But, there are still some crazy records that were set up despite having very low odds. Here is an article talking about those records, and we bet you didn’t know about it.
Photo courtesy of PDPics from Pixabay.
Sanath Jayasuriya vs. Shane Warne: Who’s a better bowler?
When asked this question, you’ll ponder upon the stupidity of it. Sanath Jayasuriya is a Sri Lankan great known for his explosive and exemplary batting during the power plays. He has achieved some great batting milestones in his career. On his day, he could take on any bowling attack in the world. And he was a part-time spinner who gave a few overs to the captain in the middle overs.
Enter Shane Warne. One of the most prominent leg spinners the history of cricket has ever seen. He could take wickets on any kind of surface, and he was a test great. He has more than 700 test wickets to his name. Now, to think who was the better bowler between these two might sound stupid, but actually, Sanath has 323 ODI wickets while Warne has 293. We didn’t see it coming either!
Can a bowler beat Tendulkar’s batting genius?
Sachin is the biggest cricketing figure the world has ever seen. He is considered the God of cricket and has won so many games for India single-handedly. Whether a batsman could outdo him in his batting genius is debatable among experts, let alone a bowler. But, Wasim Akram, a fast-bowling sensation from Pakistan and number 8 batsman, has the highest score of 257* against Zimbabwe. Tendulkar’s highest test score is 248. Weirdly surprising, right?
What’s the best retirement gift for a cricketer?
An extraordinary match-winning performance could be something a retiring athlete would demand from himself. This leads to immense performance pressure, which is only natural. An Australian bowling legend, Jason Gillespie, scored a double ton against Bangladesh in his farewell game. He scored 201*, which was also his maiden century. The man instantly became an inspiration for the tailenders, and deservedly so.
The unknown saga of Shahid Afridi
Afridi is one of the most popular cricketers from Pakistan, and he can also be termed as the brand ambassador of modern cricket in Pakistan. He played for more than 16 years and featured in 400+ games. His explosive batting style immediately caught everyone’s attention, and he soon became a run-away match-winner for Pakistan.
He took up the most important finisher role in the batting lineup and could hit sixes all over the park. However, there is one peculiar record to this gentleman’s name; he never played more than a hundred deliveries in an inning. Well, on his day, he got the results in less than 50 deliveries, so why bother?
The enigma that is Ajit Agarkar
Ajit Agarkar is a bowling legend for India who has produced match-winning performances on multiple occasions. He came into an Indian, which was completely star-studded with Tendulkar, Sehwag, Dravid, etc. Yet, he would produce some breathtaking batting performances as a tailender and soon became a low-key bowling all-rounder for the team. Agarkar has a very unexpected cricket record to his name. He hit the fastest ODI 50 of all time for India. The 50 came in mere 21 deliveries and shocked the cricketing world.
The untold story of Sir Don Bradman
Anybody who is a cricket enthusiast is familiar with this name. Bradman is an all-time cricket legend. This Australian cricketer would completely own England in the Ashes and was very difficult to bowl to. He is by far the complete batsman in cricket history. Bradman averages over 99 in tests which is the highest of all time and yet to be broken. Despite all this, Bradman has only hit six sixes in his entire career. Hard to believe, isn’t it?
Who has the highest not-outs in tests?
Come to think of it, this is a peculiar record, and the holder of this record is a lower-order batsman. Courtney Walsh, the West Indian bowling great who would destroy the betting unit with his raw pace and swing, has the highest number of not-outs in tests. Batting at lower order, the team would often collapse while he could not even score a single. Talk about a silver lining!