Most Extras in an innings

Pakistan against West Indies at Georgetown in guyana. A total of 71 extra runs were conceeded by Pakistani's, with 21 byes, 11 legbyes, 4 wides & no less than 38 no balls. The only team to come close for most extra records is again Pakistan with 68 against same windies at Bridgetown. 5 years earlier.

MEMORABLE SCORES

MEMORABLE SCORES, UNMEMORABLE RETURNS

Caricature- Vasim Maner

On 18th April, 1994, Brian Lara broke Garry Sober’s then Test record of 365 for the most number of runs in an innings with a pull off Chris Lewis’ bowling. It was a monumental effort given the physical and emotional strain of the innings. There was some early pressure, West Indies had been reduced to 12 for 2 but Lara fought back by stringing three consecutive 150 plus-run partnerships.

The innings had high romantic value, given the audacity of the shots played and the symbolic change of the flag-bearer of West Indian cricket for the next decade. Yet, looking from the context of the series and the match, Lara’s 375 is not even amongst the twenty highest impact batting performances of his career.

Entering the last Test of the series, the result was deemed inconsequential as West Indies had already won it 3-1. Driven by Lara’s 375, West Indies finished with 593 runs in their first innings losing only five wickets. England, in reply, matched their total thanks to Robin Smith’s 175 and Mike Atherton’s 135. West Indies, in their insignificant second innings, finished with 43 runs for the loss of no wicket. Overall, every wicket in the match was worth almost 82 runs.

Given the basic premise of Impact Index which looks at the significance of an innings within the match context, it is not hard to figure out why Lara’s innings doesn’t stand out as a very high impact innings. Yes, he absorbed pressure at 12 for 2 but post that almost each and every batsman made merry on a perfect batting pitch. Given that the match resulted in a tame draw, Lara’s innings stood out only for the longevity part of it and not for his contribution towards a favorable match or series result.

Oldest Test Debutant

England’s James Southerton, who made his Test debut against Australia in the very first Test match in 1877, was 49 years and 119 days old at the time of his debut. He was the oldest player in the match, and till date, there has been no one who has made their debut at an age older than Southerton.   

'The Wall' of Indian cricket : Rahul Dravid

Many don't know this but Dravid has faced the maximum number of deliveries in Test Cricket. In 286 Test innings, Dravid has played 31,258 balls, scoring 13,288 runs. He also holds the record of most number of catches (210) in Test matches by a non-wicket keeping player also Dravid is the only player in modern cricket to score four consecutive hundreds in four Test innings. He had scored 115, 148 and 217 on India's tour of England in 2002 and then hit a ton against West Indies in the first innings of the next Test match in Mumbai.

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The paranormal Laker

Jim Laker

Everyone knows that Jim Laker took 19 wickets against Australia in the Old Trafford Test of 1956. However, what is little known fact is that Laker had figures of 10 wickets for 20 runs from 63 deliveries over the two innings at one stage, and that too at an average of 2 and a strike rate of 6.3. Paranormal, indeed.

Batsman who batted in all 10 different positions in ODI

Talking about fixed batting position for everyone, you may be surprised to know that Lance Klusener, Abdur Razzaq, Shoaib Malik and Hashan Tillakaratne are the only players to have batted in 10 different batting positions in ODIs.

Sachin Tendulkar’s vs Shoaib Akhtar

Sachin Tendulkar’s life stats against Shoaib Akhtar are 251 runs in 328 balls, with 8 dismissals, at an average of 27.14 and a Strike Rate of 76.

Sachin Tendulkar debuted in 1989

Sachin Tendulkar debuted in 1989, along with 23 other cricketers around the world. Not surprisingly each one of them retired before the little master, however what’s incredible is that the last one to retire was Chris Cairns of New Zealand who retired in 2004, ten years before Sachin Tendulkar eventually retired from international cricket.

Swing Sultan

Swing Sultan – Wasim Akram also has his highest Test innings score of 257, which is higher than Sachin Tendulkar’s highest Test score of 248*

Most number of runs scored in one over

 Unbelievably, most number of runs scored in one over is not 36; contrary to popular belief it is actually ‘77’ which was scored in RH Vance’s over in a match between Canterbury and Wellington.