Thread by @bhaleraosarang

Here is a thread on some interesting cricketing facts.

1) Sunil Gavaskar is the only cricketer to score double hundreds in all 4 innings of a Test.

205 v WI (1978)—1st inns
236 v WI (1983) — 2nd inns
220 v WI (1971)—3rd inns
221 v ENG (1979) — 4th inns

#CricketTwitter

2) The 1939 Timeless Durban Test between SA & England was played for 9 days and yet there was no result. Needing 696 for a win in the fourth innings, England were 654 for 5. The English team had to catch their ship hence didn't go for the target. Nine days, and no result!

3. India's 99th Test cricketer Rusi Surti's highest Test score was 99.

Rusi Surti was the first Indian cricketer to play the Sheffield Shield (Australia's domestic competition). He played 26 Tests for India and was the 99th Indian Test cricketer. His highest score was 99!

4. Ashok Gandodra is the only Test cricketer to be born in Brazil

Gandotra played two Test matches for India and remains the only Test cricketer to be born in Brazil.

5. Do you know Mumbai wicketkeeper Vinayak Samant represented West Indies?
Samant fielded for West Indies against Australia during the 2006 Champions Trophy at the Brabourne Stadium.

6. Irfan Pathan is the only bowler to pick up a hat-trick in the first over of a Test match.
Pathan became the 2nd Indian to take a Test hat-trick when he achieved this feat v Pakistan at National Stadium, Karachi in 2006
@IrfanPathan

7. Shaminda Eranga of Sri Lanka has the unique distinction of taking a wicket in the first over of his Test (Shane Watson), T20I (Gautam Gambhir) and ODI (Brad Haddin) debut

8. Mark Boucher has 999 victims as a wicketkeeper in international cricket and 1 Test wicket!
His only Test wicket — Dwayne Bravo

9. Shoaib Malik is the first batsman to be dismissed leg-before by the third umpire.

This was in the opening match of the Champions Trophy 2002 game against Sri Lanka

10. Gordon Greenidge is the only cricketer to be retired not out in international cricket.
In the 1983 Antigua Test v India, Greenidge retired out on 154 to rush home to visit his ailing daughter. Two days later his daughter died & Greenidge was retired not out!

11. Bransby Cooper of Australia was the first Indian-born cricketer to play Test cricket.
He played the first ever Test match in 1877 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. He was born on March 15, 1844, in Dacca (now Dhaka), which was formerly a part of India.

12. Mark Craig of New Zealand is the only person to hit a six off his first ball in Test cricket.
He hit his first ball of Test cricket for a six off Suleiman Benn over long-off in the 2014 Jamaica Test. This is the only instance in Test cricket

13. Nilesh Kulkarni is the only Indian to take a wicket off his first ball in Test cricket.
Sadagoppan Ramesh (v WI in 1999) & Bhuvneshwar Kumar (v Pak in 2012) have achieved this feat in ODIs.
Ajit Agarkar, Pragyan Ojha & Virat Kohli took wicket off their first balls in T20Is

14. Allan Border was the only cricketer to score 150 in each innings of a Test match.
He scored 150 not out and 153 against Pakistan in the 1980 Lahore Test. This remains the only instance in Test cricket where a batsman has hit 150 in each innings.

15. Two Robin Singhs have played Test cricket for India and both never got to play after their debut Test.
Robin Singh—India's one-day specialist played one Test match v Zimbabwe in 1998. His namesake Robin Singh junior—fast bowler—played his only Test v New Zealand in 1999.

16. Lala Amarnath and Surinder Amarnath is the only father-son combination to score a hundred on Test debut.
Lala Scored a ton v England at Bombay Gymkhana (1933)
Surinder scored a 💯 on his debut v NZ at Auckland in 1976. Only father-son duo to hit a century on Test debut

17. Mohinder Amarnath is the only cricketer to be dismissed for handling the ball (v Australia at MCG in 1986) and obstructing the field (v Sri Lanka at Ahmedabad in 1989)

18. Alec Stewart born on April 8, 1963 (8-4-63) has 8463 Test runs!
@StewieCricket

19. Wasim Akram (at Sheikhupura v Zimbabwe), Sanath Jayasuriya (at Faisalabad v Pak) and Rohit Sharma (at Ranchi v SA) are the only cricketers to reach their century and double hundred with a six in the same innings!

20. Australia beat England by 45 runs in the first ever cricket Test as well as the Centenary Test in 1977.
Australia beat England in the first ever Test match by 45 runs at the MCG in 1877. 100 yrs later the opposition were the same,the venue was the same and the result as well!

21. Tim Southee hit the fastest fifty on Test debut (28 balls v England). So far he has hit 75 sixes in his Test career: more than Ponting, Tendulkar, Botham, ABD to name a few

22. On 11th November, 2011 (11/11/11) at 11:11 South Africa needed 111 runs to win against Australia at Cape Town.

This is one of the best ever coincidences in cricket.

23. The only cricketer to play Test cricket for India and England is Saif Ali Khan’s grandfather, Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi or Nawab of Pataudi Sr. He died on the 11th birthday of his son MAK Pataudi (future India capt) while playing polo.

24. The only cricketer to hit the first ball of a Test match for a six: Chris Gayle v Bangladesh (off debutant Sohag Gazi) in 2012

25. Abul Hasan of Bangladesh scored a ton on his Test debut v WI in 2012 batting at No.10. He also conceded 113 runs while bowling without taking any wicket

26. Kepler Wessels was the first person to be given out (run out) by the TV umpire in ODIs. Tendulkar was the first person to be given out by TV umpire (Durban Test, 1992)

27. Cota Ramaswami represented India in the Davis Cup & played Test cricket for India

28. Bob Willis was awarded Player of the Match for his captaincy v Sri Lanka in the 1983 World Cup game at Leeds

Southee hit fifty off 29 balls*

29. When Sachin Tendulkar hit 200* v SA, Sehwag hit 219 v WI & Rohit hit 264 v SL in ODIs, India won these matches by 153 runs!

30. Akila Dananjaya took a hat-trick v WI & was hit for six sixes in an over in the same T20I in 2021

31. Players to win Under-19 World Cup, 50-over World Cup, T20 World Cup & the IPL

Yuvraj Singh
Josh Hazlewood

32. Faf du Plessis has taken back to back five-wicket hauls in T20s!

33. India's first two Test wins at Lord's came in 1986 & 2014 respectively. Roger Binny featured in 1986 & his son Stuart was part of the Indian team in 2014. Both scored 9(19) in the 1st innings!

34. Only Indian bowler to dismiss all 11 opposition batsmen in a Test: S Venkataraghavan v NZ at Delhi in 1965. Only 5 other bowlers have achieved this feat: Jim Laker, Geoff Dymock, Abdul Qadir, Waqar Younis & Muralitharan

35. Lillee c Willey b Dilley

This dismissal took place during the 1978-79 Test at WACA. Australia's Dennis Lillee was caught in the gully by Peter Willey off Graham Dilley's bowling

36. In 1987, Javed Miandad hit 9 consecutive 50+ scores in ODIs. This is still a world record.

37. Navjot Singh Sidhu is the only batsman to hit four consecutive fifties in his first four innings in ODIs

38. Maurice Allom (1930), Peter Petherick (1976) & Damien Fleming (1994) took hat-tricks on their Test debuts

39. Peter Siddle is the only bowler to take a hat-trick on his birthday

40. Only Indian cricketer to play T20Is without playing a single IPL game: Dinesh Mongia

41. Wicket on the only ball bowled in the IPL: Adam Gilchrist (took Harbhajan Singh's wicket in 2013)

42. Most matches missed between two appearances:

Tests: Gareth Batty of England 142 Tests (11 years 137 days)
ODIs: Rayad Emrit of WI 396 ODIs (10 years 337 days)
T20Is: Devon Thomas of WI 102 T20Is (8 years 303 days)

43. No of Test runs = Year when batsman played last Test

1985 Anshuman Gaekwad
2015 Chris Rogers

44. Kapil Dev has never been run out in his Test career (131 Tests). He's the only Test cricketer with 5000+ runs & 400+ wickets in Tests

45. Indians with back to back tons in T20s

Unmukt Chand
Ishan Kishan
Shikhar Dhawan

46. IPL players who have a ton & a hat-trick in the competition

Rohit Sharma
Shane Watson

47. Only Indian with multiple hat-tricks in international cricket

Kuldeep Yadav (2 hat-tricks in ODIs)

Also took a hat-trick in the U-19 WC in 2014

48. Longest hat-trick: Durban saw three wickets falling off three balls in a Test but the hat-teick was completed in 22 years -- the last two Australian wickets fell in 1970 & first ball of SA innings v India saw J Cook falling to Kapil Dev

49. Don Bradman hit his 100th FC hundred v India in a FC game at Sydney in 1947!

50. Only Asian to score 100 FC hundreds: Zaheer Abbas (known as Asian Bradman). Only player to hit a century & double century in a same FC match 4 times. Was unbeaten on each of these 8 occasions

51. Sachin Tendulkar fielded for Pakistan before his India debut

This was during a practice match between India and Pakistan at the CCI ground in 1987 when Tendulkar came on the field as a substitute fielder for Pakistan.

Stopping at 51 for today. Hope you've enjoyed these facts 😊