Harbhajan : Most ODI for 1000 runs

Harbhajan Singh’s heroics went in vain in Vadodara but during his innings of 49 off 31 balls he completed 1000 runs in his 11 years long ODI career and he had taken 196 matches to do so. The longest period for any one to complete 1000 runs in the history of ODI. Australia’s former leg spinner Shane Warne holds the record till Vadodara match as he had done it in 191 One Day Internationals.
There are 10 batsmen in the history who have taken 100 or more matches to reach 1000 run mark, mostly bowlers, but most notable name in this list is Nayan Mongia. Former India stumper Mongia took 113 matches to reach four figure mark in the career. When he completes it on 31 October 1998, the year Harbhajan Singh began his ODI career. Former Australian wicketkeeper Ian Healy also took 110 matches to do so.
Pakistan all rounder Wasim Akram and wicketkeeper Rashid Latif also figures in the following list.
Here is the list of the players who have taken most matches to complete 1000 runs in ODI career.
(Player, team, match)
Harbhajan Singh, India, 196
Shane Warne, Australia, 191
Daniel Vettori, New Zealand, 171
Chaminda Vaas, Sri Lanka, 164
Ajit Agarkar, India, 131
Wasim Akram, Pakistan, 126
Rashid Latif, Pakistan, 116
Kumar Dharmasena, Sri Lanka, 115
Nayan Mongia, India, 113
Ian Healy, Australia, 110

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100th ODI between India and Australia

3rd One Day International
31 October 2009
At Firozshah Kotla ground, Delhi

*** This will be the 724th ODI for India and 723rd for Australia.
*** This will be the 100th ODI between India and Australia. 33 have been won by India and 58 by Australia.
*** Both teams have played 39 ODI in India and the visitor has won 20 of them.
*** Ponting requires 70 runs to become highest run scorer non Indian on Indian soil. Sri Lanka’s Arvinda de Silva had scored 1438 runs in 37 ODI while Ponting has score 1368 runs in 37 ODI on Indian soil.
*** Sachin Tendulkar scored 16903 ODI runs so far so he needs another 79 runs to become the first player to complete 17000 runs in the history of One Day International.
*** This will be the 13th match for India at Delhi they won 7 and lost 5 of them. Australia has played 4 ODI here and won 2 of them.
*** This will be the first Day night at Ferozshah Kotla ground.


Day-Night match record

*** This will be the 45th Day night match between India and Australia. India won 15 and lost 25 of them while 4 ended in no result.
*** Both teams have played 13 day night games on Indian soil and both teams have won 6 games each.
*** This will be the 92nd day night match on Indian soil. India has played 58 and won 32 of those.
*** There have been 942 day night matches played so far in the history of ODI. Australia has played 323 of them with 204-win, 105-loss record.
*** India has played 242 such games with 113-win, 112-loss record.

Venue Record (at Ferozshah Kotla)

Highest Total
India: 3/289 Vs New Zealand on 3-11-1994
Australia: 3/294 Vs Zimbabwe on 11-4-1998
Lowest Total: (completed innings)
India: 144 Vs Pakistan on 17-4-2005
Highest score:
145 by Ricky Ponting Australia Vs Zimbabwe on 11-4-1998
India: 137 by Sachin Tendulkar Vs Sri Lanka on 2-3-1996
Best Bowling
6 for 41 by Vivian Richards WI Vs India on 23-10-1989
India: 5 for 31 by Harbhajan Singh India Vs England on 28-03-2006

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The record gone unnoticed

India won by 99 runs against Australia on Wednesday at Nagpur. Dhoni scored highest run in an innings as captain against Oz, India posted highest total in an ODI vs Australia, India posted its 350th victory in ODI and so many others records noticed but another feat achieved by India captain MS Dhoni and that he completed 2000 runs in Day Night matches.
During his innings of 12 runs when Dhoni reached 65 he completed 2000 runs in Day night ODI while representing India however he completed 2000 runs in overall Day Night career well before this match as he also played for Asian Xi against African XI. Thus he became only 7th Indian batsmen to do so. As ever Sachin Tendulkar is on top with 7407 runs in 179 match played under the flood Light. There are 13 Indians who have scored 1000 or more runs in Day Night matches and 7 of them scored 2000 or more. However only Sachin crossed 5000-mark while Rahul Dravid stood second with 4767 runs in 144 matches and 134 innings.
Nagpur encounter was Dhoni’s 72nd ODI under the lights for India and so far he has scored 2059 runs in 62 innings @44.76 with TWO hundreds and 15 half centuries.
There are 152 players have reached 2000 run-mark in the history and only 47 of them are able to do it in Day Night affairs.
Here is the list of Indians who have scored more then 2000 runs in Day Night career.
7407 by Sachin Tendulkar, 179 matches, 175 innings.
4767 by Rahul Dravid, 144 matches, 134 innings.
4516 by Sourav Ganguly, 134 matches, 129 innings.
3788 by Virender Sehwag, 112 matches, 111 innings.
3251 by Yuvraj Singh, 121 matches, 114 innings.
2259 by M Azharuddin, 82 matches, 78 innings.

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Highest ODI score Vs Australia by captain

India captain MS Dhoni scored masterful 124 against Australia in Nagpur Day-Nighter on Wednesday and become highest run scorer captain against Australia in the ODI history. Sanath Jayasuriya scored 122 at Sydney on 9 January 2003 when he led Sri Lanka in the VB series.
This was the 10th century against Australia by any captain. New Zealand former skipper Stephen Fleming had hit two hundred against the Oz.
The list of all hundred by captain against Australia.
Read as : Captain, score, team, at, on.
Clive Lloyd (102) West Indies, Lord’s, 21-6-1975
David Gower (102) England, Lord’s, 3-6-1985
Martin Crowe (100*) New Zealand, Auckland, 22-2-1992
Mike Atherton (113*) England, The Oval, 24-5-1997
Stephen Fleming (116*) New Zealand, Melbourne, 21-1-1998
Stephen Fleming (111*) New Zealand, Napier, 12-2-1998
Alistair Campbell (102) Zimbabwe, Ahmedabad, 3-4-1998
Sanath Jayasuriya (122), Sri Lanka, Sydney, 9-1-2003
Graeme Smith (119*), South Africa, Centurion Park, 26-2-2006

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India misses Dravid at Nagpur

Not because Indian middle order failed at Vadodara or not because some of the players are injured but because of tradition India will miss the service of The Wall Rahul Dravid at Nagpur when they will play against Australia on Wednesday in the second ODI of the series. Since his debut Rahul Dravid never miss any match here in his in-laws city.
Rahul Dravid made his test debut in 1996 and played his first test at Nagpur in 1997-98 against Sri Lanka in which he scored 92 runs. Since then Nagpur hosted 5 test matches and Dravid played in all of them with an impressive average of 64.71. He has scored 453 runs with one hundred and 3 fifties.
Nagpur’s VCA stadium witnessed 6 ODI matches since Dravid made his international entry and The Bangalorian played all those six ODIs and scored 392 runs @98.00 and with the strike rate of 115.29. He has scored 116 against Sri Lanka in March 1999 and then 4 consecutive half centuries before out for only 7 against Australia on 14 October two years back.
Here is the detailed performance of Rahul Dravid at Nagpur.

In One Day International

116 Vs Sri Lanka 22 March 1999 (India won)
79 Vs South Africa 19 March 2000 (India lost)
51 Vs West Indies 9 November 2002 (India lost)
85* Vs Sri Lanka 20 October 2005 (India won)
54* Vs West Indies 21 January 2007 (India won)
7 Vs Australia 14 October 2007 (India lost)

6 Match, 6 Innings, 2 Not out, 392 Runs, 98.00 Average, 116 Highest, ONE hundred, 2 half centuries, 115.29 Strike rate.

In Test matches

92 Vs Sri Lanka 1997-98 (Drawn)
162 Vs Zimbabwe 2000-01 (Drawn)
65 Vs Zimbabwe 2001-02 (India won)
21 & 2 Vs Australia 2004-05 (India lost)
40 & 71 Vs England 2005-06 (Drawn)

5 Match, 7 Innings, 0 Not out, 453 Runs, 64.71 Average, 162 Highest, ONE hundred, 3 Half Centuries.

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India- Australia will clash at Nagpur

2nd One Day International
28 October 2009
At VCA Stadium, Nagpur

*** This will be the 723rd ODI for India and 722nd for Australia.
*** India needs one more victory to reach 350th win in ODI history. Only Australia (444) and Pakistan (381) has won more matches then India.
*** This will be the 99th ODI between India and Australia. 32 have been won by India and 58 by Australia.
*** Both teams have played 38 ODI in India and the visitor has won 20 of them. Last time both played at Vadodara on Sunday which was won by Australia by runs. Before that match Australia twice beat India by ONE run and both time in the World Cup. First time at Chepauk in 1987-88 and then at Brisbane in 1991-92.
*** Ponting requires 82 runs to become highest run scorer non Indian on Indian soil. Sri Lanka’s Arvinda de Silva had scored 1438 runs in 37 ODI while Ponting has score 1356 runs in 50 ODI on Indian soil.
*** Sachin Tendulkar scored 16903 ODI runs so far so he needs another 83 runs to become the first player to complete 17000 runs in the history of One Day International.

Day-Night match record

*** This will be the 44th Day night match between India and Australia. India won 14 and lost 25 of them while 4 ended in no result.
*** Both teams have played 12 day night games on Indian soil and the visitors has won 6 of them.
*** This will be the 91st day night match on Indian soil. The home team has won 31 of the 57 they played.
*** There have been 939 day night matches so far in the history of ODI. Australia has played 322 of them with 204-win, 104-loss record.
*** India has played 241 such games with 112-win, 112-loss record.

Venue Record (in Nagpur both grounds)

Highest Total
India: 6/350 Vs Sri Lanka on 25-10-2005
Australia: 8/317 Vs India on 14/10/2007
Lowest Total: (completed innings)
India: 193 Vs West Indies on 8/12/1987
Highest score:
149* by S Chanderpaul WI Vs India on 21/01/2007
India: 130* by Sourav Ganguly Vs Sri Lanka on 22/03/1999
Australia: 102* A Symonds Vs India on 14/10/2007
Best Bowling
8 for 29 by Patrik Patterson WI Vs India on 8/12/1987
India: 4 for 21 by Sourav Ganguly Vs Sri Lanka on 22/03/1999
Australia: 4 for 34 by Shane Warne Vs Zimbabwe on 1/3/1996

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1000 runs in Calender year

Australia’s captain Ricky Ponting completed 1000 runs in the calender year2009 when he reached 69 against India on Sunday at the Reliance stadium, Vadodara. This is the 6th time when Ponting scored 1000 or more runs in a calender year. He is the first player to score 1000 runs in 2009.
However man in form Hamilton Masakadza of Zimbabwe is very much behind him with 936 runs in 20 matches. Ricky Ponting complete 1000 runs in 23 ODI with TWO hundreds and 7 half centuries.
Earlier Ponting scored 1000 or more runs in 1998 (1166 runs), 1999 (1038), 2003 (1154), 2005 (1191), 2007 (1424) and now at the end of Sunday innings he scored 1005 runs this year.
Sachin Tendulkar achieved this feat for 7 times and Ricky Ponting has to do it again in the coming years if he wants to surpass Sachin’s record. Sachin achieved this feat in 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2004 and 2007.
Sachin Tendulkar also holds the record of most runs in calender year. He had scored 1894 runs in 1998 in 34 ODI with the help of 9 hundreds and 7 half centuries. Sourav Ganguly scored 1767 runs in 1999, the year when he hit 183 during the world cup in England.
After Sachin, Sourav Ganguly and Ricky Ponting scored most time 1000 runs in calender year. Both have done for 6 times.

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India-Australia in ODI

25 October 2009
At Reliance stadium, Vadodara

*** This will be the 722nd ODI for India and 721st for Australia.
*** India needs one more victory to reach 350th win in ODI history. Only Australia (444) and Pakistan (381) has won more matches then India.
*** This will be the 98th ODI between India and Australia. 32 have been won by India and 57 by Australia.
*** Both teams have played 37 ODI in India and the visitor has won 19 of them. Last time both played at Vadodara in October 2007 which was won by Australia.
*** Australia captains Ricky Ponting will play his 50th ODI against India. He will be the second Australian after Steve Waugh (53) to do so.
*** Ponting requires 156 runs to become highest run scorer non Indian on Indian soil. Sri Lanka’s Arvinda de Silva had scored 1438 runs in 37 ODI while Ponting has score 1282 runs in 49 ODI on Indian soil.
*** Sachin Tendulkar scored 16903 ODI runs so far so he needs another 97 runs to become the first player to complete 17000 runs in the history of One Day International.
*** Brett Lee needs only one wicket to complete 50 wickets against India in ODI.
*** James Hopes requires 14 run to reach 1000 run milestone in his ODI career.

India and Australia in ODI.


Highest Total
India: 315 at Bangalore on 25 March 2001
Australia: 2 for 359 at Johannesburg on 23 March 2003
Lowest Total:
India: 63 at Sydney on 8 January 1981
Australia: 101 at Perth on 8 December 1991
Most Runs:
India: 2730 by SR Tendulkar in 61 matches.
Australia: 1778 by RT Ponting in 49 matches.
Most wickets:
India: 45 by Kapil Dev in 41 matches.
Australia: 49 by Brett Lee in 28 matches.
Highest score:
India: 143 by SR Tendulkar at Sharjah on 22 April 1998
Australia: 140 by RT Ponting at Johannesburg on 23 March 2003
Best Bowling
India: 6 for 27 by Murali Kartik Mumbai (Wankhede) on 17 October 2007
Australia: 6 for 39 by KH MacLeay at Trent Bridge on 13 June 1983.

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Lose the toss? No problem at Baroda

As they says toss is very important, toss will be crucial for the match, they wins half of the match after won the toss but so far Vadodara (Baroda) is concerned if the captain lose the toss his team’s chance to win the match will be brighter.
There are 8 ODIs played at IPCL (now reliance) ground in Vadodara and 6 of them won by the team who lost the toss. India is very lucky (?) of them all as India won all the 6 matches here after losing the toss.
Last time here in October 2007 India captain MS Dhoni won the toss against Australia but lost the match by 9 wickets. So any captain will not be too much enthusiastic to win the toss here.
However in the ODI history only four teams have won more matches after losing the toss then won after winning the toss. South Africa has upper hand as they won 61.61% matches after losing the toss. They have won 130 ODI of the 211 in which they lost the toss while Australia have won 217 matches (61.13%) when they lost the toss among the 355 ODIs. Pakistan played 342 such matches with the winning percentage of 53.51 and West Indies has won 174 matches (52.10%) of the 334 in which they lost the toss.
And now in India…
Australia has played 63 ODI on Indian soil and they won 66.67% matches after losing the toss. As they lost the toss for 27 times and won 18 of those matches. While 117 times India lost the toss at home and won 63 (53.85%) such matches.

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Stranded by a whisker

Batsmen are always in pressure when he was nearing a milestone and particularly when on 99. The history proves it as there are 13 batsmen were run out on 99 in test cricket and as many as 5 players remained not out when they needed a single to reach 100 and there are 8 to do so in ODI.
England’s Alex Tudor is one of them and interestingly he never scored a ton after that 99 not out against New Zealand at Edgebaston in 1999. Born on 23 October 1977 Alex Tudor was on 99 when England achieved the target of 211 runs and won the match by 7 wickets against New Zealand.
This reminds me some interesting instances when a batsman stranded by a whisker. Sir Australia’s Pud Thurlow played only one test and came back without any run or any wicket but he was run out when his partner was approaching for triple hundred and he was non other then the SIR of all Donald George Bradman. During a test at Adelaide in 1931-32 series against South Africa Australia lost 9th wicket at 499. Don Bradman and Thurlow added 14 runs for the last wicket but then Thurlow ran himself out when Bradman was on 299.
Pakistan’s Asim Kamal and Australia’s Arthur Chipperfield are the only players who scored 99 on their debut.
An outstanding opening batsman and excellent fieldsman for on either side of the Second World War Australia’s Bill Brown was the first batsman to run out on 99 and that happened against India at Melbourne in 1947-48.
The most recent 99 run out case was of ND McKenzie of South Africa against Australia at Cape Town in 2001-02. It was the same season when JH Kallis ran out on 99 against Australia at MCG and Mahela Jayawardene did it at Galle against West Indies.

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Century on birthday

Australia have some excellent wins behind them while coming into the one-day series against India but Australian captain Ricky Ponting and all other players still fears about Sachin Tendulkar.
Sachin Tendulkar always played excellent cricket against Oz and this time around he is the most dangerous player. It recalls those two knocks of the master blaster at Sharjah when we talk about Sachin and Australia. It has been 11 years gone but still it refreshes our mind. I was just thinking about that 134 Sachin hit at Sharjah on his 25th birthday in 1998.
Century on birthday is not too often happened in cricket and particularly in ODI as there are only 3 batsmen have done. Sachin scored 134 at Sharjah on 24 April 1998 but before that his best friend Vinod Kambli scored an unbeaten 100 at Jaipur against England on 18 January 1993.
However the only other batsman to hit a ton on the birthday is Sanath Jayasuriya and he has done this on his 39th birthday in 2008. Jayasuriya scored masterful 130 against Bangladesh at Karachi on 30 June 2008 during the Asia Cup.
There are 9 batsmen scored hundred on their respective birthday in test cricket history. Here is the list.
RG Pollock (23rd birthday) 105, S Africa Vs Australia, 27-2-1967, Port Elizabeth.
CC Lewis (25) 117, England Vs India, 14-2-93, Chepauk.
RR Sarwan (26) 116, WI Vs India, 23-6-2006, Bessetere.
BL Irvin (26) 102, S Africa Vs Australia, 9-3-1970, Port Elizabeth.
PE Richardson (26) 126, England Vs WI, 4-7-1957, Trent Bridge.
Imran Khan (28) 123, Pakistan Vs WI, 25-11-1980, Lahore.
AC Hudson (29) 102, S AfricaVs Australia, 17-3-94, Cape Town.
RT Simson (31) 156*, England Vs Australia, 27-2-1951, Melbourne.
AJ Stewart (31) 118, England Vs WI, 8-4-94, Bridgetown.

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ALL OUT for 30

On his return to the official fold, former ICL player Mihir Diwakar returned remarkable figures of 3.1-2-6-5 as Jharkhand entered the Twenty20 record books by bowling out the rival Tripura for mere 30 runs. This is the lowest Twenty20 score ever recorded
The previous lowest score was 47 by the Titans' 47 against the Eagles in South Africa in 2003-04. No one from Tripura able to score in double figures. The highest score was 8 by Subal Chowdhury off 10 balls. Tripura were all out in just 11.1 overs and 50 minutes.
Jharkhand captain Surabh Tiwary scored 22 off only 14 balls with the help of 5 fours as his team reached the target in just 3.2 overs and 14 minutes. Another world record of most balls to spare for achieving the target.
Mumbai beat Kolkata by 8 wickets on 18 May 2008 at Mumbai with 87 balls to spare.

Here is the list of the lowest total in Twenty20.
30 by Tripura Vs Jharkhand, Dhanbad, 20-10-2009
47 by Titans Vs Egales, Centurion, 28 April 2004
58 by Rajsthan Vs Bangalore, Cape Town, 18 April 2009
59 by SL Army Vs Sinhalese, Colombo CCC, 2 March 2007

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MOST FAMOUS DELIVERY in CRICKET

So many times we hear about that UNDERARM DELIVERY bowled in the history of Gentlemen’s game. One can easily recall the underarm ball bowled by Trevor Chappell for Australia against New Zealand at the famous Melbourne Cricket Ground on 1st February 1981. Today I just recollect my memory as I was digging some pages from my history book and 21 October is the birthday of Trevor Chappell.
Trevor was also fine batsman like his elder brothers Ian and Greg and he was also a part time bowler. He had bowled 736 deliveries in ODI and only one of those was underarm but the cricket world remembers only this one.
I was following that series and still remember because India were the 3rd team in Benson and Hedges cup (though could not make to the final). So the host Australia and New Zealand played the series of 5 finals and that was the third final.
New Zealand needed 6 runs off the last ball and the bowler was Trevor. The Australian captain Greg Chappell went to the bowler, Trevor-who also happened to be his brother, and asked him to bowl an under-arm delivery so that there is absolutely no chance for the No. 10 kiwi batsman Brian McKechine to hit a six.
The ball went all along the ground - from the bowling end to the striking end and Brain Mckechine just played it before throwing his bat and moved out of the ground. Not only the batsman but surprisingly the wicketkeeper Rodney Marsh, the Australian, looked very disappointed with his captain’s decision.

Test and ODI Cricketer born on 21 October

G Ulyett (1851)
RH Spooner (1880)
PGV van der Bijl (1907)
JM Parks (1931)
Geoff Boycott (1940)
Damien Martyn (1971)
Sarandeep Singh (1979)
Devon Smith (1981)
Tinashe Panyangara (1985)

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150 plus twice in the same series

Zimbabwe’s Hamilton Masakadza score 184* runs against Kenya at Harare in the 5th match of the current ODI series between the two on 18 October. Thus he became the only player in the history of the ODIs to score 150 plus score twice in the same series. He remained unbeaten on 184 off 168 balls with the help of 17 fours and 5 sixes.
Masakadza had scored 156 in the first match of the series on 12 October.
Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Matthew Hayden, Sanath Jayasuriya, Vivian Richards, Chris Gayle, Adam Gilchrist, Herschelle Gibbs, Brian Lara and Andrew Symonds have scored 150 plus score for more then once in their respective ODI career but no one from them has scored 150 plus twice in the same series.
Only Sanath Jayasuriya is close to Masakadza as he had scored two 150 plus score in a span of 3 days but not in the same series. Sri Lankan opener scored 152 on first July 2006 against England at Leeds during Netwest series and then went on to score 157 against Netherlands at Amstelveen on 4 July 2006. However it was different series.

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60.33 Average: The best for India

60.33 Average in test cricket is still the best for India as no one reach this mark since 1950s. Born on 18 October 1928 Deepak Shodhan’s case is one of the most baffling in the history of Indian cricket. An attractive left-hand batsman, he made a memorable debut against Pakistan in the fifth Test at Calcutta in 1952-53. Coming in at No 8, with the total 179 for 6, he propped up the latter half of the order so effectively that India ultimately reached 397. Shodhan was last out for 110, becoming the first player to score a hundred in the first innings of his first Test for India.
Deepak Shodhan, also know as Roshan, was immediately hailed as a bright new star on the Indian batting horizon and on the tour of West Indies which followed immediately he got 45 and 11 in the first Test at Port-of-Spain. Injuries however kept him out of the next three Tests and when brought back for the final Test, he was taken ill on the first day and could not bat in the first innings and then went onto score 15 not out in the second innings of the match.
At the end of the tour Shodhan had scored 181 runs in three Tests at an average of 60.33. Astonishingly, that remained the extent of his Test career for he was never again picked to play for the country.
However, he continued to play in the Ranji Trophy and Indian first class cricket and had a record of 1802 runs (31.61) and 73 wickets (34.05) with his left-arm medium pacers in first class career.
Deepak Shodhan played for Gujarat, Baroda, West Zone and Indian Universities. He was born and brought up in Ahmedabad, spent his whole life in Ahmedabad and even today he resides in Ahmedabad with his elder brother Jyotindra Shodhan, also first class cricketer and former captained of Gujarat Ranji team, Deepak Shodhan highest score in Ranji Trophy is not for Gujarat but for Baroda. He scored 261 for Baroda against Maharashtra at Wadia Park, Ahmednagar in 1957-58, the season when Baroda won the Ranji Trophy under the leadership of DK Gaekwad.

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Fastest Fifties and 100 Partnerships in T20

New South Wales and Trinidad & Tobago match of the Champions League witnessed two records on Friday. Phil Hughes and David Warner added 121 runs for the first wicket and Kieron Pollard smashed half century off only 18 balls.
100 runs partnership is very rare in this form of cricket as the batsmen have little chance to set on the wicket of have not too much time to add 100 runs with any partner.
But the fact is this was the 75th partnership of over 100 runs for the first wicket in T20 cricket. The best of all is 175 runs between Vikram Solanki and Graeme Hick for Worcestershire Vs Northamptonshire at Kidderminster on 29 June 2007. There are 7 partnership of over 150 runs in T20 cricket.
Kieron Pollard has hit his half century off only 18 balls but still it is not the world record. He is at No. 11 in the list of fastest half century in T20. India’s Yuvraj Singh is on top of the list with the fifty off only 12 balls, thanks to six sixes off Stuart Broad, against England at Durban on 19 September 2007.
Here is the list of fastest fifties in T20.
Yuvraj Singh (12 balls), India Vs England, Durban, 19-9-2007. Imran Nazir (14), Sialkot Vs Lahore Egales, Lahore, 26-4-2005. GL Brophy (14), Yorkshire Vs Derbyshire, Derby, 10-7-2006. MJ Guptil (15), Auckland Vs Central District, New Playmouth, 30-1-2008. Ross Taylor (16), Cenral District Vs Otago, Dunedin, 27-1-2006. Adam Gilchrist (17), Hyderabad Vs Delhi, Centurion, 22-5-2009. L Vincent (17), Auckland Vs Central District, Newplaymouth, 30-1-2008. Imran Nazir (17), Sialkot Stallions Vs Lahore Lions, Lahore, 29-5-2009. A Symonds (18), Kent Vs Middlesex, Maidstone, 2-7-2004. BB McCullum (18), Auckland Vs Canterbury, Auckland, 5-2-2006. LJ Vivian (18), Auckland Vs Central District, New Playmouth, 6-2-2009. Kieron Pollard (18), Trinidad & Tobago Vs NSW, Hyderabad, 16-10-2009.

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All Important single wicket in test career

Sir Donald Bradman needed only four runs to achieve his test career average to 100 per innings but Eric Hollies bowled him and prevent him to score those important four runs.
This considers the most important and most memorable wicket in the history.
Recently I dug up list of those batsmen who scored more then 5000 runs and have taken one or two wicket in their career but how important that single wicket.
It was India-Pakistan test match at Faisalabad when Sunil Gavaskar took the only wicket of his entire test career but that was Zaheer Abbas’ wicket. The match began on 16 October 1978 and Pakistan was in very strong position. After scoring 176 in the first innings Zaheer was nearing another one in the second innings and captain Bishensingh Bedi handed over the bowl to Sunil Gavaskar and he got the rid of the great Pakistan batsman. Zaheer was caught by Chetan Chauhan on 96 and missed the ton by 4 runs.
That was the only chance for Zaheer Abbas to score hundred in both innings of a test as he has done it five times in first class cricket.
England’s David Gower also taken only one wicket in his 117-match career and the victim was Kapil Dev. England toured India in 1981-82 and Kapil Dev was on full swing with bat at Kanpur where he has scored one of the fastest hundred (116 off 98 balls) of his career.
Don Bradman has taken two wickets in his career and one of those two was Wally Hammond, while Mike Atherton has taken two wickets and his victim was Dilip Vengsarkar and Wasim Akram.

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Deccan Chargers: Unlucky at home

With loss against Trinidad & Tobago at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal, Hyderabad on Wednesday Deccan Chargers have lost all the 9 matches they played at home in the T20. They lost all the matches of the IPL 2008 at home and now lost two matches in the ongoing Champions League T20.
Normally the team performs well at home with all the suitable conditions favoring the home players but here we can say all the Deccan Chargers’ players are not from Hyderabad, this may be the reason which favors Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds, Scott Styris, Fidel Edwards or for that matter Rohit Sharma )Mumbai, RP Singh (Uttar Pradesh).
However Hyderabad is the only team who never won a match at home in T20 or T20 Internationals.
One can compare Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, Canada, Kenya and some other minnows with Hyderabad so far One Day International is concern. Zimbabwe has won only 26.23% of ODIs played at home while lost 69.57%. They played 122 ODIs at home with 32-win and 85-loss record while Bangladesh has won 29.49% matches at home (23-win, 54-loss of the 78 played at home).
Other teams at home:
Team, match, won, lost, Win%
UAE, 2, 0, 2, 0.00%
Scotland 14, 3, 9, 21.43%
Canada, 13, 3, 9, 23.08%
Kenya, 48, 19, 29, 39.58%

In test matches Bangladesh has played 29 matches at home and won only ONE while lost 24 but most notable entry in this list is New Zealand. The Kiwis has won 23.98% test at home. They have played 171 test matches at home with only 41 won and 56 lost.

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THREE Tie in a day

Eagles and Sussex match of the Champions League Twenty20 tournament at Feroz Shah Kotla ground, New Delhi ended in a tie on Tuesday. This was the first ever tie in Champions League but 8th tie in the year 2009.
Since 2005 we have witnessed 23 Tied games so far and most notable thing is there were 3 tied games on a single day. That happened on 18 February 2009. The first one was at Hamilton between Northern Districts and Canterbury where both team scored 171 runs in 20 overs and then Canterbury won in the one-over eliminator.
On the same day Dolphins and Cape Cobras played the semi final of the Standard Bank pro20 series at Durban and scored 148 each in the end Cape Cobras won in the one-over eliminator. In the second semi final at Port Elizabeth Worriers bowled out for 97 in 19.3 overs but fought back and restrict Eagles for 6 for 97 in 20 overs. However Eagles was lucky to over come the rivals in the eliminator.
Some facts about the TIED games in T20.
*** There are 23 tied games so far.
*** This was the 8th tie match in the year 2009.
*** There were 7 such results in the year 2008.
*** This was the only 3rd tied match on Indian soil. Previous tie: Gujarat and Saurashtra tied in the Inter state T20 tourney at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai in April 2007.
*** Bulawayo ground witnessed two consecutive Ties in two days in May 2009. On 13th May Central and Western match ended in a tie and next day again Western tied against Northern.
*** Only 3 T20 International matches ended in a Tie and New Zealand and West Indies involved in two of them.
*** Inclemently both New Zealand-West Indies tie matches were played at Auckland.
** New Zealand beat West Indies on 16 February 2006 in the Bowl out but lost to the Caribbean but they lost in the one-over eliminator on the boxing day of 2008 against the same rival at Auckland.

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2000 runs in T20 cricket

It has been now 7 year of the inception of the shorter version of the game we know as T20 but surprisingly only two batsmen have crossed the 2000 run mark of their respective T20 career. Because of the nature of the game the batsman has little chance to play long innings or to play up to the last over.
With the score of 44 (not out), for Victoria Vs Wayamba at Delhi on Tuesday, Brad Hodge’s run aggregate reach to 2341 in 70 matches and David Hussey, also played with Hodge, reached 2047 runs in his 80 match career. These are the only two who reached this mark in the history of T20.
Hodge has scored 2341 runs in 67 innings 70 matches @41.80 including one century and 17 half centuries. Only Hylton Ackerman of Dolphins has scored 17 fifties in T20.
There are 60 batsmen who have scored 1000 or more runs in T20 and India’s Gautam Gambhir is at No 14 with 1411 runs in 53 matches.
The other Indians are Yuvraj Singh (1380), Rohit Sharma (1280), MS Dhoni (1170) and Virender Sehwag (1116).

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The (in)FAMOUS beamer

Deccan Chargers bowler Fidel Edwards was bowling against Somerset at Uppal, Hyderabad in the ongoing Champions league T20 match and suddenly taken off from the bowling. At that time Hyderabadi team had had every chance to defend their score of 153 but the atmosphere changed.
Edwards bowled a beamer to Somerset batsman Hildreth. It was the second beamer in the innings for West Indian pacer and umpire Daryl Harper had no option but to remove him from the bowling as he had been warned after bowling beamer to Marcus Trescothick on the very first ball of Somerset innings. The first one from Edwards was full outside off and second (in the 17th over, to Hildreth) was down the leg side.
With these beamers some similar incidence came to my mind. (We are talking about post bodyline era).
During the India-Zimbabwe series of 2001-02 at Nagpur visitor bowler Travis Friend was at the receiving end. In the 41st over of the Indian innings ball slips out of Friend’s hand and went as a beamer. Indian opener SS Das ducked and the keeper Taibu too gave away four byes. Umpire Venkataragahavan and David Shepherd warned the bowler.
Next day Travis Friend was at his best and hurled so many bouncers and generated some pace on a hot afternoon in Nagpur. During the 149th over of the innings he bowled a full beamer to Sachin Tendulkar He has been warned about this before and as per the rules (42.7 and 42.8) Umpire Venkat hand the young Travis Friend his glasses and hat and that was the end of Friend’s bowling for that innings.
Exactly one year later, on 11 February, umpire David Shepherd was at the bowlers’ end and the bowler was Waqar Younis. It was Pakistan-Australia match of the World Cup 2002-03 and Australians was approaching 300 mark. Waqar was bowling 49th over of the innings but he was removed from the attacked by umpire Shepherd after 3 balls of his 9th over, after bowling two full pitched deliveries.

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265 for the first wicket

Abhinav Mukund and Wasim Jaffer have put on 265 for the first wicket for India Blue against India Green during the ongoing NKP Salve Challenger Trophy One Day series. This is the new Challenger Trophy record and the equal the record of best first wicket partnership in Ranji Trophy One Day.
The previous best partnership in Challenger Trophy was 187 runs between Shikhar Dhavan and MS Dhoni for India Seniors Vs India B at Mumbai in 2004-05. However the first wicket fall at 246 but Dhoni retired hurt after having scored 87 and when the team score was 187. He returned when the score was 1/246 and remained not out for 102 in the team score of 2/278.
The best partnership for this wicket in Ranji One Day is also 265 posted by TP Singh and Amit Pagnis for the Railways against Bengal at Chennai in 2002-03.
World record: Ghulam Ali and Sohail Jaffer have put on 326* for the first wicket for PIA vs Agriculture Development bank of Pakistan at Sialkot in 2000-01.

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Tribute to Rajan Bala

Towering personality in Indian Sports journalism in general and cricket in particular and veteran scribe Rajan Bala passed away on Friday in Bangalore at the age of 63. He was highly regarded for his writing lair. He had worked for various newspapers like 'The Statesman', 'The Hindu', 'Deccan Herald', 'Indian Express', 'Afternoon Despatch and Courier' and 'The Asian Age'.
I have the privilege to consider him as my senior colleague, though never work together, as he was in the Indian Express when I began my career with Jansatta (Gujarati daily) of the same group.
A renowned cricket writer who used his pen with felicity, Rajan was an icon for the younger generation of writers of the willow game in the 1970s who followed his despatches from various parts of the cricket world with great interest.
I first met him during the India-Sri Lanka test at Motera, Ahmedabad in February 1994. After that meeting we had some memorable occasions in the press box when I visited Mumbai, Kolkata and Delhi or when he came to Ahmedabad or Vadodara. I also covered some matches with his son Sanjay Rajan.
He completed his higher education in London and was a tremendous raconteur on the game and was also a voracious reader not only on cricket but on various other subjects too. But I can say he was a good listener too so far me experience is concern.
Most interesting fact about Bala was that he had had terrific understanding of the technical intricacies of the game, in fact the best you will ever see. Razor sharp in grasping the nuances, he was often sought by the lesser players for technical feedback and corrections.

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Ninety Nine Not Out

South African batsman JP Duminy stranded on 99 on Thursday while playing for Cape Cobras against Royal Challengers, Bangalore at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore in the opening match of the Champions League T20 tournament. This was the 3rd instance when a batsman remained not out on 99 in the T20 cricket.
Earlier Ashfaq Ahmed (L Egels Vs R Rams, Karachi, 2006) and Salman Butt (Lahore Lions Vs Quetta Bears, Lahore, 2008) have done it. In fact only three batsmen scored 99 runs in T20 and all of them remained not out.
No cricketer would like to stranded in the Nineties but this was the 60th instance when a batsman scored Nervous Nineties and 26 of them remained not out.
96 is the score where most batsmen remained not out. There are 5 instance of the 60 such cases when a batsman not out on the score of 96.
However 94 is the most unluckiest score among the nervous nineties as 10 batsmen hit this score in T20 and 5 of them remained not out.

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Youngest Centurion

One of Australia's greatest batsmen Neil Harvey was a gloriously elegant left-hander who remains his country's youngest centurion. He was 19 years and 122 days old when he stroked 153 against India in Melbourne in 1947-48.
Born on 8 October (1928) Harvey followed up with 112 in his next Test innings at Headingley the following summer against England in the Ashes.
Harevy was the youngest centurion then but with the time changes records have been broken he is now at No. 12 in the list of youngest centurions. Bangladeshi Mohammad Ashraful holds the records with a hundred at the age of 16 years and 364 days when he scored 114 against Sri Lanka at Colombo (ssc) in 2001-02.
On the list of top 12 (including Neil Harvey) only Mohammad Wasim (Pakistan) and Henry Vivian (New Zealand) could not make any more hundred in their respective test career,
Sachin Tendulkar is the youngest Indian and 3rd youngest in the history by scoring his maiden hundred at the age of 17 years and 112 days when he stroked 119* at Old Trafford, Manchester on 14 August 1990.
Interestingly Pakistan’s Ali Naqvi and Azhar Mahmood became the first pair of debutants to score centuries in the same innings. They have done it at Rawalpindi against South Africa in 1997.

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Trophies won by Australia

Australia added one more title to their glitttering cricketing cupboard by winning the Champions Trophy in Centurion, South Africa, on Monday. It was Australia’s 33rd ODI Trophy, in which at least 3 teams participated. They had earlier won the Benson & Hedges, Carlton & United, and VB series played at home.
With this victory, the Oz put all the other cricketing teams nations well behind them.
India are second behind the Oz with 22 trophies to their credit, while Pakistan and Sri Lanka shared the 3rd place with 21 titles each.
However, Australia had to wait for 16 years to officially gain this recognition, since the inception of ODIs. They won the World Cup in 1987-88 co-hosted by India and Pakistan and also some tri-series at home, but not a multinational involving more than 3 teams before that.
Only West Indies (1975 and 1979) and Australia have won the World Cup back-to-back and now Australia is the only team to win ICC Champions Trophy in succession. They won it in India in 2006-07 and now in 2009-10 (in South Africa).
The list of all teams and their trophies: Australia (33), India (22), Pakistan and Sri Lanka (21-21), West Indies (18), South Africa (12), England (9), New Zealand (6), Zimbabwe (4), Kenya and Netherlands (2 each), Bangladesh (1)

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600 run outs by Australians

When England last batsman Graham Onions run out during the ICC Champions Trophy semi final on Friday it was 600th victim of run out against Australia in the history of One Day International. This was Australia’s 719th ODI and Onions was 5550th wicket for Australia. So the Oz have taken 10.81% of there total wicket by run out.
Naturally Australians are very agile in the fielding but still this is not world record. There were 614 batsmen ran out themselves against India. So India is on top of the table so far made run out the rivals is concern and India’s percentage (12.71) is also high in comparison to Australia. However my friend Nikhilesh argues Australian bowlers are not giving that much chance to their fielder and statistics are also favors Nikhilesh ‘s argument.
Australian bowlers have taken more then 1000 wickets as BOWLED and 3171 wickets as CAUGHT.
Here are the details of how the teams have taken wickets as run out. (more then 100 run outs only)
Team (Run outs)

India (614)
Australia (600)
Pakistan (569)
West Indies (510)
Sri Lanka (492)
New Zealand (449)
South Africa (402)
England (395)
Zimbabwe (261)
Bangladesh (126)

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Century of Day 3 in ODI history

When New Zealand take on Pakistan in the first semifinal of the ICC
Champions Trophy on 3rd October at The Wanderers, Johannesburg, it
would be the 100th ODI to be played on the 3rd day of the month.
Before this, 99 matches have been played on the 3rd of the any month
of the calendar year and India has played most of it. Men in Blue are
involved in 26 encounters. Today's will be 10th match on 3rd October.
Similarly, most ODI matches hosted on a single date of the month are
115 each on 18th and 20th of the month. Pakistan have played 33 ODIs
on 20th of any month while India has played 31 matches on the 18th day
of a month. There are 9 days who completed of century of ODI. 102 on 9th date, 103 on 11th date, 100 on 12th day of the month, 104 on 14th day, 103 on 15th day, 102 on 17th day, 115 each on 18th and 20th day, 101 on 22nd day and 106 on 26th day.
India has played 33 matches on 26th of the month.
And at last… there are 15 ODIs played on 3 April (most on 3rd of any month) and only TWO on 3rd May and 3rd June.

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Its 250 anyway for England

When England will play against Australia at Centurion in the Semi final of the ICC Champions Trophy on Friday ‘the figure 250’ hit in any case. So far England has played 521 ODI. They won 249 and also lost 249 of them. So whether England won or loss it would be its 250th ODI. England involved 18 no result and 5 tied games.
Interestingly England won the toss for 250 times so far.
This will be England’s 9th Semi finals in any multi national tournaments. They have played 8 till date with 4-win, 4-loss record.
England and Australia have fought in 3 semi finals with only one won by former and 2 by later. In all ODI both have played 100 matches so far with Australia have won 58 of them. Both have played 7 matches at neutral venues and again Australia has upper hand with 5 wins. However in the Champions Trophy both have won one each in the previous TWO encounters.
Ricky Ponting needs 52 runs to become highest run scorer between the two rivals. Graham Gooch has scored 1395 runs in 32 ODI against England while Ponting scored 1343 in 33 so far against the arch rivals.
Brett Lee needs THREE wickets to over take former team mates Glenn McGrath’s 53 wickets against England. Brett Lee has 51 wickets in 27 matches Vs England while McGrath has played 33 matches for his 53 wickets.

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