Cricket History and Facts

Sourav Ganguly's highest individual scores were 239 in Test cricket (against Pakistan, 2007) and 183 in ODIs (against Sri Lanka, 1999). The asterisk in some options denotes 'not out', but Ganguly was out in both these record innings.

Sourav Ganguly's best bowling performance in ODIs was 5 wickets for 16 runs against Sri Lanka at the 2000 ICC Champions Trophy in Nairobi. This remains one of the best bowling figures by an Indian captain in ODI history.

Sourav Ganguly scored 22 centuries in ODI cricket during his international career from 1992 to 2007. This places him among the leading century scorers in Indian ODI cricket history.

In cricket, if playing conditions become unfit (due to rain, damage, or other reasons), the match can be restarted on an alternative pitch if one is available and match officials deem it appropriate. This is covered in cricket's playing condition regulations.

In cricket, a batsman who is retired hurt or retired out can return to bat later in the innings with the opposing captain's permission. They resume batting at the fall of a wicket.

Len Hutton (England) is the only batsman to be given out 'obstructing the field' in Test cricket history. This happened in 1951 against South Africa at The Oval when he hit the ball away with his bat to prevent it from hitting the stumps after playing a shot. Inzamam-ul-Haq was given out 'obstructing the field' in ODIs, not Tests. Bradman and Sobers were never dismissed this way.

Sachin Tendulkar scored 9 ODI centuries in 1998, which was one of his most prolific years. This record stood as his highest century tally in a single calendar year for a long time.

Javed Miandad hit the famous last-ball six against India in the 1986 Austral-Asia Cup final in Sharjah. Pakistan needed 5 runs to win off the final ball, and Miandad's six created one of cricket's most iconic moments.

Rahul Dravid was batting when the Duckworth-Lewis method came into play during the 2003 World Cup final between India and Australia. The match was affected by rain, and Dravid was at the crease when the D/L calculation revised India's target. Ganguly, Tendulkar, and Sehwag were all dismissed earlier in the innings.

Aakash Chopra opened the innings with Virender Sehwag in the 2003 Test series against Australia in Australia. This was Chopra's debut series as an opener, and he played a crucial supporting role to Sehwag's aggressive batting at the top of the order. Bangar, Jaffer, and Tendulkar were not his opening partners during this specific series.

In the 2004 VB Series ODI match against Australia, both Yuvraj Singh and VVS Laxman scored centuries. This was during India's tour of Australia in 2003-2004. Laxman made 131 and Yuvraj scored 139, but India still lost the match. This was a notable performance with two centurions in a losing cause.

Vinoo Mankad and Pankaj Roy (P. Roy) set the world record for the first wicket partnership of 413 runs against New Zealand in 1956. This record stood for over 50 years. A.L. Apte was a different era player, while Tendulkar and Kaif are from much later periods and were not involved in this record.

Albert Trott has a Test batting average of 102.88 from just 5 matches, technically higher than Bradman's 99.94, though Bradman's average over 52 matches is statistically more significant. Mike Hussey, Sunil Gavaskar, and Ravi Shastri all had excellent averages but none exceeded Bradman's legendary mark.

Chetan Sharma took India's first World Cup hat trick against New Zealand in the 1987 World Cup. Kapil Dev never took a World Cup hat trick. Harbhajan Singh took hat tricks in Test matches but not in World Cups. Muralitharan is Sri Lankan, not Indian, though he has taken World Cup hat tricks.