From a World Cup winner being decided on a rule that even purists of the game were unsure of to Australia retaining the urn on English soil, this has been quite an enthralling year for cricket fans across the globe. With the inception of the ICC World Test Championship, a series between two nations is also no longer an isolated one, as points are at stake for both the teams.
Closer to home, Indian cricket managed to keep its fans on their toes albeit with the odd blip of crashing out in the semi-final of the World Cup after entering it as favourites.
But Virat Kohli’s men ensured that the sour pill doesn’t have an aftertaste.
As the year comes to an end, India are on top of the ICC Test Championship table having won all seven Tests and three series since the tourney’s inception, and have had a solid run in the 50-over format as well, having won 19 of the 28 ODIs.
The stellar show also paved the path for a few records to tumble in the process.
Team Records
- India have won 12 consecutive Test series in India — the longest run for any team at home. Their winning streak had started with a 4-0 series win against Australia in 2012-13.
- In four successive Tests, four Indian batsmen have recorded double hundreds — the first instance in Tests — Mayank Agarwal (vs South Africa at Vizag), Virat Kohli (254* vs South Africa at Pune), Rohit Sharma (212 vs South Africa at Ranchi) & Agarwal (243 vs Bangladesh at Indore).
- 37 sixes were hit in the Visakhapatnam Test between India and South Africa in October — a world record for most sixes in a Test, eclipsing the 35 hit in the 2014-15 Sharjah Test between New Zealand and Pakistan.
However, it wasn’t like India were the only ones making merry and creating elite lists. A few other nations, too, registered astonishing records to ensure the year gone by remains a memorable one.
- In the Karachi Test against Sri Lanka, Pakistan's Shan Masood (135), Abid Ali (174), Azhar Ali (118) and Babar Azam (100*) scored centuries. It was only the second time in history that a team’s top four batsmen recorded hundreds. The only previous instance was from India’s tie against Bangladesh in Dhaka back in 2007. Their total of 610/3 saw Dinesh Karthik (129), Wasim Jaffer (138 retired ill), Rahul Dravid (129) and Sachin Tendulkar (122*) all score tons.
- John Campbell and Shai Hope were involved in a stand of 365 for West Indies against Ireland at Dublin in May — a world record for a first-wicket partnership in ODIs, bettering the 304 put up by Pakistan’s Imam-ul-Haq and Fakhar Zaman against Zimbabwe at Bulawayo in 2018.
- 25 sixes were registered in England's innings of 397/6 during their World Cup match against Afghanistan in June — a record in ODIs, eclipsing the 24 hit in England's innings against West Indies at St George's in February earlier this year.
Individual Records
In terms of individual performances as well, India’s Rohit Sharma had a standout year, finishing the year as the highest run-getter in ODIs. A lot of that success was owing to his run in the World Cup where he scored five centuries besides ending as the highest run-getter of the tournament.
Meanwhile in Tests, former Australian skipper made a stellar comeback, scoring 774 runs in seven innings during The Ashes at an average of 110.57. Owing to his three centuries and three half-centuries, he is now seventh on the all-time record of most runs scored in Ashes. His tally of 2,800 runs is, however, still 2,228 behind the chart led by Australian legend Sir Donald Bradman.
Elsewhere, it was business as usual for India skipper Virat Kohli, who finished the year with the most number of international runs across all formats. He scored 2,370 runs at an average of 64.05, thus maintaining the streak of notching more than 2,000 international runs for a fourth consecutive year.
Here’s a look at a few individual milestones achieved this year by both Indians and players from abroad in Tests and ODIs:
- Rohit Sharma recorded five centuries during the 2019 World Cup, the most in a single edition of the quadrennial tournament.
- Rohit Sharma has scored 1,490 runs at an average of 57.30 in 28 matches — the most by him in a calendar year. It is also the highest by any batsman this year.
- Virat Kohli took just 222 ODI innings to reach 11,000 runs — a world record for the quickest to this milestone, obliterating the 276 innings taken by Sachin Tendulkar. Kohli had accomplished the feat during his innings of 77 off 65 balls against Pakistan in the World Cup.
- Ravichandran Ashwin took 66 Tests to notch 350 wickets, the joint-quickest to this milestone, equalling Muttiah Muralitharan's feat.
- Afghanistan's Rashid Khan, at 20 years 350 days, became the youngest captain in Tests, achieving the feat against Bangladesh at Chhatogram in September 2019.
- England's Eoin Morgan struck 17 sixes during his 71-ball 148 against Afghanistan at Manchester on June 18, 2019 — a world record.
- England's Joe Root took 13 catches in 11 matches in the World Cup –– a record.
T20Is
Interestingly, the shortest format of the game had one of the most iconic moments in the sport in August earlier this year when Czech Republic, a country barely talked about in cricketing circles, held four records on a single day.
If Sudesh Wickramasekara’s ton (104 in 36 balls) paved the path for the then highest score in T20 cricket (278 for the loss of four wickets), Turkey’s hapless surrender to get bundled out for just 21 ensured the victors also won a T20 game with the highest winning margin (257).
Although Afghanistan later went on to match Czech Republic’s score (they notched 278/3 against Ireland), Turkey now have the three-lowest scores in the history of T20 cricket.
Wickramasekara had in the process also scored the fastest T20 century of the year (reached 100 in 35 balls) and he finds company in Rohit Sharma and David Miller who had also scored a ton off as many deliveries in 2017. While the Indian had scored against Sri Lanka, the Proteas star had taken Bangladesh bowlers to the cleaners.
Besides the total, Afghanistan also added two more records to their name. Hazratullah Zazai (62-ball 162) and Usman Ghani (48-ball 73) were involved in a stand of 236 for the first wicket — the highest by a pair for any wicket in T20Is. Also, the 22 sixes Afghanistan batsmen hit en route 278/3 is the maximum number of sixes scored by a side in a T20I game ever.
The Indians had a moderate year as they won just nine of the 16 T20Is they played this year. In terms of milestones too, they could only rewrite history books twice.
- Rohit Sharma recorded 120 sixes in 96 innings — a new record in T20Is, surpassing Chris Gayle's tally of 105 in 54 innings.
- With their stand of 118 for the first wicket against Bangladesh at Rajkot on 7 November, 2019, Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma became the first pair to record four century stands for any wicket in T20Is.
Other teams, though, cashed in albeit not always in the best of fashion. Here’s a look at the top five statistical highlights in T20Is from across the world:
- Sri Lanka's Kasun Rajitha conceded 75 runs without capturing a wicket — the most by a bowler in T20Is, outstripping the 70 conceded by Turkey's Tunahan Turan vs Czech Republic.
- Australia’s Aaron Finch (64), David Warner (100*) & Glenn Maxwell (62) provided the first instance when the top three batsmen of a side notched 50-plus scores in a T20I match when they achieved the feat against Sri Lanka at Adelaide on 27 October, 2019.
- Ireland’s Paul Stirling scored 748 runs at an average of 41.55 in 20 matches to register the most runs by a batsman in a calendar year.
- Sri Lanka’s Lasith Malinga became the first bowler to register two hat-tricks in T20I cricket. He also became the first bowler to take five hat-tricks in international cricket (three in T20Is and two in ODIs) going past Wasim Akram’s tally of four (two each in Tests and ODIs).
- Lasith Malinga also became the first bowler to bag 100 T20 wickets and has 106 scalps at 19.44 runs apiece in 79 matches.
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