Factoids

It takes some gumption for someone yet to make his Test debut to predict that he would become his country’s first triple-centurion, but then again, there’s nothing commonplace about Virender Sehwag. Bearing a striking physical – if not facial – resemblance to Sachin Tendulkar, the pupil did his master proud at the conclusion of a distinguished career in which he...

Mark Boucher was only 20 when he made his international debut, keeping wicket in the Sheikhupura Test against in October 1997. He had taken over the big gloves from David Richardson, and felt the weight of expectations which saw him somewhat exposed on South Africa’s tour of England in 1998. However, it wasn’t long before his uncompromising work ethic and...

It’s variously known as the Big Steal and the Karachi Heist. From out of nowhere, Pakistan fashioned a remarkable, miraculous one-wicket win over Australia in Mark Taylor’s first Test as captain at the National stadium. Taylor marked the occasion with the dubious distinction of becoming the first playerto register a pair in Test history on debut as skipper. Debutant Michael...

Young West German sensation Steffi Graf had taken the tennis world by storm in 1987, winning her maiden Grand Slam crown by defeating world No. 1 Martina Navratilova 6-4, 4-6, 8-6 in the final of the French Open in Paris. She made the title round at both Wimbledon and the US Open, going down in straight sets in both contests...

India and Sri Lanka battled it out for 110.4 overs spread over two days in the final of the 2002 Champions Trophy in Colombo. Yet, there was no winner. Strange, you say? Yes, strange indeed, but also very true. Even though the final had a reserve day, the playing conditions stipulated that should the match spill over, it will start...

Florence Griffith Joyner and Jackie Joyner-Kersee are two of the most recognizable faces in American athletics, long after they bid adieu to the sport. Florence was the sprint sensation, Jackie was the versatile multi-discipline champion whose heptathlon heroics were matched by her domination of the individual long jump event. Their bond was further cemented when Al Joyner, an Olympic champion...

Born in Luhansk, Ukraine, in undivided USSR in 1963, Sergey Bubka is easily the most recognizable face in pole vault. One of 24 members inducted into the International Association of Athletics Federations Hall of Fame in 2012, Bubka has won titles for fun and smashed world records, one centimetre at a time, to lord over the pole vault pit for...

When he was ruling the Ranji Trophy with runs galore and wickets by the bucketful, including the 500-50 double for Karnataka in one season, Rahul Dravid called him a ‘captain’s dream’. Joshi didn’t always translate his immense skills to the international level, though this day, September 26, will always remain fresh in his memory. Joshi had made his India breakthrough...

There are few better sights than Bishan Singh Bedi at the bowling crease. Poetry in motion has often been grossly misrepresented in a bid to romanticize sport, but in Bedi’s case, that was as appropriate as you could get. A wonderful master of guile and deception, Bedi was born on this day in 1946 in Amritsar. Shortly after turning 20,...

ndia had played exactly one Twenty20 International, in Johannesburg the previous December, when they went into the inaugural World T20 in South Africa in September 2007. Such was their disinterest that senior players Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly made themselves unavailable, and a new skipper was appointed in the form of Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Few expected India to...