Factoids

It ought to have been a regulation fourth day of a rain-hit second Test of Australia’s tour of India in 1979. But when a self-confessed ‘lunatic’ of a fast bowler loses his rag, the regulation rapidly becomes the extraordinary. On this day 41 years back, Aussie quick Rodney Hogg unleashed his fury at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. Australia...

For four days in sweltering, humid Chennai, Australia called the shots in the opening Test of their 1986 tour of India. An extraordinary Dean Jones double-hundred, centuries by David Boon and Allan Border, and a five-wicket haul for off-spinner Greg Matthews meant despite Kapil Dev’s 119, India trailed by 177 on the first innings. When Australia unhurriedly batted through to...

Two of West Indies cricket’s modern-day giants were born on this day, 16 years apart. In 1963, towering paceman Curtly Ambrose had his first sighting of the world on his birth in Swetes Village, Antigua. One of the greatest fast bowlers to have graced the game, Ambrose broke into the West Indian team in April 1988 when they were at...

Less than a fortnight previously, Yuvraj Singh had been smashed for five consecutive sixes by Dimitri Mascarenhas in a One-Day International between India and England at The Oval. Left-arm spin might not be Yuvraj’s primary vocation, but someone would have to pay, wouldn’t he? That someone answered to the name of Stuart Broad. Fresh-faced and new to international cricket, Broad...

Ever wondered what it would be like to be playing international sport alongside a sibling? It’s not as common as one would like, but it’s also not as rare as you’d think. But what when three sets of siblings are playing in the same match? And all for the same team? How do you wrap your head around that? It’s...

R Ashwin is among the most successful spinners ever in the history of Test cricket. The off-spinner with a massive bag of tricks, and with the confidence to unleash all of them in a competitive match situation, began as a white-ball specialist, but it didn’t take him long to establish himself as India’s premier strike force in the longer version...

India and Pakistan had been engaged in many a battle in different parts of the world. On this day in 1996, they extended their rivalry with the first ever One-Day International in Canada, with the first game of the five-match series in Toronto. Despite a strong expatriate population in the ethnic melting pot, only 750 people came over to the...

The Ryder Cup offers no prize money, yet it is golf’s most coveted team title. Every two years, top golfers from the United States take on the might of Europe over three days of pulsating action on an alternate home-and-away basis. The best players in the world, opponents for the better part of the year, come together as one in...

Several cricketers of Indian origin, most notable among them Rohan Kanhai and Shivranrine Chanderpaul, have represented West Indies with great distinction at the international level. Robin Singh, born Rabindra, however, is the first – and thus far only – player of Indian origin who was born in the Caribbean but played competitive cricket for the country of his ancestors. Robin...

It had been 16 years since England had held the Ashes, Australia calling the shots from 1989 onwards, when the teams went to The Oval in London for the final Test of the 2005 series. The hosts held a 2-1 lead in what is arguably the greatest Ashes of all time, and only needed a draw to wrestle the urn...