50 Fun Facts About Indian Cricket

Which two-time defending champion did India dismiss for 140 in the 1983 World Cup final at Lord's?

West Indies had won the first two World Cups and needed only 184, yet were bowled out for 140 in 52 overs, a 43-run defeat still ranked among cricket's great upsets.

Whose unbeaten 175 against Zimbabwe in the 1983 World Cup came after India had collapsed to 17 for 5?

Kapil Dev's 175 not out off 138 balls included six sixes and an unbeaten 126-run ninth-wicket stand with Syed Kirmani, a world record that stood for 27 years.

Which India captain is the only one to win the World T20, the 50-over World Cup and the Champions Trophy?

MS Dhoni lifted the 2007 World T20, the 2011 World Cup and the 2013 Champions Trophy, and in the 2011 final he promoted himself up the order and finished unbeaten on 91.

Which Indian hit six sixes in one over off Stuart Broad at the 2007 World T20 in Durban?

Yuvraj Singh reached fifty off just 12 balls in that innings, then the fastest in any form of international cricket, and was later player of the tournament at the 2011 World Cup.

Which opener holds the highest men's ODI score, 264, made at Kolkata in 2014?

Rohit Sharma's 264 came off 173 balls, and he remains the only player with three double centuries in ODIs.

Who scored a record 50th ODI century in the 2023 World Cup semi-final against New Zealand?

Virat Kohli passed Sachin Tendulkar's 49 centuries with Tendulkar watching from the stands, and his 765 runs that tournament are the most ever in a single World Cup.

Who became the first Indian to score a Test triple century, with 309 against Pakistan at Multan?

Virender Sehwag did it again four years later with 319, reaching 300 off 278 balls, the fastest triple century in Test history.

Which opener was the first batter to reach 10,000 Test runs, doing so against Pakistan in 1987?

Sunil Gavaskar also holds the record for most runs in a debut series, 774 at an average of 154.80 in the Caribbean in 1971.

Which leg-spinner took all ten Pakistan wickets in a Test innings at Delhi in 1999?

Anil Kumble's 10 for 74 made him only the second bowler after Jim Laker to take all ten, and three years later he bowled in Antigua with a fractured jaw and dismissed Brian Lara.

Whose 281 at Kolkata in 2001 won a Test after India had followed on, ending Australia's 16-match streak?

VVS Laxman broke India's long-standing Test record score of 236 not out and shared a 376-run stand that lasted the entire fourth day.

Which Pakistan batter was caught scooping to short fine leg to end the 2007 World T20 final?

Misbah-ul-Haq had hit a six to leave Pakistan needing six from four balls before the gamble, and India's five-run win at the Wanderers gave the new format its first world champion.

India's tied 2007 World T20 group match against Pakistan in Durban was settled by which tie-breaker?

A bowl-out had five bowlers from each side aim at unguarded stumps; India hit three times and Pakistan none, and the ICC replaced the method with the Super Over in 2008.

Which franchise, the cheapest buy in the 2008 auction, won the first IPL under captain Shane Warne?

Rajasthan Royals cost US$67 million, the least of the eight franchises, and won the final off the very last ball.

Which New Zealander hit 158 not out for Kolkata Knight Riders in the very first IPL match in 2008?

Brendon McCullum faced just 73 balls for what was then the highest Twenty20 score ever, and Kolkata won the opening match by 140 runs against Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Which IPL franchise was suspended for 2016 and 2017 over a betting scandal, then won the title on its return?

Chennai Super Kings returned in 2018 and won immediately, their third title after 2010 and 2011.

Which city's Narendra Modi Stadium, with 132,000 seats, is the largest cricket ground in the world?

Ahmedabad's ground rose on the site of the old Motera stadium, demolished in 2015, and reopened in 2020 before staging the 2023 World Cup final.

Which ground's 1996 World Cup semi-final was awarded to Sri Lanka after rioting fans halted play?

Eden Gardens is the oldest and second-largest cricket stadium in India, and it was match referee Clive Lloyd who awarded the semi-final to Sri Lanka.

The second tied Test in history, between India and Australia in 1986, was played in which city?

Madras's Chepauk ground saw Dean Jones make 210 and India's last man fall lbw with one run needed, only the second tie in more than a century of Tests.

Which ground hosted the rain-shortened 2013 Champions Trophy final that India won by five runs?

Edgbaston's final was delayed almost six hours and cut to 20 overs a side, and Ravindra Jadeja's 33 and two wickets earned him man of the match.

In which city did India play the whole 2025 Champions Trophy, beating New Zealand in the final?

Dubai staged every India game because the team would not travel to host nation Pakistan, and India chased 252 in the final with four wickets to spare.

Whose 137 for Australia in the 2023 World Cup final ended India's unbeaten run through the tournament?

Travis Head was player of the match as Australia chased 241 to win by six wickets, India's only defeat in 11 games that tournament.

Against which side did India record its first World Cup victory, by ten wickets at Headingley in 1975?

East Africa, a combined team drawn from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Zambia, was India's only victim that year; the other two group games were lost to England and New Zealand.

Which Indian captain retired in 2022 as the leading run-scorer in all women's international cricket?

Mithali Raj is the only woman to have captained India in more than one ODI World Cup final, in 2005 and 2017, losing both.

Which seamer, the first woman to 200 ODI wickets, bowled her last international at Lord's in 2022?

Jhulan Goswami finished with 255 wickets from 204 ODIs, the most in the women's game, and India marked her farewell with a 16-run win over England.

Who hit 171 not out against Australia in the 2017 Women's World Cup semi-final at Derby?

Harmanpreet Kaur's 115-ball assault took India into the final, and eight years later she captained India to its first Women's World Cup title.

Which team did India beat by 52 runs in the 2025 Women's World Cup final to win a first world title?

South Africa lost at the DY Patil Stadium on 2 November 2025, with Shafali Verma named player of the match and Deepti Sharma player of the tournament.

Who was named man of the match in both the semi-final and the final of the 1983 World Cup?

Mohinder Amarnath made 26 and took three wickets in the final, and his father Lala was independent India's first Test captain.

Which future Test batter shared an unbroken 664-run stand with Sachin Tendulkar in a Bombay school match?

Vinod Kambli later scored 224 and 227 in consecutive Tests in 1993, against England and then Zimbabwe.

Which India captain made centuries in his first three Tests and was later banned for life over match-fixing?

Mohammad Azharuddin's 2000 life ban followed a CBI report, and a high court overturned it in 2012, long after his playing days were over.

Whose unbeaten 89 at the Gabba in 2021 chased down 328 and sealed India's Test series win in Australia?

Rishabh Pant was also the first Indian wicketkeeper to score Test centuries in both England and Australia, and his Gabba chase completed a 2–1 series win.

For how many runs was India bowled out at Adelaide in 2020, the lowest total in the team's Test history?

The 36 all out came without a single batter reaching double figures, yet India recovered to take the series 2–1 with a three-wicket win in the final Test.

Who scored 269 in England in 2025, the highest Test innings by an India captain?

Shubman Gill added 161 in the second innings for a match aggregate of 430, second only to Graham Gooch's 456 in Test history, and India won by 336 runs.

Who captained India to its first Test win, over England in 1952, in the 25th Test the country had played?

Vijay Hazare's side won by an innings and eight runs, the only victory of his captaincy, and he was earlier the first Indian to score a century in each innings of a Test.

Who captained India in its first ever Test match, against England at Lord's in 1932?

C. K. Nayudu was nearly 37 on Test debut and was still playing Ranji Trophy cricket at 62, scoring 52 in his last innings in the competition.

Who became India's captain at 21, months after a car crash in Hove cost him the sight of one eye?

Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi took over when Nari Contractor was injured in Barbados, and at 21 years and 77 days he was then the youngest Test captain ever.

Which captain led India to its first Test series wins in the Caribbean and in England, both in 1971?

Ajit Wadekar's 1971 side won 1–0 in both series, and the win at The Oval was India's first Test victory on English soil.

Which left-arm spinner declared India's innings early at Kingston in 1976 in protest at short-pitched bowling?

Bishan Singh Bedi acted after two batters had retired hurt, and he finished with 266 wickets as part of India's famed 1970s spin quartet.

Which leg-spinner, bowling with an arm withered by polio, took 6 for 38 at The Oval in 1971?

Bhagwath Chandrasekhar's spell set up India's first Test win in England, and Wisden later named it the Indian bowling performance of the century.

Whose run-out of Australia's Bill Brown at the non-striker's end in 1947 gave that dismissal its nickname?

Vinoo Mankad had run Brown out the same way in a tour match earlier, and the Australian press outrage gave the world the term 'Mankading'.

India's first-class championship is named after which prince, who played Test cricket for England from 1896?

Ranjitsinhji ruled Nawanagar as its Maharaja and never played for India, which did not play a Test until 1932, the year before he died.

Which team has won India's domestic first-class championship more than 40 times, far more than any other side?

Mumbai, which competed as Bombay until the city was renamed in 1995, has a tally of titles no other side comes close to matching.

In which year was the Board of Control for Cricket in India formed, electing R. E. Grant Govan as its first president?

The 1928 board elected R. E. Grant Govan as its first president with Anthony de Mello as secretary, and it is now the wealthiest governing body in cricket.

Which India batter faced more balls than anyone in Test history, then coached the 2024 T20 World Cup winners?

Rahul Dravid also spent longer at the crease than any other Test batter, and his last act as coach was lifting the trophy in Barbados in 2024.

Which India captain whirled his shirt on the Lord's balcony after the 2002 NatWest Series final win?

Sourav Ganguly had made 131 on Test debut at the same ground in 1996, still the highest score by any debutant at Lord's.

Which off-spinner took India's first Test hat-trick, against Australia at Kolkata in 2001?

Harbhajan Singh removed Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist and Shane Warne with successive balls, and took 32 wickets in the three-Test series.

Which Indian spinner equalled Muttiah Muralitharan's record of 11 Test player-of-the-series awards?

Ravichandran Ashwin retired abruptly midway through the 2024 series in Australia with 537 Test wickets, second among Indians.

Which fast bowler took 35 runs off one Stuart Broad over in 2022, the costliest over in Test history?

Jasprit Bumrah hit 29 off the bat to beat Brian Lara's 28, and six extras took the over to 35; two years later he was player of the 2024 T20 World Cup.

Who top-scored with 97 in the 2011 World Cup final after India had slipped to 31 for 2 chasing 275?

Gautam Gambhir added 109 for the fourth wicket with the captain, and the win made India the first country to lift the World Cup on home soil.

Which seamer's 7 for 57 in the 2023 World Cup semi-final are the best ODI figures by an Indian?

Mohammed Shami finished as the tournament's leading wicket-taker with 24 from just seven innings, beating Zaheer Khan's Indian record of 21.

Against which team did Sachin Tendulkar score his 100th international century, in a 2012 match India lost?

Bangladesh won that Asia Cup match at Mirpur, and the 114 made Tendulkar the first and only cricketer with 100 international hundreds.