England beat India in the 2000th Test match ever played on 25th July 2011. As India gear up for another rigorous Test tour in England, check out a few astonishing records in Test cricket that might stand till the end of time
Sir Don Bradman and Sachin Tendulkar
Test cricket is the oldest form of cricket in the world, 141-year old to be precise. The first Test match was played between England and Australia in 1877, which Australia won by 45 runs. On 25th July 2011 England beat India in the 2000th Test match ever to be played. As India embark upon a tough five-Test series versus England on English soil again, let's walk down memory lane and recall some of the most astonishing records set in the gentleman's sport.
675 England recorded the highest victory margin (by runs) when they beat Australia in the 1928-29 season.
1 We have seen teams winning by a single run in ODIs and T20Is, but how many times have we seen a team winning by 1 run in a Test? Only once! West Indies achieved this feat by defeating Australia by a single run at the Adelaide, Oval in the 1992-93 season.
171 India has one of the greatest Test cricket records to their name. 171 runs is the highest margin of victory by a team after following on as India achieved this feat after VVS Laxman and Harbhajan Singh played the greatest match of their lives to upstage Australia at Eden Gardens, Kolkata.
16 Australia has been regarded as the best Test side in world cricket during the 1990s and 2000s. Their dominance was such that they went on a 16-match winning streak twice during this period. The first streak started when they beat Zimbabwe at Harare on 14th October 1999 and ended when they defeated India in Mumbai on 27th February, 2001. Their second run started when they upstaged South Africa in Melbourne on 26 December 2005 and ended when they thwarted India in Sydney on 2nd January 2008. The Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting led sides were known as the Invincibles during this period.
952-6d The 1000-run mark has never been breached by any team till date, but Sri Lanka came mighty close against India in Colombo during the 1997 season. Sri Lanka scored an unbelievable 952-6 declared against India, Sanath Jayasuriya top-scoring with 340 runs. Apparently India also scored 537-8 declared in the same match. No surprise that the match ended in a draw.
99.94 Test cricket cannot be spoken about without a mention of the great Sir Donald Bradman. The Australian captain considered the greatest batsman to play the game retired with an average of 99.94. In his final match he needed just four runs to reach an average of 100, but got bowled for a duck.
400' Very few teams in world cricket have batsmen who have scored more than 300 runs in an innings in Test cricket, but West Indian left-handed legend Brian Lara did the unthinkable against England at Antigua when he scored a massive 400 not out in the 2003-04 season. He bettered his own record of 375 runs in a single innings which he had set 10 years before breaching the 400-run mark!
51 Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar retired on 16th November 2013, amongst emotional scenes at the Wankhede with 51 Test hundreds to his name. He has also scored 100 international hundreds and 15,921 runs in Test cricket. These are three records held by the little maestro that may never be broken.
Shorter forms of the game like the T20 Internationals and One Day Internationals might have higher audience and better monetary value for the boards. But true cricket enthusiasts will always love an intense 5-day thriller a little more.
