And is Javagal Srinath the only bowler to ever take two wickets in a Test match’s first over twice?
According to what I’ve read, Javagal Srinath is the first bowler to ever take two wickets in a Test match’s opening over twice. Is that accurate? questioned Indian Mohammed Zulfikar
This seems improbable to me, but it turns out to be true. In fact, Javagal Srinath is the only player who has ever taken two wickets in the opening over of a Test match. Perhaps even more astonishingly, though, is that he was the first person to accomplish this feat, having done so for India against Australia in Kolkata in 1997–98. In Hamilton in 1998–99, he repeated the feat against New Zealand.
According to Charles Davis, the master of ball-by-ball scores, there have been four additional instances since Srinath started the trend. These include Chris Cairns for New Zealand against England in Christchurch in 2001–02; Irfan Pathan for India vs. Pakistan in Karachi in 2005–06 (he extended this to a hat-trick with the last three balls of the first over); Stuart Broad for England vs. Australia at Trent Bridge in 2015; and Shannon Gabriel for West Indies vs. Pakistan in Sharjah in 2016–17. All of these occurrences occurred after Srinath set the precedent. Jimmy Anderson bowled the opening over of the 2010–11 Ashes Test at Adelaide, Australia, and claimed two wickets; however, one of them was a run-out.
The other day, in his maiden T20I, Gus Atkinson claimed four wickets. In terms of T20 debut best stats, where does this stand? enquired of Bob Griffiths in England
Gus Atkinson, a talented fast bowler from Surrey, took 4 for 20 in his maiden Twenty20 international match for England last week at Old Trafford against New Zealand. The Gloucestershire seamer Jon Lewis, who is also the England women’s coach, was the only other player to take four wickets in his T20I debut for his country, taking four for 24 against Australia in Southampton in 2005.
Overall, Malaysian off-spinner Khizar Hayat’s 5 for 4 versus Hong Kong in Kuala Lumpur during the 2019–20 T20I debut is the greatest mark. The best for a country that plays Test cricket is 5 for 13, made in Belfast in 2012 by Bangladesh’s slow left-armer Elias Sunny against Ireland. Three more debut five-fors exist: Ankush Nanda’s 5 for 6 for Luxembourg vs Turkey as they folded for 28 at Ilfov (Romania) in 2019; Hassan Mehmood’s 5 for 14 for Sweden vs Denmark in Brøndby in 2021; and Reo Sakurano-Thomas’ 5 for 17 for Japan versus Indonesia in Sano in 2022–2023.
During their Asia Cup match, Pakistan’s Babar Azam and Iftikhar Ahmed both scored more than Nepal’s total. How frequently has this occurred? Has it ever happened that three or more batsmen did it? inquired on Facebook to Raju Soradi
The game you refer to was played last week in Multan: After Pakistan amassed an impressive 342 runs, with Babar Azam scoring 151 and Iftikhar Ahmed reaching 109 not out, Nepal was knocked out for 104.
In one-day formats, the opposition has been outscored by two batters in seven previous occurrences and by three in two. In Australia’s 301 for 6 in Potchefstroom during the 2003 World Cup, Matthew Hayden hit 88, Andrew Symonds 55, and Darren Lehmann 50, before Namibia was skittled for 45. Jacques Kallis scored 72, Hashim Amla scored 112, and AB de Villiers scored 52 as South Africa (301 for 8) defeated Sri Lanka (43) at Paarl in the 2011–12 season.
Only twice did the losing team score more over 100 runs in an innings, in the 2008 Aberdeen match when Ireland managed just 112 against New Zealand’s 402 for 2, which featured 166 from Brendon McCullum and 161 from James Marshall. (These details are courtesy of Aslam Siddiqui.)
