3 incredible coincidences of Indian cricket that you didn’t know about
“The coincidences or little miracles that happen every day of your life are hints that the universe has much bigger plans for you than you ever dreamed of for yourself.” – Deepak Chopra, author and pioneer of alternative medicine.
The history of human civilisation is replete with coincidences. Philosophers and experts from different spheres of life often interpret them in their own ways. While some coincidences are pleasant, others might not be so. In fact, many coincidences are even stranger than fiction, to say the least. They leave an indelible mark in the pages of history. Today, we will take your through some of the uncanny cricket coincidences that you probably don’t know about.
The Tendulkar-Kohli factor
You might know that Virat Kohli is often considered as the true successor of the legendary Sachin Tendulkar. While you may think this is a mere saying considering they both are great batsmen, there’s more to it. For instance, both Sachin and Virat scored their second ODI century against Australia and the third against New Zealand. And guess what? Both of them were 150 not out in their innings against the Kiwis. Wait, we have more. Both of their 58th international centuries were against England and each scored 103 runs. We are not done yet. The biggest coincidence was when Kohli scored his 1000th international run against Australia in the 19th over of a test match in Melbourne, at the age of 26. Surprisingly, Tendulkar had also achieved these exact stats.
All Indian captains have scored 183 runs
Indian men’s cricket had some of the greatest captains of all times, starting from Kapil Dev to Sourav Ganguly, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Virat Kohli. Did you know that most of these captains scored a milestone of 183 runs before becoming captains? For instance, in 1999, Sourav Ganguly scored an epic 183 against Sri Lanka and was soon appointed as the captain. Likewise, in 2005, Dhoni scored 183 against Sri Lanka, and he too was chosen as the leader of the Men in Blue. Kohli also scored a whooping 183 against Pakistan in 2012 after which he was selected as the captain. Looks like, a 183-run haul brings forth the captain’s luck in Indian cricketers.
Lucky double tons
If you are an avid cricket follower, you would know that scoring a double hundred in an ODI is no mean task. And guess what, the first three players to achieve this feat were all Indians. Starting with the master Sachin Tendulkar – he scored an epic 200 not out in 2010 against South Africa. A year and a half later, his teammate Virendra Sehwag followed suit and scored 219 against West Indies. In 2013, Rohit Sharma also touched upon this milestone and scored 209 against Australia. Exactly a year later, Rohit scored another double ton, this time the highest individual score (264) in an ODI.