11th December, 2001

Name: Vikas Gupta
Message: How many opening pairs have achieved a century each in the same ODI, like Tendulkar and Ganguly in the ODI against SA on Oct 5th 2001? How many times did they lead their team to victory?

Answer1: Openers scoring hundreds in the same innings have occurred on eight occasions, and on three occasions the teams involved have lost the match.
See list below:

D Boon and G Marsh	Aus v Ind	Jaipur	07-09-1986	Aus Lost
Rameez Raja and Saeed Anwar	Pak v SL	Adelaide	17-02-1990
Rameez Raja and Saeed Anwar	Pak v SL	Sharjah	04-02-1993
Asif Mujtaba and Saeed Anwar	Pak v SL	Sharjah	30-10-1993
D Chudasama and K Oteino-Obuya	Ken v Bang	Nairobi	10-10-1997
S Ganguly and S Tendulkar	Ind v SL	Colombo	07-07-1998
G Kirsten and H Gibbs	SA v Ind	Kochi	09-03-1999	SA lost
S Ganguly and S Tendulkar	Ind v SA	Joh’burg	05-10-2001	Ind lost

Name: R. Bangaru Babu
Message: Hello Mr. Menon, can you let me know the statistics of captaincy record for Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar and Azharuddin? I want a comparison among these three in both forms of cricket (Tests & One dayers).

Answer2:

In ODI's
Captain	Mts	Won	Lost	Nr	Tie
Azharuddin	174	90	76	6	2
SR Tendulkar	73	23	43	6	1
SM Gavaskar	37	14	21	2	0
In Tests
Captain	Mts	Won	Lost	Draw
Azharuddin	47	14	14	19
SM Gavaskar	47	9	8	30
SR Tendulkar	25	4	9	12

Name: Rajesh Email: rajesh.ramaswamy@iflexsolutions.com
Message: How can I become a certified umpire? What are the pre-requisites and what kind of tests/screening takes place? How expensive is it?

Answer3: You can always contact your local cricket association (if u are Mumbai based, u should contact the Mumbai Cricket Association Umpires sub- committee) which will guide you. You can also become a member of the Association of Cricket Umpires of Mumbai, which conducts umpiring classes, workshops and examinations.

Name: RAJARSHI RAY
Message: Respected Mr. Menon, I am an eager reader of your column. For a long time. I have had this question in my mind. In Test and ODI’s, there have been many hat-tricks by bowlers. But was there any incidence, where a bowler took 4 or more consecutive wickets (in 1 over or in 2 overs) in a Test or ODI ? Thanks, Rajarshi.

Answer4: As on date the feat of taking taking four wickets in four balls has not been achieved as yet in Tests and ODIs. However there have been instances in both Tests and ODIs wherein bowlers have taken four wickets in the same over.

Name: Ravi
Message: India has been struggling of late in the slog overs. It seems that we have not yet found a good replacement for Jadeja/Robin Singh. Could you give the stats regarding India’s performance in the last 10 overs when Jadeja and Singh were playing along with their contributions, and the performance since. Regards.

Answer5: It would be very difficult to provide details of India’s performance in the last 10 overs when both Jadeja and Robin Singh have batted together. This would mean checking the actual scoresheets of all the 107 matches they have played together since 1996. However I give below their partnership aggregate for each wicket while batting together, which would give a fair idea how they have performed while being involved in a partnership.

Wkt	Runs	Inns	No	Avg	HP	100	50
4th :	114	4	0	28.50	69	0	1
5th:	832	25	3	37.82	141	1	5
6th:	228	9	1	28.50	92	0	2
7th:	27	2	0	13.50	17	0	0

Name: Finoy Johnson
Message: 2 questions, but of similar topic. 1. Can a batsmen change batting stance during the middle of his innings? i.e, can a batsman change from batting right handed to left handed and vice-a-versa within the same innings? 2. Can a bowler change from bowling right handed to left handed or vice-a-versa within the same match, innings, etc.?

Answer6: Yes, the batsman can change his action, not only in the middle of the innings but also during the middle of an over. Interestingly, the batsman can do so without informing the umpire (the reverse sweep is an example), while the bowler has to inform the umpire, who in turn will inform the batsman, of any change of his bowling arm before delivery of the ball. If the bowler does not do so the umpire can no-ball the delivery.

Name: Pavani
Message: Why is the term PROTEAS used in regards with South Africa?

Answer7: Protea is the common name for a family of tropical and subtropical trees and shrubs. They are mostly evergreen trees and shrubs, and some species have the main stem underground with only the branches protruding. It is normally found in Southern Africa, where 85 of the 115 species are confined to the Cape region of South Africa. Protea is generally regarded as South Africa’s national flower. Hence the name Proteas is given to most of its national sporting teams.

Name: Ch V Kalyan
Message: In how many ODI matches has there been instances of multiple hundreds in one or both the teams ? ( like in the SA v/s India - India had 2 and SA had 1). and which team won? Did India acheive the dubious distinction of having 2 centurys and losing? Thanks MM

Answer8: On ten occasions there have been instances of three batsmen (with at least one from either side) scoring hundreds in the same ODI match. In October 1999 in the ODI match between Pak and Aus at Lahore - four hundreds were scored - two each by both teams. On eleven occasions two Indian batsmen have scored hundreds in the same innings in ODIs - the last one being at Paarl against Kenya. India have lost twice - both against SA - at New Delhi on 14-11-1991and at Joh’burg on 5-10-2001.

Name: Saravana Kumar
Message: Sir, I would like to know as to why we don’t produce quality fast bowlers in our country? Also I would like to know if Srinath can improve on his bowling at all. Inspite of tips given to him to come close to the stumps and bowl he always goes wide of the crease and bowls thus creating an angle and not getting too many lbw decisions in his favour.Why doesn’t he work on this?

Answer9: One of the reasons as to why we don’t produce quality fast bowlers is perhaps due the weather conditions here in India are not conducive to produce fast bowlers. Further, fast bowlers require a lot of muscle and brawn that Indian diet habits don’t contribute much to this development. Moreover Indians are much smaller built when compared to other cricket playing nations, with the exception of probably the Sri Lankans.

As regards to Srinath’s bowling action, he and the Indian cricket coach John Wright may have to work out the problems, if any. However, some bowlers, like Srinath, are quite comfortable bowling wide of the crease. Sometimes change of action at this stage of Srinath’s career may prove detrimental. Incidentally, Srinath was the best Indian bowler during their recent tour of SA. Just for your info. Srinath has 42 lbw decisions in his favour in Tests out of the 210 wickets. This is 20% of the total wickets captured by him. In ODIs he has 33 Lbws of of 268 wickets, which about 12% of his total wickets.

Name: Sunil Shinde
Message: Referring to Law 21 (the result): Item 6 (a): As soon as the result is reached, the match is at an end. Nothing that happens thereafter shall be regarded as part of it. In this case, if the batting team requies one run for a win and the striker is on 98. If the batsman hits the ball in the deep and runs a two , does he get a century ?

Answer10: The batsman does not get the hundred even if he runs two. Only his first run is counted, when the result is reached after the first run. He is then left stranded on 99. However if a boundary - a four or a six - is hit then the batsman gets the maximum possible runs. In this case, the batsman’s score will either be 102 or 104.

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