When Sachin scored, India soared

Name: Jay
Country: Singapore
Question: I would like to know which batsman has scored the most runs in a single day of a Test match? Similarly, who has taken the most wickets in a single day?

Answer: Don Bradman scored the most runs in a single day's play in Test cricket. Bradman ended the opening day of the Leeds Test against England in 1930 on an unbeaten 309. He made 105 before lunch, 115 between lunch and tea and 89 in the final session.

England's Johnny Briggs holds the record of taking most wickets in a single day. On the second day of the Cape Town Test in 1888-89,South Africa continued their first innings from their overnight total of 2 for one, chasing England's total of 292. Briggs took 7 wickets to bundle South Africa for a paltry 47.

South Africa, following on, fared no better in the second innings, and capitulated for 43, with Briggs returning dream figures of 8 for 11. In all, Briggs took 15 wickets, conceding only 28 runs in a single day.

Although England's Hedley Verity (v Australia at Lord's in 1934) got very near to him, taking 14 wickets in a single day, it is Briggs who is at the top of this list even after 117 years.

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Name: Sahil Bakshi
Country: USA
Question: Tendulkar's ability to bat under pressure has been questioned many times. How many matches has he stayed through till the end and won for India (chasing) in ODIs?

Answer: You cannot blame Sachin Tendulkar on this account, Sahil. In India's successful chases, Tendulkar has batted on 98 occasions. 23 times (a high percentage of 23.46) he was unbeaten there at the crease when the winning runs were scored. Tendulkar aggregated 1,634 runs with 7 hundreds and 9 fifties in these matches.

Name: Santosh Bhadule
Country: USA
Question: If a bowler bowls a no-ball and the batsman is run-out, is the ball counted.?

Answer: Yes, it will be counted in the batsman's tally of balls faced, since the batsman had every chance to score runs off it, as he would have scored off any legitimate delivery.

Name: Muhammad Bilgrami
Country: Pakistan
Question: Dear Rajneesh Gupta, Please tell me how many times it has happened when four or more batsmen were dismissed (run-out) through smart/extra ordinary fielding in ODI cricket.

Answer: Not less than on 53 occasions has a side lost four wickets in an innings as run-outs before the start of West Indies - Zimbabwe ODI series. The most number of batsmen dismissed in this fashion in an innings are five and this too happened eight times. The details:

Name: Shyamal Mukhopadhyay
Country: India
Question: Is there any cricketer who has scored less than 100 runs in his total Test life, but taken more than 100 wickets?

Answer: Only one player -- Australia's Bruce Reid -- matches your criteria. In his 27 Tests, Reid took 113 wickets at an average of 24.64, but managed to score only 93 runs in 34 innings at an average of 4.65.

On the same topic, India's Bhagwat Chandrasekhar (167 runs & 242 wickets in 58 Tests) is the only player to score less than 200 runs and take more than 200 wickets.

Name: Milind
Country: India
Question: Let us see the following score: team1=100, team2=200, team1=100. Will team2 bat again to win the match?

Answer: In the given scenario the scores are at level and team2 will have to bat again to score one run to win the match.

Name: Aniket
Country: India
Question: Which all-rounder has scored a century and taken five wickets in an innings against all Test-playing nations?

Answer: No player has performed this feat. In fact, the only player to achieve this all-round match double on more than two occasions is England's Ian Botham. Botham scored a century and captured a five-for in the same Test match on five occasions against FOUR countries. The details:

103 & 5-73                    v New Zealand at Christchurch in 1977-78

108 & 8-34                    v Pakistan at Lord's in 1978

114 & 6-58,7-48             v India at Mumbai in 1979-80

(captured 10 wickets in the match)

149* & 6-95                   v Australia at Leeds in 1981

138 & 5-59                    v New Zealand at Wellington in 1983-84

Name: Latha
Country: Malaysia
Question: Would like to know what happens when a no ball is signalled by the umpire and the batsman hits a 4 or 6..Will it be counted as 5 or 7 runs or just 4 or 6?

Answer: In case of a boundary off a no-ball, the batsman gets only the boundary runs added to his account; however, the team is credited with boundary runs plus any penalty runs.

Name: MRS Mani
Country: India
Question: How many Test cricketers, and their names, have scored double centuries in their debut Test?

Answer: A total of five batsmen have scored double centuries in their debut Test. They are:

Name: Pallabbiswas
Country: India
Question: Which batsman has scored a century and duck in the same Test maximum number of times?

Answer: The feat of scoring a century and a duck in the same match has been achieved on 124 occasions in Test cricket by 109 batsmen. As many as 15 batsmen have done so on two occasions. They are:

Australia : Don Bradman
England : Colin Cowdrey,Mike Gatting & Michael Vaughan
South Africa : Daryll Cullinan & Gary Kirsten
West Indies : Gary Sobers,Viv Richards,Desmond Haynes & S.Chanderpaul
New Zealand : Martin Crowe
India : Vijay Manjrekar & Sachin Tendulkar
Pakistan : Imtiaz Ahmed & Asif Iqbal

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Earlier answered queries:
- Dec 29: What does Boxing Day of a Test mean? And more...
- Dec 12: Want to know what Powerplay is? And more...