A run-fest in South Africa, a turnaround for the ages in Melbourne and a nail-bitingly close finish in New Zealand were the last acts of cricket in 2020. The curtains came down a difficult year with some sensational cricket thanks to the three Boxing Day Tests.
There was no telling what the next day would throw up through the year, whether around the world or on the cricket field, which unfortunately was empty for quite a few months.
But once cricket resumed, along expected lines, there have been a few occurrences that have left people surprised, sometimes in joy and at other in shock or frustration, much like Glenn Maxwell after the IPL. Some records were rewritten while some unwanted ones picked up along the way too.
Did you know Ajinkya Rahane’s century at Melbourne was the first in Tests by an Indian this year? 2020 was only the third time ever that the game of cricket had come to a halt globally.
Here’s a look back at the year gone by in numbers:
0.1 – IPL 2020 was the first time there was a first ball dismissal in an IPL final. Trent Boult got the wicket of Marcus Stoinis.
0 – For the first time since the year (2008) he made his international debut, Virat Kohli has not scored a century in the calendar year.
0 – One of the most important, if not THE most important, bat in the Australian team, Steve Smith scored his first duck in 52 Test innings. His form has not been anything like it was during the 2019 Ashes.
0 – Glenn Maxwell went through a complete IPL season without hitting a SIX! The last time this sort of a drought happened to him in the IPL was in 2012 when he played two games and scored six runs in all.
1 – 2020 was the first time ever the Indian women’s cricket team made an appearance in the final of the T20 World Cup played in Australia. They lost to the hosts, who won their fifth title.
1 – India’s Boxing Day Test win against Australia was the first time ever an Indian captain’s century Down Under resulted in a win. It was also the first win for Team India in Tests in 2020! The last time India ended a year without a Test win was in 1997.
1 – MS Dhoni led Chennai Super Kings failed to make it to the knockout stages of the tournament for the first time since 2008 barring the 2 seasons wherein they were suspended.
1 – Ajinkya Rahane’s century at Melbourne was the first Test ton by an Indian in 2020. The last time Indian men went through a year without any centuries for their batsmen in Tests was in 1995.
3 – Only thrice in the history of the game has cricket ever come to a halt globally. The first was for 2,481 days or 6 years, 9 months and 14 days during the World War 1 and the Spanish Flu, which coincided with the end of the war in 1918-19. The second time international cricket was between 22 August, 1939 till the 29 March, 1946. Cricket resumed after 2,411 days (6 years, 7 months and 7 days). The third one was in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic when cricket came to a halt for 117 days between 13 March and 8 July.
3 – On October 18, 2020, the IPL saw three Super Overs played out through the day which had two games. Never before in a season had there been as many Super Overs, let alone in one day. 2013 and 2019 were the only years where there were more than one Super Over as two games finished in a tie in both seasons.
4 – Ajinkya Rahane has matched Sir Don Bradman for the most number of centuries scored in Tests when the opposition has been bowled out without anyone reaching a fifty in either innings.
4 – Tied matches in the IPL this year, more than ever before. In fact, one of the Super Overs needed a second Super Over to decide the result! It was all happening in UAE in that bio-bubble.
5 – India won the T20I series vs New Zealand 5-0, no team had ever won a bilateral series 5-0 before that.
6 - Rohit Sharma has played six finals and never lost. He has won five with Mumbai, the fifth in 2020, and one with Deccan Chargers (2009).
32 – This is the first time in 32 years that Australia do not have at least one fifty-plus score in a Test match at home. In 1988, it was against West Indies at MCG, when the visitors won by 285 runs. Australia’s highest scorer against India was Marnus Labuschagne with 48.
36 – A number that will forever be etched in the minds of all Indian cricket fans, the lowest total ever in a Test match for the team allowed Australia to take a 1-0 lead in Adelaide.
117 – The number of days with no international cricket due to the coronavirus pandemic. In 50 years, this was the longest period with international cricket. The last time there was no cricket for an extended period of the like was in 1970.
132 – KL Rahul’s 132* against Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL was the highest individual score by an Indian cricketer in the history of the tournament. Rishabh Pant’s 128* against Sunrisers Hyderabad is the second best by an Indian.
269 – India went these many days without an international cricket match for the Men’s team for the first time since 1991, when they were without cricket for 286 days.
4,215 – The longest gap in terms of number days between Test centuries post the War. Fawad Alam scored his first ton in against Sri Lanka 2009 and then his second in 2020 against New Zealand.
86,174 – The crowd at the MCG for the Women’s T20 World Cup final was the largest crowd to watch a women’s cricket match. The biggest attendance for a women’s sports event was when 90,185 watched the 1999 football World Cup final between United States and China.
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