Shane Bond

1) Shane Edward Bond was born on 7 June, 1975
2) Shane Bond trained as a policeman in 1999-2000 due to which he had to miss out a domestic season. Shane worked as a Police officer in Christchurch before becoming an International player
3) Before his international debut, Shane Bond had played in England. It wasn’t county cricket, but in the Northern Lancashire League
4) Shane Bond made his professional Cricket debut for Canterbury on 20 January 1997, in a match against Central Districts
5) Shane Bond had featured in U-19 level for New Zealand in only one game. Bond played Youth Test in March, 1995 at Hamilton where he top scored with the bat scoring an unbeaten 45 by batting out 127 balls. Bond bowled only 5 overs in the game and didn’t concede a run in it
6) Shane Bond made his International debut in November, 2001 at Hobart against Australia in a Test match
7) Shane Bond made his ODI debut against Australia in the tri-series in 2002 and took a three-wicket haul in his first game. In his fifth ODI Bond took five for 25 to help New Zealand beat South Africa. In the 9 matches he played in that series, he took 21 wickets at an average of 16.38. Shane was named Man of the Series
8) Shane Bond first 3 wickets in Test Cricket are Steve Waugh, Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer. All the 3 were dismissed for a duck
9) Shane Bond first 3 wickets in ODI are Mark Waugh, Ricky Ponting and Steve Waugh
10) In the 2003 World Cup match against Australia, Bond took 6 for 23 and bowled the eventual world champions out for 208. Unfortunately, New Zealand lost that match. However, two years later, he took 6 for 19 against India, and New Zealand managed to win the match. In the latter match, he destroyed the Indians, reducing them to 39 for 6 at one stage - Bond took 5 of those wickets
11) Shane Bond picked up a hat trick in his International career, which came in an ODI vs Australia at Hobart in 2007. Bond got wickets of Andrew Symonds, Cameron White and Nathan Bracken during his hat trick
12) Out of 147 ODI wickets, 44 came against Australia at 15.79. Moreover, one of Australia’s most prolific batsmen - Ricky Ponting - was dismissed by Bond in his first six ODIs. Moreover, his only ODI hat-trick and best figures of 6 for 23 were registered against the arch-rivals
13) In ICC Cricket World 2003, Bond clocked 156.4 kph against India. Though the fastest ball of his career did not fetch him a wicket, Bond rattled Virender Sehwag and Sourav Ganguly, conceding only 23 runs. However, it is the 9th fastest delivery in history
14) Ricky Ponting and Chris Gayle are his most frequent victims as Bond dismissed them seven times each in international cricket. Ponting played Bond in 17 matches, whereas Gayle faced him in 16 games. Ponting has in fact recorded two blobs against Bond
15) Shane Bond took just 54 matches to reach 100 ODI wickets. Shane is the fastest New Zealand player to the milestone and the 2nd fastest in overall
16) Shane Bond played in 2007 World T20 where Bond picked up 7 wickets in 6 games. Bond bowled the first ever maiden over in World T20 history
17) Shane Bond justified his name ‘Bond’. The swaggering New Zealander, in 1999-2000, underwent police training before Shane made headlines for his bowling abilities in the 20th century
18) Just before Shane Bond called it a day from international cricket, Shane was part of IPL’s Kolkata Knight Riders. The franchisee brought him for USD 750,000. Since 2015, Shane has been the bowling coach of Mumbai Indians
19) Shane Bond played for the Delhi Giants in ICL
20) On 22 February 2008, Shane Bond signed for English domestic cricket team Hampshire, but Shane never played an International game there.
21) Shane Bond has picked up 259 wickets in 120 international games at a strike rate of 31.3, the best for any bowler who picked a minimum of 150 wickets.
His bowling strike rates in ODI and Tests read 29.2 and 38.7 which are the 2nd best for any player in respective formats
22) In December 2009, Shane Bond announced his retirement from Test cricket due to the injuries that had been plaguing him for years. Bond said he wanted to elongate his career in the Limited Overs formats of the game. Shane ended his career in Test cricket taking 87 wickets in 18 matches at an average of 22.09 and at a strike rate of 38.7
23) On 14 May 2010, Shane Bond announced retirement from all international cricket after the ICC T20 2010
24) Shane Bond played for Sagittarius Soldiers in the inaugural edition of MCL and picked up 5 wickets
25) Shane Bond was appointed as the bowling coach for New Zealand cricket team in October 2012. Bond retired from the position after the 2015 world cup where New Zealand reached the final
26) Shane Bond became bowling coach of the Mumbai Indians in 2015
27) Shane Bond is married to Tracey Bond and father of three children
28) described as "New Zealand's best fast bowler since Sir Richard Hadlee"
29) In 2007, Bond received New Zealand player of the year award for 2006/07 season. In the same year, Bond was included in ICC Test XI of the year.

Nathan Bracken

1) Nathan Wade Bracken was born on 12 September, 1977 in Penrith, New South Wales.
2) Nathan’s cricket love affair with the game started years before he made his debut, while in school Nathan was famous for the way he swung the ball and took serious interest in the game right from school
3) Nathan Bracken performance in 2001-01 domestic season was outstanding. Picked up 29 wickets at an average of 23.72 and gained the second spot in leading wicket-taker of the year. With this amazing performance in domestic circuit, he was awarded with Bradman Young Cricketer of the Year in 2001
4) Best first class-season: Bracken’s best season for New South Wales was in the year 2004-05 when Nathan picked 43 wickets of 11 matches. The season includes his marvelous spell of 7/4 off 7 overs that helped NSW bowl out South Australia for 29 runs at Sydney Cricket Ground. His spell is considered one of the best in the Australian domestic cricket history
5) Nathan Bracken made his Test debut in 2003 against India, and as a result appeared less frequently for New South Wales. Following his Test selection Bracken was also signed by the county team Gloucestershire to play in the English first-class competition
6) After his Test debut in December 2003, Bracken was kept away from the Australian Test team for 2 years due to the amazing fast bowling unit the team had. Bracken was finally selected for the 1st Test of the 2005-06 series against West Indies
7) In 2009, Bracken was seen spreading awareness about the consequences of speeding, which is biggest cause of death and injuries in New South Wales along with NSW Centre for Road Safety and Speed Blitz Bluez
8) A significant part of the World Cup 2007 Australian team, Nathan Bracken announced retirement from the international cricket on 29thJanuary 2012, due to his chronic knee-injury, the southpaw had to retire from all forms of cricket
9) Nathan Bracken, an all-rounder: Bracken’s batting is so often over looked just because Nathan used to bat lower down the order. However, Nathan was no mug with the bat. Bracken’s best Test performance was recorded in the first match against West Indies both with the bat and the ball, Bracken scored 31 off 51 balls in the first innings and grabbed 4/48 off 16 over in West Indies’ second. Due to continuity of excelling performances with the bat, he even got promoted up the order and sometimes even batted an number 7
10) However, his performance did not help him retain his spot in the team for the rest of the series and he was overlooked as Stuart MacGill was induced into the team by the selectors
11) Nathan Bracken 1st Test wicket was that of Virender Sehwag, caught by Matthew Hayden
12) Nathan Bracken 1st One Day International wicket was that of Sherwin Campbell, caught by Michael Bevan
13) Nathan Bracken was part of Australia's Cricket World Cup winning squads in both 2003 and 2007
14) Nathan Bracken 1st Twenty20 International wicket was that of Boeta Dippenaar, caught by Brad Haddin
15) In March, 2015, Nathan Bracken sued Cricket Australia for $1 million over his knee injury and claiming that the board failed to investigate, diagnose and treat, which he suffered before an ODI match against England in 2007. But later after two months in May, Bracken settled his case against the board.

James Anderson

1) James Michael "Jimmy" Anderson was born on 30 July, 1982 in Burnley, Lancashire, England

2) On his Test debut at Lord’s against Zimbabwe, Jimmy took a five wicket haul and secured a place in the honour’s board

3) James Anderson is one of only four Englishmen who have taken 300 Test wickets, alongside Fred Trueman, Bob Willis and Botham

4) Despite being a lower batsman who usually comes in at no. 11, Jimmy went 54 consecutive innings without being dismissed for a duck which is an English record

5) Jimmy has career-best figures of seven for 43 – against New Zealand in 2008

6) His stand of 198 with Joe Root against India at Trent Bridge in 2014 is the highest 10th-wicket partnership in Test history

7) Though Jimmy is quite amicable character (as he claims in his autobiography), mostly with his family (and close friends, which include Cook and Graeme Swann) Anderson is not quite the same once he steps on to the ground. During the 2013 Ashes, Joe Root gifted him a package: on opening it he found a t-shirt with the word GRUMPY written on it

8) Jimmy has never played away Tests against Bangladesh or Zimbabwe

9) Jimmy was England’s 12th man for the deciding Test of the famous 2005 Ashes series

10) James Anderson is married to Daniella Lloyd an English model he met in 2004 and they have two daughters

11) Jimmy Anderson became the first cricketer to model naked for Attitude, 'Britain's biggest-selling gay magazine', in September 2010

12) Major teams - England, Auckland, England Under-19s, Lancashire, Lancashire Cricket Board

13) In the 2015 Queen's Birthday Honours, Anderson was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire "for services to cricket"

14) On 11 February 2016 Jimmy received his OBE at Buckingham Palace

15) James Anderson was honoured as one of Wisden’s five ‘Cricketers of the year’ in 2009.

Virat Kohli

1) Virat Kohli began his training in cricket at West Cricket Academy in Delhi in 1998.
2) Any sportsman's greatest strength is not letting your personal life come in the way of your sport. Virat Kohli first came in to the limelight while representing Delhi against Karnataka in the Ranji Trophy on the very day of his father's death. He displayed great character to stay on and bat, and went on to score 90 runs.
3) We are all aware that Virat Kohli led the Indian U-19 cricket team to victory in the 2008 U-19 Cricket World Cup, but the very next year, Virat played a crucial role in India winning the 2009 Emerging Players tournament in Australia, finishing as the event's top scorer with 398 runs in seven matches with two hundreds.
4) Virat Kohli likes to bat in the middle order and displays swift footwork. He is adept in chasing runs under pressure. Cover and mid wicket are his strong areas, but he can hit all kinds of shots.
5) Virat is only the third ever Indian batsman to score two ODI hundreds before his 22nd birthday - the other two being Sachin Tendulkar and Suresh Raina.
6) Kohli's nickname is Cheeku. Former Delhi coach Ajit Chaudhary gave him the name when he joined the Delhi Ranji team.
7) Virat Kohli received the Arjuna award in 2013.
8) Only 8 cricketers ever have scored 20 ODI centuries and Virat Kohli is one of them. From the other seven, the only player who hasn’t retired is Chris Gayle with 21 centuries. Which means Kohli has more centuries than Sehwag, Gilchrist, Dravid, Hayden, Kallis, Jayawardene, and Sangakkara. And he is just 26!
9) Virat Kohli is also the fastest cricketer to hit 20 ODI centuries. He took only 133 innings to do so. The previous record was held by Sachin Tendulkar who, in contrast, took a whopping 197 innings to get 20 ODI tons. Kohli is also the fastest cricketer to get 15 ODI centuries. 
10) After Sachin, Sourav and MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli is only the fourth cricketer to score a 1000 runs or more for three consecutive calendar years in ODI cricket.
11) In fifth match of Asia Cup 2012, he scored 183 off 148 balls against Pakistan, recording the joint-fourth highest score by an Indian in ODIs. His innings was also the highest individual innings for a batsman against Pakistan in a ODI surpassing previous record by Brian Lara (156).
12) He scored the fastest century (52 balls) in one day internationals by an Indian against Australia in 2013.
13) Virat Kohli became the fastest Indian batsman to reach the landmarks of 1000, 3000, 4000 and 5000 runs in ODI cricket - the milestone was achieved on his way to his 18th ODI century in Napier
13) Kohli was named the ICC ODI Cricketer of the year in 2012 - at the age of 23.
14) In 2012, Virat Kohli was named as one of the 10 best dressed international men in a list that included US President Barrack Obama. SportsPro has rated Virat as the 13th most marketable athlete in the world - putting him alongside the likes of Neymar, Rory McIlroy and Usain Bolt.
15) Karishma Kapoor, the beautiful Bollywood actress was Kohli's first crush.
16) Virat Kohli is one of the few Indian cricketers to have a tattoo. Virat dons a Golden Dragon on his forearm, apparently for good luck. 
17) In 2012, Kohli scored the most number of ODI & test runs. Rightly so, he was awarded the 2012 Cricketer of the Year award by the ICC. 
18) Virat Kohli averages above 62 with a strike rate of over 92 when India is chasing. For batsmen having played at least 20 ODIs, this batting average batting-second is the highest in ODI cricket.
19) Former New Zealand captain Martin Crowe once wrote: “Kohli exudes the intensity of Rahul Dravid, audacity of Virender Sehwag and the extraordinary range of Sachin.” It won’t be wrong to say Kohli also has the much-needed aggression of Sourav Ganguly
20) In 2012, in a match against Sri lanka, Virat kohli hit 6 Fours in an over in the 35th over of the match and as far as I remember he is the first Indian to do that in ODI. (Though I am not sure about this but I remember once Sanath Jayasurya did that against England but in Test match).
21) Virat kohli is the only captain in test matches to have scored three centuries in his first 3 innings as captain.
22) Virat Kohli favourite recipe? Mutton biryani and kheer. Especially when it's cooked by his mother.

Alastair Cook

1) Alastair Nathan Cook was born on 25 December, 1984 in Gloucester, United Kingdom
2) Alastair Cook joined the Essex Academy at age 15, and made his first-class debut right after he finished school, at the end of the 2003 season
3) In his early years, Cook was a promising musician. Telegraph reported that his parents had gifted him a clarinet when Cook was only eight years old and he was a student at the St Paul’s Cathedral, London, where Cook honed his skills. Even when he moved to Bedford, it was his music that helped him get through. Cricket became his focus. After his England debut, he did play the saxophone for a program called Freefonix
4) Before his cricketing days, Cook has the distinction of singing with the famous New Zealand singer Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, who is known for her opera music
5) Music took Alastair Cook to Brazil and the Netherlands as a young boy on his first tour abroad
6) When Cook was 14 years old, he turned up for Marylebone Cricket Club in a game against Bedford and smashes a ton. Marylebone Cricket Club did not have one player and young Cook was given the responsibility
7) Former England player, Derek Randall played a huge role in the development of Cook as a player. Randall was at Bedford school and mentored the precocious Cook into the player he is peaking to Guardian, Randall said, “I helped Alastair as a young boy, but Alastair gave me more pleasure at this school than I gave him help, if I’m honest. Cook is really moved on since he was here. It’s just fantastic
8) In 2000, Alastair Cook represented England Under-15s in the Under-15s World Challenge. Tim Bresnan and Samit Patel were also a part of the side
9) As a teenager, Cook averaged 168 in his final season for club side Maldon CC in Essex
10) Alastair Cook was just 18 when Cook made his first-class debut for Essex and he made an unbeaten 69 in the second innings, batting in partnership with former England coach Andy Flower.
11) Cook then went on to become a regular for the England Under-19s, leading them during the ICC Under-19 World Cup 2004 in Bangladesh. Cook hit two centuries on the tour where England reached the semi-finals
12) Alastair Cook is an occasional bowler and it was only in 2014 that Cook took his maiden international wicket. At the under-19 level, he was a more regular bowler. In an under-19 Test against South Africa in 2003, Cook dismissed future competitors AB de Villiers and JP Duminy. While Duminy was dismissed for 116, de Villiers was out for 99
13) Not many would associate Cook with getting a T20 hundred given his recent struggles in one-day cricket. However, in 2009, Cook scored a T20 ton against Surrey. His unbeaten 100 came off only 57 balls with 11 fours and four sixes. Cook shared an opening stand of 169 with Mark Pettini, who scored 87
14) At the age of 19, in 2005, Alastair Cook made a double century against a touring Australia side whose bowling attack was led by Brett Lee and Jason Gillespie
15) There are two other famous namesakes for Alastair Cook although the spelling for both differs. Alistair Cooke was a British journalist known for the former weekly radio series Letter from America, while Alistair Cooke, Baron Lexden, is a British historian and a member of the House of Lords
16) On his debut against India at Nagpur in 2006, Cook made 60 in the first innings and 104 in the second innings to become the only the fifth England player to score a century and a fifty on his Test debut
17) During the second Test against New Zealand at Headingley on Saturday, England captain Cook, 30, overtook Graham Gooch’s tally of 8,900 runs to become his country’s most prolific batsman in Test cricket. Cook has scored more centuries, 27, than any other England player. Kevin Pietersen is next on 23
18) Alastair Cook married his childhood sweetheart, Alice Hunt, in December of 2011. He has a daughter named Elsie
19) England’s 2010-11 tour of Australia will forever be known as ‘Cook’s Ashes.’ The opener scored 766 runs at a mind-blowing average of 127.66, spending record 36 hours and 11 minutes at the crease to win England its first series in Australia in 24 years
20) Alastair Cook was the quickest Englishman to 1,000, 2,000, 3,000, 4,000 Test runs at the age of 26, Cook became the fastest Englishman and the second fastest overall to reach 5,000 Test runs. The only person he stands behind is Sachin Tendulkar. Cook is also the fastest to reach 8,000 Test runs
21) Alastair Cook was awarded an OBE in 2011. Cook was also named among Wisden’s five Cricketers of the Year in 2012

Dale Steyn

1) Dale Steyn was born on the 27th of June 1983 in Phalaborwa, Transvaal Province, South Africa
2) Making his one day international debut, Dale Steyn played a highly anticipated game against Asia XI. Playing for Africa XI, Steyn, then a relatively unknown figure in international cricket picked up the wicket of Ashish Nehra in his maiden international game. The year was 2005
3) In his debut match, Steyn dismantled England’s Marcus Trescothicks’s defence with a fierce in-swinging delivery. However, he failed to put up a stellar performance in the series, eventually being dropped from the side
4) Early on in life, Steyn is said to have loved skateboarding. However, upon the move to Pretoria, he decided on pursuing a full-time cricket career
5) His talent was capitalized upon at an early age. Having played just 8 first-class matches, Steyn was drafted into the South African Test squad. This has enabled him to play 82 Tests and 112 ODIs
6) One of the great qualities of a fast bowler is his sense of nagging the batsmen. He may not scalp a wicket or clean up a batsman but, if he can be intimidating and work up a cold stare too many, then he can be an daunting force to contend with. Interestingly, Steyn, who happens to be one of the most aggressive fast bowlers out there doesn’t consider himself to be much of an aggressor out there.
He’s famously said, “I can come across as being overtly competitive, but I know where to draw a line”.
7) Though Steyn became the second fastest to reach 350 wickets behind Muttiah Muralitharan, he took much lesser time to take the next 50 scalps. For a bowler, who consistently clocks 145 km/h, this record is indeed sensational
8) Steyn’s strike-rate reads 41.7, which is the best among bowlers who have delivered over 10,000 balls
9) Bass fishing, or simply, the activity for catching freshwater fishes can be a skilled manifestation for those who take fishing seriously, or just a casual hang out activity for the laidback among us. But with Dale Steyn, Bass fishing is a stress buster and an activity he relished ever since he was a kid, long before his association with Cricket. Steyn often plunges on solo bass fishing trips as and when his cricket schedule allows him
10) While playing in the IPL for the Royal Challengers Bangalore, he clocked his fastest delivery and the fastest in IPL cricket recorded at 156.2 km/h. His fastest ball in international cricket was clocked at 155.7 km/h (96.8 mph) against New Zealand, making him tied 4th fastest active bowler with Lasith Malinga as of 3 January 2015
11) Steyn’s aggressive wicket taking quality is exemplified by the pace of deliveries wearing down the most potent batting attacks. But it is often a less visited fact that in all versions of their game, Dale Steyn is the fastest to reach the landmark of 100 wickets for South Africa
12) The season 2007-08 is marked as Steyn’s most successful phase, pocketing 78 wickets at a staggering average of 16.24, which eventually earned him ICC 2008 Test Cricketer of the Year Award. While he was named Wisden Cricket of the Year in 2013, he added one more to his trophy cabinet in the following year by bagging Wisden Cricketer’s Almanack
13) Got a break in Hollywood: Yes, you read it right. The stylish cricketer acted in a movie named Blended, boasting of a cameo of himself
14) Every fast bowler has at least one batsman who he can rattle even on an odd day. In Dale Steyn’s case, the one batsman he has dismissed on more occasions than any other bowler is Pakistan’s Mohammad Hafeez. From 23 games, across all formats, Steyn has removed Hafeez 15 times. Quite amazingly, in 2013, he dismissed one of Pakistan’s most formidable batsman on 10 separate occasions
15) Steyn has over 600 wickets to his name in international cricket, but still enjoys fishing more than fast bowling. He believes he might get dropped if fails to take a wicket. On the other hand, if he fails to catch a fish, he can at least go fishing again. Some fascinating philosophy, it is!
16) Perhaps, we never regard cricketers at being ripe at other vivid talents, apart from the game. One of Steyn’s truly glamorous quotes wherein he described his approach to his life and the game, makes him nothing less than a poet. He once famously said, “When I am off the field, I am the calm, very quiet kind of easy-going ocean. But, when I am on a hot streak with the cricket ball, I can be the most disastrous waters you have ever been in”. Quite a wordsmith Mr. Steyn.

Chris Gayle

1) Chris Gayle started his career as a member of the Kingston’s, which is a renowned cricket club in Jamaica. He made his first class debut at the age of 19 for the Jamaica team.
2) Gayle credits Lucas Cricket Club for his success in cricket. It was from this club that he started his cricketing journey. He had even said that “If it was not for Lucas I don’t know where I would be today. Maybe on the streets”. In his honor, the nursery of Lucas Cricket Club has been named after him.
3) Cricket was in Gayle’s blood. His grandfather had played club cricket, and passed on his passion to the young Chris, who told The Telegraph, “The talent was so raw. It had been in the family: my grandfather had played cricket, so I was surrounded by all of that.”
4) Let’s not undestimate the power of Chris Gayle, the guy bags with himself as being one of the four batsmen, which includes Brian Lara, Don Bradman and Virender Sehwag, to hit the mark of two Test triple hundreds ! Now that is something to be amazed at.
5) Gayle has always been underestimated for the talent he brings to the table when it comes to test player. Gayle has had an outstanding record in t20s and what people have forgotten is that for West Indies Gayle stands as eighth highest test cricket run scorer and is also is one the list of one of the nine West Indies who have played over 100 tests. Not only this, but Gayle is West Indian teams third opener, following Desmond Haynes and Fordon Greenidge, although Gayle’s average is more than that of Haynes when it comes to being an opener
6) The T20 boom has turned the lives around of a lot of budding cricketers, but no one has benefitted as much as Gayle. He was, quite simply, born to rule the shortest format of the game. Gayle is the greatest ever T20 batsman by a huge margin. He became the first (and so far only) man to score over 8,000 runs, over 10 tons and over 50 half-centuries and the first man to hit over 500 sixes in T20s. He has played in virtually every T20 league in the world, and has dominated every one of them. He also holds the record for highest T20 score (175* for RCB in IPL) and the fastest T20 century (off 30 balls during his 175*). He has played T20 cricket for Jamaica, Jamaica Tallawahs, Kolkata Knight Riders, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Western Australia, Sydney Thunder, Matabeleland Tuskers, Barisal Burners, Dhaka Gladiators, Highveld Lions, and Somerset.
7) The T20 boom has turned the lives around of a lot of budding cricketers, but no one has benefitted as much as Gayle. He was, quite simply, born to rule the shortest format of the game. Gayle is the greatest ever T20 batsman by a huge margin. He became the first (and so far only) man to score over 8,000 runs, over 10 tons and over 50 half-centuries and the first man to hit over 500 sixes in T20s. He has played in virtually every T20 league in the world, and has dominated every one of them. He also holds the record for highest T20 score (175* for RCB in IPL) and the fastest T20 century (off 30 balls during his 175*). He has played T20 cricket for Jamaica, Jamaica Tallawahs, Kolkata Knight Riders, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Western Australia, Sydney Thunder, Matabeleland Tuskers, Barisal Burners, Dhaka Gladiators, Highveld Lions, and Somerset.
8) In 2012, he became the first cricketer in Test cricket history to smash the first ball of a Test match for a six. He achieved this feat against Bangladesh and the bowler was Sohag Gazi.
9) Chris Gayle doesn’t have the best of relationships with West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) and throughout his career he has been involved in several run-ins with the board.
10) We think that Gayle’s knock of 175(66) against Pune Warriors in IPL is his highest score, but one of his team mate Wavell Hinds tweeted that Gayle earlier scored 196(68) in a T20 trial match in Jamaica. Adding more to our surprise he got out only in the 15th over.
11) Chris Gayle at his very young age has a disorder of irregular heart beat, he was touring India that time and has been retired out off the game due to this problem. He underwent a surgery later and got well eventually.
12) In the 2011 auctions of the IPL, Gayle haven’t got a single bid on him in the first round. Later RCB bid on him and bought him in the auction, he went to become the highest run scorer for that season of the IPL.
13) Chris Gayle is the first player to hit 200 sixes in the IPL. He is also the first man to hit 500 sixes in T20’s.
14) Chris Gayle is a kind of player who believes in playing hard on the field and partying even harder off the field. He is a party animal who loves to celebrate and cherish every moment of his life. Even on the field he has executed some of the most memorable celebrations ever witnessed on the field of cricket. Who can forget his famed Gangnam dance
15) Till now in his career he has represented teams like West Indies, Barisal Burners, Dhaka Gladiators, ICC World XI, Jamaica, Jamaica Tallawahs, Kolkata Knight Riders, Matabeleland Tuskers, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Somerset, Stanford Superstars, Sydney Thunder, Western Australia and Worcestershire.
16) When he scored the 215 against Zimbabwe, Gayle became the only cricketer in the world to have scored a T20I century, an ODI double ton, and a Test triple hundred (two, actually). The only other cricketer who comes close is Virender Sehwag, who has an ODI double, a Test triple (once again, two), and a T20 (but not T20I) hundred.
17) Chris Gayle is right when he speaks of having done a lot for Jamaica. He is certainly not tight-fisted when it comes to spending on himself, but Gayle is also equally generous when it comes to giving to charity. He started ‘The Chris Gayle Academies’ in Jamaica and London with an aim to “improve access to good quality education, training and employment for at risk young people in Jamaica and the UK.”
18) Gayle once again, managed to set a record in ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 out of many other reocrds being smashed. Gayle was the only man in the history, as everyone witnessed who managed to hit a double century and reached 215 against Zimbabwe in the World Cup match. In this pursue, Gayle broke the record of Gary Kirsten, who sixteen years ago set a score at 188 in a World Cup. However, Gayle’s short lived record only managed to break through its way in the history for a week only, when Martin Guptill scored 237, against West Indies.
19) Chris Gayle is the first West Indian cricketer to score in excess of 7000 runs in ODIs and take wickets in excess of 150.
20) Chris Gayle made his ODI debut against India in 1999 while his Test debut came against Zimbabwe in 2000. But it was not memorable for him as in his first ODI he scored only 1 runs while in his Test debut he could manage only 33 runs.

Mahela Jayawardene

1) Mahela Jayawardene was born on the 27th of May 1976 in Colombo, Sri Lanka
2) Mahela is fondly known as ‘Maiya’ to his teammates
3) Mahela Jayawardene of Sri Lanka has the most runs scored in World T20 with a tally of 1016 over the 5 editions
4) While Jayawardene is one of the most technically perfect batsmen, his record overseas is in a way forgettable. The major drawback in his career is his relative lack of success in overseas conditions. His averages in Australia, England, South Africa and New Zealand are all less than 35, but at home, he averages more than 60
5) Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene of Sri Lanka joined Jehan Mubarak of Pakistan (2009) and Joginder Sharma of India (2007) by featuring in their last T20 match in World T20 finals victory
6) Mahela Jayawardene is the only batsman to have scored centuries in both the semi final and final of a World Cup. He scored century in 2007 World Cup semi-final against New Zealand and in 2011 World Cup final against India
7) Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara may be best friends. However, they are also business partners. They own a restaurant in Colombo called the ‘Ministry of Crab’
8) Mahela Jayawardene became the first Sri Lankan captain to score a triple century in Tests. He did so against South Africa in 2006, putting up a record-breaking 624-run stand with Kumar Sangakkara
9) An excellent reader of the game, Jayawardene was bestowed with the burden of the captaincy of the Lankan team. Under him, the Lankans became a force to reckon with as he instilled a winning mentality in the players. He wasn’t afraid to take risks as a skipper, as Sri Lanka went on to enjoy success overseas with wins over New Zealand and England
10) Honours - ICC Captain of the Year 2006, Wisden Cricketer of the Year 2007, ICC Spirit of Cricket Award 2013
11) As mentioned earlier, watching Mahela Jayawardene batting was an experience in itself. One of his most gritty and excellent knocks came against India in the 2011 World Cup final in Mumbai. Batting first, the Indians snapped up the wickets of Sangakkara, Dilshan, and Tharanga. However, they didn’t count on the brilliance of Jayawardene. The latter smashed the ball to all parts, scoring a magnificent century. Despite losing the title to India, Jayawardene’s century stands out as one of the best World Cup final innings ever
12) Mahela Jayawardene is married to Christina Mallika Sirisena
13) In August 2015, the England Cricket Board signed Jayawardene as batting consultant for the England team
14) Jayawardene has 34 test, 19 ODI and 1 T20I centuries. Mahela is the first Sri Lankan and third overall to score hundreds in all forms of the game
15) Jayawardene has been part of most wins by a Sri Lankan in ODIs with 241 wins and is second in the world after Ricky Ponting(262 wins)
16) Major teams - Sri Lanka, Asia XI, Sri Lankan Board XI, North Central Province, Sri Lanka A, Sri Lankan Invitation XI, Sinhalese Sports Club, Young Sri Lanka, Punjab, Delhi, Wayamba, Sri Lanka Under-19, Somerset, Sussex, Kochi, Adelaide Strikers, Wayamba United, Central Districts, Trinbago Knight Riders, Jamaica Tallawahs, Uthura Yellows, Sachins Blasters, Dhaka Dynamites.

Harbhajan Singh

1) Harbhajan Singh was born July 3, 1980 in Jalandhar, Punjab in a Sikh family and is the only brother to five sisters
2) At number 2 is something that you might not entirely find unfathomable after watching Harbhajan score two Test centuries in the not too distant past but what is a bit surprising is that he initially wanted to be a batsman. In fact, when he first started going to a cricket club he was treated as a batsman but after the death of his coach he switched to another club, where the coach spotted Harbhajan’s talent as an off spinner and immediately started grooming him as one
3) Harbhajan Singh became the first no. 8 batsman to score back-to-back Test centuries
4) Following the death of his father in 2000, Harbhajan became the family head, and by 2001 had organised marriages for three of his sisters
5) Harbhajan Singh broke into the Punjab Under-16s at the age of 15 years and 4 months in November of the 1995–96 season, and took 7/46 and 5/138 on debut against Haryana
6) Harbhajan Singh is only 18 wickets away from equaling Kapil Dev’s second highest tally of 434 wickets
7) As you might well be aware, most sportsmen have a thing for numbers when it comes to their fortunes on the field or off it and Harbhajan Singh is no different. Harbhajan considers 3 as his lucky number because he was born on the 3rd of July 1980. If you have noticed his jersey number when he plays for India or Mumbai Indians then you would see that the number on his back is 3 which clearly shows his liking for the number 3
8) Harbhajan Singh is the 3rd Indian bowler to scalp 400 Test wickets
9) In at number 4 is Harbhajan Singh’s innovative and rather long term commercial decision to get a brand license on his name, which he perhaps intends to use in commercial ventures in the future. He believes that the name ‘Harbhajan Singh’ is a pretty common one and in order to distinguish his name and make sure that it is recognisable for everyone he has decided to license it as a brand. You might say that it is unprecedented in the annals of Indian sports but that is Harbhajan for you
10) Harbhajan made his Test debut against Australia in March, 1998 in Bengaluru. He managed to take 2 wickets in the test and India lost the match. He was just 18 years-old when he started his International career
11) Like most men who have made a fortune, Harbhajan Singh is also a car enthusiast and takes a keen interest in the cars that he owns. Harbhajan’s first car was a Ford Endeavour, which he bought many years back and over the years he has added some of the choicest cars in to his stable but the most extravagant car purchase that he has made so far has been that of a Hummer back in 2011. He had bought it for a cool Rs 1 crore and quite naturally it is the king of his stable at the moment
12) Harbhajan Singh was a part of two World Cup-winning teams – ICC Twenty20 in 2007 and the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2011
13) Punjab Police has been a great supporter of sports since time immemorial and if you cast an eye across different sports- football, hockey, kabaddi- you will find a team that represents this elite police force from Punjab and so as a token of appreciation for his contributions towards cricket in the state Punjab Police appointed Harbhajan Singh as the Director General of Police. Of course, Harbhajan would not have to do any policing as it is an honorary post but the gesture is surely a touching one
14) In 2008,Harbhajan participated in a dance reality show ‘Ek Haseena Ek Khiladi’ with tollywood actress Mona Singh. Geeta was spotted at the hotel where Bhajji was staying for the promotion of the event but she continued to be discreet about it
15) The couple stepped out together openly for the first time for Formula 1 race at the Budh International Circuit in Greater Noida. Geeta began accompanying him to IPL bashes. They began to go for dinners together with Sachin Tendulkaar when ever the cricketer was in town
16) In 2009, Harbhajan Singh was conferred the Padma Shri Award
17) In 2003, Harbhajan Singh was awarded with the Arjuna Award for Cricket
18) IIn 2008, Harbhajan was banned by the ICC and was charged for racial insult towards Andrew Symonds. The ban was later revoked after appeal. Later in 2008 during the first IPL, Harbhajan was banned from the tournament after slapping Sreesanth after a match
19) Harbhajan Singh most memorable event has to be his performance in the historic 2001 home series against Australia. He snapped 32 wickets in just three tests, including the first Test hat-trick by an Indian, while none of his team-mates managed more than three
20) Harbhajan Singh is famous for bowling the “Doosra”
21) Harbhajan Singh’s common nickname is “The Turbanator”
22) Harbhajan has been particularly successful against Australian batsman Ricky Ponting, taking his wicket on ten occasions in Test cricket
23) Harbhajan Singh is the first Indian to take a hat-trick in Test cricket in 2001

VVS Laxman

1) VVS Laxman was born on 1st November 1974 in Hyderabad
2) VVS Laxman, whose parents are doctors, had to make a choice between a medical career and playing cricket before he eventually opted for the willow and made his mark as one of India's finest cricketers. He is said to be the immense grand nephew of Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, ex- President of India
3) In 1987, VVS surprised everyone when he scored his first ton against Andhra Pradesh scoring 153 in an Under-13 tournament in Vijayawada. This was an obvious indication of a legend in the making
4) Laxman was brilliant at academics and scored 98 percent marks in his 10th board exam. His parents — Dr Shantaram and Dr Satyabhama — are noted doctors and following suit, he too enrolled as a Medical student. But thankfully, he chose the life of a cricketer over that of a physician’s.
His family’s eminence doesn’t end here; Laxman apparently is the great grand nephew of Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, former President of India. He is married to G R Sailaja, a computer science post-graduate. They tied the knot on February 16, 2004 and have two children – son Sarvajit and daughter Achinta
5) VVS Laxman played his maiden first-class match against Punjab while playing for Hyderabad in the quarter-final match of 1992–93 Ranji Trophy season. Unfortunately, he could score only 0 and 17 in the match
6) VVS Laxman came back strongly in the next season piling up 532 runs from 5 matches at an impressive average of 76 with 2 tons
7) Laxman played his first U-19 international game in the same match in which Brett Lee represented Australia for the very first time. Laxman tormented the Aussies in that particular series
8) VVS took more than three years to score his maiden Test century, a robust 167 against Australia at Sydney in 2000 that made the cricketing world sit up and take notice of this special talent
9) Laxman was involved in three more mammoth stands against Australia - 353 with Sachin Tendulkar in 2004 in Sydney, 303 with Dravid in Adelaide in the same series and 278 with Gautam Gambhir at New Delhi in 2008
10) VVS Laxman is one of those unfortunate cricketers who played over 100 Test matches for their countries but never got a chance to play in a cricket World Cup
11) Hyderabad may be famous for its ‘Dum Biryani’, but Laxman doesn’t gorge on to it, as he is a strict vegetarian. He loves the typical home made food and particularly ‘rasam’ that is prepared in the typical South Indian style
12) VVS Laxman played his maiden Test against South Africa at Motera, Ahmedabad in 1996. He scored 11 and 51 in two innings of this low-scoring Test match that saw India winning it convincingly
13) The top-order right-hander made his ODI debut against Zimbabwe at Cuttack ODI in 1998 but was dismissed for a duck
14) A reliable slip fielder, Laxman shares the record for the maximum number of catches by an non-wicketkeeper in an ODI series. Laxman affected 12 dismissals in the 2003-04 VB series, a record only matched by Australia’s Allan Border
15) VVS Laxman is India's fourth-highest scorer (8,781) in Tests after Sachin Tendulkar (15,470 runs), Rahul Dravid (13,265) and Sunil Gavaskar (10,122)
16) In 2008, Laxman became only the second Indian batsman after Sachin Tendulkar to score more than 2000 Test runs against the Australians. Laxman hit an unbeaten 200 in the first innings to save the match
17) This was the turning point in the talented right hander’s career. Laxman played rock solid while scoring superb 281 against Australia at Kolkata test in the second innings (following-on) and piled a huge 376-run stand with Rahul Dravid that helped India win this test match
18) It was the legendary Aussie captain Ian Chappel who coined the nickname Very Very Special for Laxman after seeing him playing consistent good knocks against Australia during 2003-2004 ODI series
19) Though Laxman isn’t considered to be in the league of great ODI players, he achieved something he could be very proud of. In early 2004, when India were playing a tri-series in Australia, Laxman notched up three ODI hundreds in a span of week’s time. On January 18, he scored 103 not out against Australia at Brisbane, four days later he scored 106 not out against the same opposition at Sydney and on January 24, he scored 131 against Zimbabwe at Adelaide
20) VVS Laxman has other interests apart from cricket. He likes playing table tennis, squash and badminton during his free time. He religiously follows tennis and admires Steffi Graf and Boris Becker
21) VVS Laxman always stood tall against the Australian bowling attack. Laxman’s 6 out of 17 test tons, and 4 out of his 6 ODI hundreds came against Australia
22) VVS Laxman has received the prestigious Padma Shri awards and Arjuna Awards for his immense contribution to cricket
23) Laxman’s 281 is counted as the 6th best in Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack list of 100 great test innings
24) VVS Laxman has played county cricket for Lancashire and has played IPL too. He was initially named the icon player for Deccan Chargers, the Hyderabad IPL side. Laxman appointed as the captain rejected the offer to be an icon player in order to free funds that would enable the franchise to buy younger players
25) His favorite film - Jerry Maguire. His favorite actor - Aamir Khan. 
Laxman is also said to be a massive follower of Aamir’s reality TV show ‘Satyamev Jayate’
26) On 18 August 2012, Laxman announced his retirement from international cricket. Although he was selected for the upcoming New Zealand series, he opted not to play in the series but he will play in domestic cricket for Hyderabad and the Indian Premier League. It was announced that the Northern Stand at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium will now be named after him.

Sir Vivian Richards

1) Sir Vivian Richards was born on the 7th of March 1952 at St. John’s, Antigua and Barbuda
2) Sir Vivian Richards, is the only player to play in the football and cricket World Cups. The West Indian crickter represented Antigua in the qualifying rounds of the 1974 football World Cup
3) In November 1974, Richards made his Test debut against India in Bangalore, falling to Bhagwat Chandrasekhar for 4 and 3. Astonishingly, the selectors dropped Chandra for the next Test, and Viv slammed 192 not out. As a result, West India won the match by an innings and 17 runs. In all, he played 120 Tests more and scored over 8,500 runs at an average of just over 50
4) The 31st of May 1984 became a red letter day for Cricket and Vivian Richards in particular. Celebrating almost a year of losing the 1983 World Cup, Richards marked the occasion with a magnificent century. The spectators at Old Trafford didn’t know what hit them on the day. Eldine Baptiste and Michael Holding were the only other two batsmen to cross double figures on the day. Richards smashed, crashed, hooked, cut and pulled an England bowling attack comprising of Bob Willis, Ian Botham and Neil Foster on his way to 189. He smashed 21 fours and five sixes as the Windies went on to win by a mammoth 104 runs
5) ​In 2000, he was voted one of the five c​ricketers of the ​c​entury by a 100-member panel of experts along with Sir Donald Bradman, Sir Garfield Sobers, Sir Jack Hobbs and Shane Warne
6) Vivian Richards did not do anything extraordinary with bat in World Cup 1975, but pulled off three spectacular run outs, sending back Alan Turner, Ian Chappell and Greg Chappell, thus helping his side win by a close margin of 17 runs
7) 1976 was Viv Richards’ finest year, when Vivian scored 1,710 runs in just 11 Tests at an average of 90. Viv notched up six tons in the process. This was a record for most Test runs in a calendar year that stood for 30 years until it was subsequently broken by Mohammad Yousuf who scored 1,788 runs in 2006
8) In the 1979 World Cup final against England, Richards launched into the England attack with a vengeance. Vivian slammed a 157-ball 138 with 11 fours and 6 sixes (including a flicked six off Mike Hendrick in the last ball of the innings), and helped his side win by 92 runs. Vivian was named Man of the Match for his performance
9) As a captain, Vivian never lost any test series
10) Vivian Richards joined the Delhi Daredevils as their Mentor in The Indian Premier League in 2013. Richards will also mentor the Quetta Gladiators in the 2016 Pakistan Super League
11) In 1994, Richards was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to cricket
12) In test cricket, Vivian scored 8,540 runs at an average​ of​ more than 50 runs per innings. Viv also hit 24 centuries and 45 half centuries along with 32 wickets
13) In ODI cricket, Vivian scored 6721 runs at an averag​e of 47. Viv also hit 11 centuries and 45 half centuries along with 118 wickets
14) Richards had apparently twice refused a blank cheque offer to play for a rebel West Indies squad in South Africa during the Apartheid era in 1983, and again in 1984
15) Viv Richards was extremely successful as captain of the West Indies team. Viv captained the team in 50 Tests and won 27 of them while lost only 8. Viv remains the only West Indies captain to never lose a Test series
16) Viv Richards never used helmet in his 17 years international career
17) Viv Richards led a colourful life both on and off field. Viv is married to Miriam and has two children with her: Matara, who currently lives in Canada; and Mali, who has also played First-Class cricket. Viv also had a brief relationship with Indian actress Neena Gupta, with whom he has a daughter, fashion designer Masaba Gupta, with whom he shares a doting relationship. He is also godfather to his good friend and contemporary player Ian Botham’s son, Liam
18) Vivian Richards was chosen as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year for 1977
19) In December 2002, Wisden named him as the greatest ODI batsman of all time as well as the third greatest Test batsman of all time, after Bradman and Sachin Tendulkar
20) The Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in North Sound, Antigua, is named in his honour.

Kapil Dev

1) Kapil Dev was born on 6th January 1959 in Chandigarh, Punjab
2) Kapil Dev was born to Ram Lal Nikhanj, a building and timber contractor and his wife Raj Kumari. His parents had migrated from Rawalpindi, Punjab during the partition of India
3) Kapil Dev was a student at D.A.V. School and joined Desh Prem Azad in 1971
4) Although known as one of the best all-rounders ever, Kapil Dev was popular as a bowler in the domestic cricket circuit. On his first-class debut, Kapil bowled out Punjab for 63 runs with six wickets to his name
5) Kapil Dev played for Haryana for 17 years and was a constant member of the team from 1975 to 1992
6) Kapil Dev made both his Test and ODI debuts against Pakistan in the year 1978
7) Kapil Dev first Test wicket was that of Sadiq Mohammad of Pakistan
8) Apart from Haryana, Kapil's first-class experience also includes English county clubs, Worcestershire (1983-84) and Northamptonshire (1981-83)
9) In his entire 184-innings Test career, Kapil Dev had never been run out. No other cricketer has achieved this feat
10) During a series against Pakistan in 1979-80, Kapil Dev became the youngest Test player to achieve the all-round double of 100 wickets and 1,000 runs
11) In the ODI format, his first wicket was that of Imran Khan
12) Kapil dev best bowling analysis in a Test innings was 9 wickets for 83 runs verses the West Indies at Ahmadabad in the year 1983
13) On February 8, 1994, he took the wicket of the Sri Lanka’s Harshan Tillekeratne, to go past Hadlee’s world record haul of 431 wickets and retired with 434 wickets. He held the world record for eight years. It was then broken by West Indies fast bowler, Courtney Walsh in the year, 2000. In 1988, Kapil overtook Joel Garner to become the highest wicket-taker in ODI cricket. His final career tally of 253 wickets remained a record until it was broken by Wasim Akram in 1994
14) 303 runs, 12 wickets and 7 catches in 8 matches – this was Kapil Dev’s statistics in the 1983 World Cup. His extraordinary knock of 175 runs against Zimbabwe saved India from being ousted from the quarter-finals. India went on to lift the cup when they defeated the mighty West Indian team in the final match. It was one of the biggest moments of glory in Indian cricket and brought a major turnaround for the sport in the country
15) Kapil Dev held the world record for the most number of wickets (434) in Test cricket for eight years. The record was broken by West Indies fast bowler, Courtney Walsh in the year, 2000
16) Kapil dev was an aggressive batsman who had a penchant for hitting sixes frequently. He was involved in a notable incident during the Lord’s Test match of 1990 when he hit off-spinner Eddie Hemmings for four sixes in succession to take India past the follow-on target
17) Kapil Dev never missed a Test because of injury or fitness reasons in a career that spanned 131 Tests spread over 16 years
18) On 17 occassions has Kapil Dev bowled 10 or more overs in a ODI match without claiming a wicket
19) His highest ODI score is 175 not out verses Zimbabwe at Tunbridge Wills on 18 July, 1983. This was during the 1983 Prudential World Cup which India ultimately won. Kapil, who was captaining the Indian team, had single handedly won India the match on that day
20) Kapil Dev's highest Test score is 163 verses Sri Lanka at Kanpur in the year 1986
21) A patriot by heart, Kapil Dev joined the Indian Territorial Army as a honorary Lieutenant Colonel on September 24, 2008
22) Kapil dev was appointed coach of the Indian national cricket team in 1999, succeeding Anshuman Gaekwad. He had a rather ordinary stint as India’s coach for 10 months between October 1999 and August 2000. He was also dragged into the match-fixing controversy by Manoj Prabhakar. But, these charges were subsequently dismissed. However, Kapil resigned as coach following this controversy
23) Kapil Dev was named by Wisden as the Indian Cricketer of the Century
24) Best innings figures by a captain - 9 for 83, v West Indies at Ahmedabad (1983)
25) Only player to score 4000 runs & take 400 wickets in Test cricket - Scored 5248 runs & took 434 wickets
26) First Indian captain to win a world title - 1983 Prudential World Cup
27) National Honours - Arjuna Award – 1979-80, Padma Shri – 1982, Padma Bhushan – 1991
28) Kapil Dev is married to Romi Bhatia. Kapil was introduced to her by a common friend in 1979 and proposed to her in 1980. The couple married in 1980 and had a daughter, Amiya Dev, on 16 January 1996.

Sir Garfield Sobers

1) Sir Garfield Sobers was born on July 28, 1936 in Bridgetown, Barbados. He was christened Garfield St Aubrun Sobers
2) Garfield Sobers was one of the six children to Shamont and Thelma Sobers. Sobers lost his father at the age of five due to shipwreck in 1942
3) ‘Garfield St Auburn’ was an uncommon and Sobers in his autobiography says, “Most Barbadians have unusual names, and I was no exception,” he said. He was supposedly given the two names after a few relatives settled in the United States of America
4) Garry Sobers was born with six fingers on each hand. The first extra finger fell off before he was 10, jerked out with a piece of catgut wrapped around the base and hauled off with a sharp tug. He played his first serious cricket match with 11 digits. The remaining additional finger was severed with the help of a sharp knife when Sobers was 14
5) Garfield Sobers did his schooling at Bay Street Boys School. He along with his brother Gerald Sobers helped his school to three inter-school cricket championships
6) Sobers was just 16 and still playing in his shorts when he was chosen as a last-minute replacement against the touring Indians of 1952-53 — his First-Class debut. The Sobers family could not afford flannels for the young man to play his first match. Barbados cricket Association presented Sobers with his first cricket outfit
7) Sobers had natural talent for sport and excelled in cricket, football and basketball. Still in his teens, he was invited to play cricket for Kent St. Philip club and Wanderers club
8) Sobers first international exposure was when he got selected for the Barbados eleven for a match against touring Indian team on January 31, 1953 at the age of 16 years. He made immediate impression with his bowling taking 7 for 142 in the match
9) In the 1952–53 season, Sobers was invited to the Barbados trials for the colony’s tour match against the Indian touring team at Kensington Oval, Bridgetown. He was initially selected as 12th man but then made the team itself when Frank King was forced to withdraw. He, therefore, made his first-class debut on 31 January 1953, aged only 16. Batting at number nine, he scored 7 not out in his only innings but made an immediate impression as a bowler, taking 4/50 and 3/92
10) His performance against touring Marylebone Cricket club earned him his test call. Sobers took two wickets and scored 46 & 27 in that match
11) From 1961 to 1968, in 33 Tests, Sobers scored 3106 runs at 63.38 with 9 hundreds and captured 125 wickets at 27.93
12) Sobers is the youngest player to score a Triple Century in tests. That 365* vs Pakistan at Kingston in 1958 came when he was just 21 years and 213 days old. He overcame Sir Don Bradman's record who scored his 334 vs Eng at Leeds in 1930 at the age of 21 years and 318 days
13) Scoring 300 runs and taking 20 wickets in a series is no mean feat - it's only been achieved 15 times in the entire history of Test cricket. But what makes Sobers stand apart is that he managed it three times on his own, twice against England, and once against India
14) In fact even in his early days he averaged nearly 63 in 79 matches, which was easily the best during that period. And if we talk about his bowling, in the eight years when Sobers was at the peak on his bowling powers, he was among the best in that aspect too: only three bowlers took more than 100 wickets at an average lower than Sobers' 27.93
15) Sobers became the captain of his side in 1965 and enjoyed immediate success as West Indies captain when his team defeated Australia by 179 runs in the First Test at Sabina Park. West Indies went on to win the series 2–1 and so claim the new Frank Worrell Trophy. This was the first time West Indies had beaten Australia in a Test series
16) Sobers was the first to score 3000 Runs, take 200 wickets and grab 100 catches in Tests. Only 3 others have managed to do it after him - Sir Ian Botham, Shane Warne, and Jacques Kallis
17) Sobers was the one of the first cricketer from West Indies to play as a professional in the English league crcicket. He represented Radcliffe Cricket Club in the Central Lancashire League from 1958 to 62. He was paid £500 a season apart from match day collection
18) Sobers was signed up Nottinghamshire county on November 14, 1967 to play as overseas cricketer for a sum of £ 7000 a year including apartment and car
19) On 31 August 1968, Sobers became the first batsman ever to hit six sixes in a single over of six consecutive balls in first-class cricket. The feat consisted of five clean hits for six and one six where the ball was caught but carried over the boundary by Roger Davis. Sobers was playing as captain of Nottinghamshire against Glamorgan at St. Helen’s in Swansea; the unfortunate bowler was Malcolm Nash. This tally of 36 runs in an over broke a 57-year-old record of 34 runs, held by Ted Allenton. The ball was collected from a garden by 11-year-old Richard Lewis; he later gave the ball to Sobers
20) Sobers married Prue Kirby an Australian in September 1969. Apart from his two sons Mathew and Daniel, he adopted a daughter Genevieve
21) Sobers was selected as one of the five Wisden Cricketer of the Century in 2000. He garnered 90 votes out of possible 100
22) Sobers was made a National Hero of Barbados by the Cabinet of Barbados in 1998 and has the honorary prefix “The Right Excellent” to his name. He is one of only ten people to have received this honour and the only recipient still living
23) In 2004 International Cricket Council inaugurated ‘Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy’ in honour of Sobers. The trophy is awarded to ICC Player of the Year
24) Sobers played 93 tests scoring 8032 runs and took 235 wickets. He has played 383 first class matches and has scored 28,000 runs with 1000 wickets.

Gautam Gambhir

1) Gautam Gambhir was born on October 14, 1981, in Delhi
2) Gautam Gambhir father was businessman and a housewife mother
3) Gautam Gambhir was adopted by his grandparents when he was 18-days old and has lived with them ever since
4) Gautam Gambhir started playing cricket at the age of 10 and was coached by Sanjay Bharadwaj and Raju Tandon
5) At age of 18, Gautam got selected for National Cricket Academy, Bangalore and later made in U19 Indian teams
6) Gautam Gambhir captained India 6 Times in his international career and won all the 6 games
7) Gautam Gambhir made his ODI debut against Bangladesh in the TVS Cup in 2003. In his third match, he scored 71 and was named Man of the Match
8) Gautam Gambhir made his Test debut in 2004 against Australia in the fourth and last test match of the Border Gavaskar Trophy but did not score much
9) Gautam Gambhir is the first Indian and 5th overall to score 5 Tons in 5 consecutive Tests
10) Gautam Gambhir was part of India A team during their tour to West Indies in 2002/03 Carib Beer Cup, where Gautam top scored for his side with 617 runs in 13 innings
11) Gautam Gambhir enjoyed the period between 2008 and 2011. Gambhir finished the 2008 CB series as the highest run getter with 440 runs. Gambhir was soon a regular as well as key member of the Indian squad in all three formats
12) Gambhir maiden Test century came against Bangladesh in December 2004
13) Gautam Gambhir became the second highest run-scorer of the inaugural IPL season of 2008 with 534 runs from 14 matches
14) Gambhir was the highest paid cricketer in IPL 2011 as Kolkata bagged him for $2.4 Millions
15) In 2010, Gautam was appointed as the stand in captain of the national team for a home ODI series against New Zealand. Gautam scored an unbeaten 150 in the fourth match in Kolkata, leading the team to a victory in the run-chase. Gautam eventually earned the Man of the Series award and led India to a 5–0 win
16) During World T20, 2007 final against Pakistan, Gautam Gambhir scored a brilliant 75 in just 54 balls. Gautam Gambhir was India’s top run scorer in ICC World Twenty20 with 227 runs. In overall, only Mathew Hayden scored more than him with 265 runs
17) Gautam Gambhir scored his maiden century against Sri Lanka in 2005( 103 off 97 balls)
18) Gautam Gambhir also has another unique landmark to his name. Gambhir is the first Indian to record more than 300 runs in four consecutive Test series
19) Opening the batting with Virender Sehwag, Gautam scored 858 runs in seven matches including a double century against Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy
20) Gautam Gambhir was conferred with the Arjuna Award, India’s second highest sporting award in the year 2008 by the President of India. The following year, Gautam was the number one ranked batsman in ICC Test rankings. The same achievement earned him the recipient of the ICC Test Player of the Year award
21) In 2009, Gautam Gambhir reached No.1 rank in ICC Test rankings for batsmen
22) Gautam Gambhir became only the 2nd player after Viv Richards to score 11 fifties in 11 consecutive Test innings in 2010, Gambhir opening partner Sehwag matched this feat, Later, in 2014, AB de Villiers eclipsed this record when he posted his 12th consecutive fifty.
23) In October 2011, Gautam Gambhir married Natasha Jain who comes from a prominent business family
24) Gautam Gambhir along with Sehwag, had 4412 partnership runs in 87 innings while opening, the most for an Indian opening pair. Their average of 52.52 is the best among pairs with minimum of 4000 runs
25) India won the 50-over World Cup after a long wait of 28 years in 2011. Gautam was the sixth highest scorer of the tournament and second highest for India behind Sachin Tendulkar. In the final, Gambhir’s 97 from 122 balls set up India’s successful chase. Gautam led India’s reply and had useful partnerships first with Kohli, and then a match-winning partnership of 109 with MS Dhoni.

Allan Border

1) Allan Robert Border was born on the 27th of July 1955 in Cremorne, New South Wales, Australia
2) Allan Border was a champion batsman and it did not matter where Allan was playing. Border never believed in things like ‘home advantage’ and ‘settling to overseas conditions’. Border scored 5,743 runs at 45.94 from 86 Tests at home and 5,431 runs at 56.57 from 70 Tests overseas. The stats show that he enjoyed batting on the foreign soil much more than at home
3) In 1980, Allan Border became the first player to go past 150 in both innings of a test match, when Border smashed an unbeaten 150 and 153 against Pakistan. The record still stands and he remains the only player to achieve this
4) Allan Border was a player who exuded the pride of Australia and made the Australian cricket team his home for almost all his cricketing career. It was as though he knew a code, the code being the Baggy Green cap, something Border has defended for most of his playing career
5) Allan Border was dismissed for four against England at WACA in 1979-80. Border was furious with himself as he returned to the dressing-room. He later wrote in his autobiography: “I opened the door with a bad-tempered, hip and shoulders shirtfront, threw my bat onto the floor, ripped off my gloves, kicked them as far as I could and unleashed a scathing verbal attack on Poms in general and their cricketers in particular.”
Allan went on and on; in his words, Allan “exhausted his vocabulary”. It was only then Allan realised that he had returned to the England dressing room. One can never tell whether the incident motivated him to do better, but he scored 115 in the second innings as Australia won by 138 runs
6) Allan Border was a tough task master. England’s Robin Smith had got a mouthful from him during the Trent Bridge Test in 1989. Poor Robin Smith asked for Border’s permission to call the 12th man to have a glass of water on the field. The reply from Border almost sulked him into tears. Border replied, “What do you think this is? A f**king tea party? No, you can’t have a f**king glass of water. You can f**king wait like the rest of us.”
7) Allan Border has the highest average (56.57) overseas for any batsman who has scored over 5000 runs outside his country
8) Not a natural leader, nor a man of frills, Allan came reluctantly to the captaincy in a dark age for Australia after Kim Hughes’ tearful resignation at Brisbane in 1984-85, but eventually applied himself to the task as proudly as to his batting
9) While most of the modern day players chase fame, Border was one who wanted to be successful ahead of fame. He remains to be one of the players who was against the so-called ‘washbag culture’ of being rewarded for doing anything special
10) Border’s other five-wicket haul came against West Indies as well (all his four-wicket hauls came against them). At Bourda in 1990-91 Border had already dismissed Desmond Haynes after Australia had scored 348. Then, after West Indies had reached 529 for five, Border took out Jeff Dujon, Gus Logie, Curtly Ambrose, and Courtney Walsh in the span of nine balls.
Alan Border finished with five for 68. In fact, he picked up 19 wickets against West Indies at 24.31 — an average better than those of Dennis Lillee, Ray Lindwall, or Keith Miller
11) Allan Border remains the only Australian captain to have ever taken a 10 wicket haul in tests
12) The India-Australia rivalry in cricket is usually referred to as the Border-Gavaskar series. The Test series usually takes place once every three years
13) Allan Border earned the tag ‘Captain Grumpy’ after Allan set his sights on winning the 1989 edition of the Ashes. Of course, Allan can sometimes be a miserable person to deal with. However, the fact that he did it out of pure determination to win the Ashes back was something that can be seen as forgiving. Australia went on to claim the 1989 edition of the Ashes 4-0
14) When Allan Border walked out to bat against New South Wales at The Gabba in 1993-94 he saw a young, Glenn McGrath with trousers that did not go down below his shins. Border decided to go under the skin of the youngster: “Hey mate, why are your pants so high? Are you expecting a flood or something?”
A furious Glenn McGrath unleashed a bouncer. Border calmly responded, mentioning that McGrath resembled Jethro Bodine from The Beverly Hillbillies, and continued to call him “Jethro” throughout the innings, which lasted for four-and-a-half hours. McGrath was so angry that he went red, but could not utter anything more than a grunt and an almost-predictable bouncer.
Then Border came out with “I know you can grunt, but can you speak?” McGrath was so worked up that he could not utter another word till Border was there (he was the last man out). However, McGrath had the last laugh when he dismissed Border in the second innings for 11, and NSW won by eight wickets.
15) Allan Border is known for one of the most dramatic moments in a cricket World cup when he took Gatting’s wicket in 1987 WC final, which led to a batting collapse and a win for Australia
16) Allan Border was the skipper when India played host to only the second Tied Test match in Test cricket’s illustrious history. The Australians picked up the wicket of Maninder Singh when the scores were tied in the fourth innings
17) Allan Border played his final Test against South Africa and became a selector afterwards. In his honour, players are now awarded the Allan Border medal for being the best.