Cricket is a game or contest between bat and ball where both batsmen and bowlers want to be one step ahead. But in this competitive game, some exciting coincidences can blow anyone's mind. Like life, Coincidence can happen in cricket as well. So, let's look at Coincidences in Indian Cricket.
1. Sachin & Kohli’s 58th Century
Undoubtedly, Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli are the greatest batsmen the world has ever seen. Both are the undisputed king of their respective generations. But these two greats also share a coincidence about their 58th century. Both Sachin and Virat scored their 58th century against England. Sachin Tendulkar scored 58th century in 2001, whereas Kohli scored the same in 2018. Apart from achieving the 58th century against the same team, both scored 103 runs.
2. Sachin’s Top Three ODI Scores
Sachin Tendulkar is the best batsman in the test and ODI that the world has ever seen. Especially in ODIs, he was the first batsman to score double-century in ODI cricket. We all know that Sachin has played many brilliant white-ball innings. Still, his top three ODI scores came against South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia, where Sachin scored 200, 186, and 175 runs, respectively, but there is something familiar in all these matches. The umpire in all three games was Shavir Tarapore.
3. 183’s Relation To Captaincy
In the ICC World Cup 1999, India played against Kenya in the 21st match. India batted first, and Sourav Ganguly brilliantly scored 183 off 158 balls, but this 183 score has something related to Indian Captaincy. After playing this inning, Sourav Ganguly became the Captain of India the following year. In 2005, MS Dhoni also scored the same 183 runs against Sri Lanka and soon became the full-time Captain of India. The same happened with Virat Kohli as well. In 2012 against Pakistan, Virat scored a match-winning 183 runs, and in 2014, he became the full-time Captain of test cricket.
4. Highest And Lowest Totals Under One Captain
In 2013, Daniel Vettori stepped down from his captaincy of RCB, and Virat Kohli became the new RCB's captaincy. Under his captaincy on 23 April 2013, RCB scored 263 runs, the highest total in IPL history. Similarly, on the same date in 2017, RCB got all out at 49, becoming the lowest total in IPL history. Under Kohli's captaincy, the same happened in test cricket as well. India scored their highest total on 19 December 2016 against England, 759 runs. On the same date in 2020, India got all out 36 runs, which is the lowest total of India in test cricket.
5. MS Dhoni Centuries’ Coincidence
The Coincidence related to MS Dhoni's century is that his maiden ODI and test century came in his 5th match against the same team. Even though MS Dhoni did not get a good start in his debut match, he got run out at duck. But later, in his 5th ODI against Pakistan at Visakhapatnam, MS Dhoni played a sensational inning of 148 runs, which was also his maiden ODI century, and a similar happened in his career's 5th test match against Pakistan. MS Dhoni scored 148 off 153 balls in that test match, his first century in test cricket.
6. A Century On The Same Date
We all know that Virat Kohli is famous for his exceptional batting and is also known as a run machine. In today's era, no batter has scored more centuries than him. In addition to his century, Virat Kohli has one fascinating Coincidence of scoring a century on the same date for three consecutive years. On 15 January 2017 against England, Virat Kohli scored 122 of 105 balls. On the exact date of next year against South Africa, he played an exceptional inning with 153 runs. Then, on 15 January 2019, Virat Kohli scored a match-winning century against Australia.
7. World Cup Coincidences
Dilip Vengsarkar, Srikkanth, and Sandeep Patil are three former right-hand batsmen of India who were also the winning members of the 1983 World Cup. Now, no one can forget that historic win in the 1983 World Cup. But all these three players have also won the World Cup as a selector. In the 2007 T20 World Cup, Dilip Vengsarkar was the Chief Selector; in the 2011 World Cup, Kris Srikkanth was the Chief Selector of the Indian team; and in the 2013 Champions Trophy, Sandeep Patil was the Chief Selector of the Indian team.
8. Dennis Lillee & Ashwin
Dennis Lillee and Ravichandran Ashwin are the two biggest match-winners for their respective countries. But they both share a coincidence of taking 300th test wickets on the same date. So, on 27 November 1981 against Pakistan, Dennis Lilee completed his 300th test wicket, a milestone for every bowler. After 36 years and on the same date, Ravichandran Ashwin, against Sri Lanka, completed his 300th test wicket and became the fastest Indian to achieve this milestone.
9. Dravid & Pujara
Undoubtedly, Rahul Dravid is the technically soundest batsman that India has ever produced. Especially in test cricket, Rahul Dravid was the most trusted batsman for India, and That's why he is also known as "The Wall." After his retirement, India needed help finding a batsman like him. However, after Rahul Dravid, India found Cheteshwar Pujara, who has a batting style similar to Rahul Dravid's. But these two solid batsmen also have something in common: stats. In test cricket, Rahul Dravid completed his 3000 runs in 67 innings, 4000 runs in 84 innings, and 5000 runs in 108 innings, and Cheteshwar Pujara also has the same stats.
10. Same Stadium
In 2017, Sri Lanka toured India, and in the 1st test match, Cheteshwar Pujara entered an exclusive club. In this match, Cheteshwar Pujara batted on all five days of a test. He became the third Indian player who batted every day of a test match. Before him, Ravi Shastri and ML Jaisimha batted all five days of a test match. Even these three Indian batsmen achieved this milestone in the same stadium, Eden Gardens, Kolkata.
