5 most unexpected record holders in cricket
Cricket is a sport where numbers play a very important role. The nature of the game is such that it is capable of generating numerous records. In every series, every match that is played, either new records are set or the existing ones are broken. This is what fuels the interest of fans in the game.It is also often said that “Cricket is a game of glorious uncertainties”. One cannot really predict the outcome of a game until the last ball has been bowled. Often we get to see quite a few unpredictable performances that really bring a whole new level of excitement to the game This further stimulates the interest of fans in the game.When these unpredictable performances amalgamate with the numbers that are such an integral part of cricket, we get a few unexpected record holders. Let’s take a look at 5 of the most unexpected record holders in cricket:
#1 Misbah-ul-Haq - Fastest century in Test cricket (56 balls)
This record perfectly epitomises the enigma that is Pakistan cricket. A batsman who has often been branded as ‘Tuk Tuk’ scored the fastest hundred (including the fastest Test fifty) against one of the best team sin the world and levelled the record for the fastest Test hundred set by the original Master Blaster Sir Viv Richards. What is even more surprising is that Misbah who has a strike rate of 73.71 in ODIs and a not so high strike-rate of 110.21 in T20Is (relatively less given it’s the T20 age) had a strike rate of 177.19 in this Test innings.
He surely had the perfect platform to launch an attack of this kind. The Aussies were on the ropes having conceded a lead of 309 runs in the first innings. He also did not face Mitch Johnson during the course of his innings. One, however needs to give him credit for the way he just tore into the Aussie bowlers from the word-go. His swashbuckling century was studded with 11 fours and 5 sixes, 3 of which came off one over from Steve Smith and came off 56 balls, thereby making him joint fastest Test centurion with Sir Viv Richards.
Not only did his innings propel Pakistan to a big total, it also gave the Pakistani bowlers a lot of time to have a crack at the Kangaroos. In the end, Pakistan crushed the Aussies by a whopping margin of 356 runs and wrapped up the series 2-0.