5 unexpected record-holders in cricket which may surprise you
Undoubtedly, like many other sports, cricket is also a game of numbers and records. There are many well-known records that most of us have heard of.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.When stereotypes are broken, the unpredictable nature of the game is summed up; and the result of these performances are that a few records are held by some cricketers with whose names those records would never have been associated.Let’s take a look at 5 of the most surprising cricket record-holders that may surprise you.
#1 Shahid Afridi - Longest ODI career without lasting 100 balls in a match
Can you ever imagine that a player who has played almost 400 ODIs for a team as an all-rounder and scored six centuries and 39 half-centuries has never faced 100 balls in his entire career in an innings?
The maximum balls he had ever faced in an innings was 94, and in that innings he had scored 109 runs against India in Toronto on September 19, 1998. Notwithstanding, Shahid Afridi has scored 8064 runs and taken 395 wickets for Pakistan.
Here is a table that shows the top records created and held by Shahid Afridi in ODIs in his entire career.
| No. | Details of records of ‘Boom Boom’ Afridi |
| 1 | 3rd fastest century in history of ODI cricket: 37 balls against Sri Lanka |
| 2 | Most sixes in ODIs: 351 sixes in 398 matches |
| 3 | Most MoM awards grabbed by any Pakistani Player: 32 times |
| 4 | Highest strike rate in ODIs (Min.100 matches played) : 117.00 |
| 5 | Most wickets in a single World Cup as a captain: 22 wickets in 2011 World Cup |
| 6 | Only player in history to take 350 wickets and score 8000 runs |
| 7 | Only player who had taken five wickets and scored 50 runs in match three times |
| 8 | Longest six hit by any player in history of ODI cricket : 158 meters against South Africa on March 17, 2013 |