This day in history: 17th September

Birthday of India off-spinner R Ashwin who truns 27 today

Cricket

1986 - Birthday of Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin. He first made his mark in the IPL, and then eventually replaced Harbhajan Singh in the from the national. On his Test debut against West Indies he took nine wickets, the second-best figures by an Indian debutant after Narendra Hirwani. By the time he finished the three-Test series, he had 22 wickets, a Test century. His career best bowling figures of 7 for 103 came against Australia earlier this year at his home ground Chennai.

1996 -  Mohammad Azharuddin scored his 6000th run in ODI cricket in a Sahara Cup match in Toronto against Pakistan. Pakistan, though, won by two wickets to level the series.

Tennis

1934 – Birthday of  Tennis player Maureen Connolly, United States. In 1953 she became first woman  to win all four Grand Slam tournaments during the same calendar year.

1985 - Birthday of Tomas Berdych, Czech Republic Tennis player. His most notable achievement was reaching the final of the 2010 Wimbledon Championships, causing consecutive upsets by defeating top seed and six-time champion Roger Federer in the quarterfinals, and World No. 3 Novak Djokovic in the semifinals. In the final, he lost to Rafael Nadal in straight sets. Berdych turned pro in 2002.

Golf

1949 – 8th Ryder Cup: US beats Europe, 7-5 at Ganton Golf Club, England

1959 – 59th US Golf Amateur Championship won by Jack Nicklaus.

Baseball

1953 - Ernie Banks became the first black baseball player to wear a Chicago Cubs uniform. He retired in 1971 known as ‘Mr. Cub’.

1983 - Carl Yastrzemski of the Boston Red Sox broke Hank Aaron’s major league record for games played when he started his 3,299th game.

Do check out the rest of the ‘This day in history‘ series.