Cricket in 2019: 10 best records India created this year

2019 has been a mixed one for India who started the year with their maiden Test series victory in Australia and recorded away ODI series victories against Australia and New Zealand. However, ahead of the World Cup, India lost T20I series against New Zealand and against Australia, they lost T20I and ODI series at home. The World Cup was a rather disappointing one as they were knocked out in the semi-final after finishing the league phase as the table-toppers.

The Men in Blue were back to winning ways post the World Cup as they made a successful tour of West Indies. The last three months at home were even better for the Indian team as they saw through Test series wins against South Africa and Bangladesh. They won closely fought T20I series against Bangladesh and West Indies before signing off the year with a 2-1 series victory against the West Indians in the ODI format.

Here we look at the top 10 records created by India in International Cricket in 2019:

1. Hat-tricks galore for India:

2019 has been a year of hat-tricks for India as four different players claimed a hat-trick in International Cricket this year. Mohammed Shami took the first during the World Cup while Jasprit Bumrah took in the Test series in West Indies. Later in November, Deepak Chahar claimed a hat-trick in a T20I game and also registered the best ever T20I figures in Men’s cricket. In the ODI series against West Indies, Kuldeep Yadav took his 2nd ODI hat-trick and became the first-ever Indian with two hat-tricks.

India thus became the first team to have at least one hat-trick in all three formats in the same calendar year. They are also the first side to have four different players taking a hat-trick in International Cricket in the same year while no other team even had three players. In fact, India’s four hat-tricks this year are the most for a team in a calendar year surpassing Pakistan’s three hat-tricks in 1999.

2. A double century in almost every home Test:

As many as four individual double centuries were recorded across five home Test matches played by India this year. Mayank Agarwal, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma scored a double ton in Vizag, Pune and Ranchi respectively during the 3-match Test series against South Africa. Thus, India became the first team to record 200s in each Test of a 3-match series. Mayank hit a double century in India’s following Test against Bangladesh in Indore. Thus, India became the first side to have a double hundred in four consecutive Test matches.

3. Consecutive innings victories:

One of the special things about India’s successful home series in Test cricket was the margins by which they won. They beat South Africa in Pune and Ranchi by innings & 137 runs and innings & 202 runs respectively to complete a whitewash. Later, in the Indore Test, India defeated Bangladesh by innings & 130 runs and secured an innings & 137-run win in Kolkata which was marked to be India’s first-ever day-night Test. With that, India became the first team in the history of Test cricket to win four consecutive Tests by an innings margin.

4. A record in declarations:

India declared seven consecutive innings in Test cricket starting from the 2nd innings of the Kingston Test during the West Indies tour. India batted six times across five Tests they played at home later on. Thus, India became the first side to declare seven consecutive innings in Test cricket. The record was held by England won declared six consecutive innings during the Test series in West Indies in 2009.

5. India’s six-hitting spree against South Africa:

Virat Kohli and Co began their home Test series with some big hitting in the Vizag Test match against South Africa. Rohit Sharma, who was promoted as an opener for the first time in the longer format during this Test played a key role in it. India hit a total of 27 sixes in the game with Rohit alone smashing a record 13 maximums. The 27 sixes by India in that match were the most by any team in a Test.

New Zealand’s 22 sixes against Pakistan in the 2014 Sharjah Test were the previous most. India hit 20 more sixes in the next two Tests and finished the 3-match series with 47 maximums. These are also the most number of sixes by a team in any Test series. They broke the record set by Australia with 40 sixes in the 2013-14 Ashes series at home.

6. India’s record winning streak:

The Men in Blue won each of their last seven Test matches; a streak that began during the 2-match Test series in West Indies. India thus registered their longest winning streak in the Test cricket surpassing their 6-match spree in 2013. India beat Australia by 4-0 and West Indies by 2-0 at home during the streak.

7. Owning the Aussies in their backyard:

India became the first team to win multi-game bilateral series in all three formats against Australia on the Australian soil. India whitewashed the Aussies in a 3-match T20I series during their tour of 2016. During the 2018/19 tour of Australia, the Indian team registered their maiden Test series in Australia as they defeated the hosts by 2-1 margin in the 4-match series. Later, India won the ODI series by 2-1 margin; their maiden bilateral ODI series victory in Australia.

8. An unbeaten tour of Caribbean by India:

India played 8 International games during their tour of West Indies and the USA without losing even one match. This is the 3rd longest all format tour for any team without losing a match. In 2017, India played 9 International matches on their tour of Sri Lanka and won all games. Earlier in 2005, Australia played nine Internationals on their tour of New Zealand including the inaugural T20I match. The Aussies won 8 matches on that tour while another game ended in a draw.

9. India’s biggest chase in T20I cricket:

India chased down a huge target of 208 against West Indies in Hyderabad; the highest T20I chase by India. Their previous highest T20I chase was 207 against Sri Lanka in the 2009 Mohali T20I. The Hyderabad T20I was the 3rd time India recorded a successful chase of 200+ target as they defeated Australia in the 2013 Rajkot T20I while chasing 202. In this process, India became the first team to record three successful 200+ chases. Australia and South Africa have two such successful chases.

10. India’s top three shine in Mumbai:

India’s top three went berserk in the Mumbai T20I against West Indies in the series decider. Rohit Sharma started with 71 off 34 balls while Virat Kohli finished with an unbeaten 29-ball 70. KL Rahul anchored the innings with a 91-run knock. The trio thus recorded the first-ever instance of three 70+ scores in the same innings in the Twenty20 history. The previous highest score achieved by three players in the same T20 innings was 67. Tom Kohler-Cadmore (96*), Adam Lyth (69) and Nicholas Pooran (67) scored 67+ runs for Yorkshire during this year’s T20 Blast match against Leicestershire.

Watch: AB de Villiers’ monstrous six in MSL 2019