CricTrivia

When Murali bowled to Tendulkar in Ahmedabad, it was apparently only the third time that the highest wicket-taker in Tests had bowled to the leading run-scorer. Who was involved in the other two instances?

The previous occasion was during the third Test between Australia and West Indies in Adelaide in November 2004, when the then leading bowler, Shane Warne, bowled to Brian Lara, who had surpassed Allan Border as Test cricket's top run-scorer during his innings of 226 there. The only other time it happened was back in 1886-87, in the first Test in Sydney, when Arthur Shrewsbury of England faced up to the Aussie "Demon", Fred Spofforth. Going into that match Shrewsbury had 903 runs and Spofforth 94 wickets.

Both wicketkeepers scored centuries in the Ahmedabad Test. Has this ever happened before?

Rather surprisingly, there is only one previous instance of both wicketkeepers scoring a century in the same Test. It happened in St John's in May 2002, when Ridley Jacobs made 118 for West Indies, and Ajay Ratra scored 115 not out (his only Test century) for India.

Recently India completed their 100th Test win. Which player has appeared in most of these wins?

Sachin Tendulkar has appeared in 53 of India's Test victories, while Anil Kumble played in 43. Rahul Dravid has taken part in 46 Test victories so far. VVS Laxman 38 times, Sourav Ganguly was on the winning side 37 times, . Of players whose careers ended before 2000, Kapil Dev led the way with 24 wins, one more than Sunil Gavaskar.

Sachin Tendulkar reached the milestone of 30,000 runs in international cricket in the Ahmedabad Test. Has anyone else made 25,000?

Sachin Tendulkar did indeed pass the milestone of 30,000 runs in all international cricket (Tests, ODIs and Twenty20 internationals) during the Ahmedabad Test last week. No one else has yet passed 25,000: Ricky Ponting is next with 24,057. Brian Lara, Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis, Sanath Jayasuriya and Inzamam-ul-Haq have also all passed 20,000 international runs all told.

Ricky Ponting just won his 91st Test. Has anyone finished on the winning side more often?

Actually there's one person ahead of Ricky Ponting, who did indeed finish on the winning side for the 91st time in a Test against West Indies at Brisbane last week: his old team-mate Shane Warne won 92 Tests. Ponting might well overtake him during the current Australian season. Not surprisingly, perhaps, this particular list is dominated by recent Australians: Steve Waugh finished on the winning side 86 times, Glenn McGrath 84, Adam Gilchrist 73 (out of 96 Tests played), Mark Waugh 72, Matthew Hayden 71 and Justin Langer 70. Next comes the first non-Aussie: South Africa's Mark Boucher, with 65 wins, one ahead of his long-time team-mate Jacques Kallis.