India is a nation that automatically springs to mind when you mention cricket. While the national team has seen great success in Test and One Day Internationals. India has also become the adoptive home of the T20 format. The success of the IPL is phenomenal and has served to strengthen the country’s love for the sport.
Those in India have always been supportive of their teams and there is more than just a little wagered on the outcomes of matches. What’s made this really exciting is cricket live odds giving the ability to place in-play bets. This is something that has certainly proven to be popular.
Looking at the history of Indian cricket could lead to us going back over centuries. With the sport being popular since the 1700s, there is almost a limitless number of facts that we could recall. However, we’ve chosen to focus on the modern history of the spot. We hope that you’ll find these facts as fascinating as we do.
Third umpire
In football, the introduction of an additional referee is still something that is relatively new. Football is adjusting to the fact that the on-pitch ref can now call up and ask an assistant to watch an incident in slow motion on a screen. This can lead to the referee changing his mind when it comes to important decisions. This is nothing new in cricket.
The use of a third umpire, assisted by technology, was underway as far back as 1992. It was Indian player, Sachin Tendulkar, who made history as being the first batsman to ever be declared out in this way. It took several replays of the footage before a decision was made, but ultimately Tendulkar was given his marching orders.
Rahul Dravid – a cricketing legend
Any fan of Indian cricket will know the name Rahul Dravid. For around 15 years, David was a central part of the Indian national team. In that time he racked up an impressive 10,000 runs in both One Day Internationals and Test cricket. This saw him having the second biggest run total, only being outdone by Sachin Tendulkar. What many people don’t realise about Dravid though is that he also played for Scotland.
It was back in 2003 that Dravid offered his services to the Scottish national team. He represented the country for 11 matches and racked up an impressive 600 runs while doing so.
Virat Kohli – questionable deliveries
Okay, so this Indian great is much better known for his batting than his bowling prowess. However, it was his bowling that has led to him going down in history. In 2011 he became the only bowler in history to take his first T20 wicket without bowling a legal delivery.
Kohli was brought on to bowl doing the 8th over and was facing Kevin Pietersen. The first bowl of his t20 career was judged to have gone wide, but Pietersen seemed to lose his balance while attempting to connect with the ball. This saw MS Dhoni knock off the bails and Kohli making history.