5 Unique records held by Indians in List A cricket

India is easily the 2nd most successful team when it comes to ODI format given their achievements in major ICC tournaments. One of the reasons for their dominance at this level has been individuals who have grown up as superstars with various records in this format.

Some of those have extended their impact in the List A format as well holding few rare records. Some lesser-known players from India have few unique records to their name in this format as on today.

Here are the five unique records which are held by the cricketers from India in List A cricket:

5. Most centuries and double centuries

Sachin Tendulkar holds majority of batting records in ODI format and the same has been reflected in his List A career. His career ended about 213 runs short of being the leading run-getter in List A cricket but has scored most centuries in this format. Sachin’s 49 ODI tons are enough to top the list as Virat Kohli’s 47 hundreds stand at 2nd place.

Overall, Tendulkar smashed as many as 60 centuries in his 551-match List A career where he aggregated 21999 runs and also scored 114 fifties. On the other hand, Rohit Sharma stands as the only player with multiple double hundreds in the ODI format. He has a total of three such tons including a World record 264.

Rohit’s three 200s are also the most by any player in List A cricket. Alistair Brown of England is the only player to have scored more than one double century in the List A format. Brown still holds the record for highest individual List A score of 268 which was one shot away from breaking for Rohit during his career-best of 264.

4. Best bowling figures

India fall way behind when it comes to best bowling figures in ODI cricket as no player has picked up more than six wickets in a match. However, the same isn’t seen across all List A matches as the best bowling figures of this format is held by an Indian. Shahbaz Nadeem created the record during the Vijay Hazare Trophy 2018-19 while representing Jharkhand. Playing against Rajasthan, Nadeem ran through the opposition’s batting in the match hosted by Murugappa ground in Chennai.

Shahbaz Nadeem was introduced as 2nd change bowler and Rajasthan went down to 66/8 from being 32/0 in the 10th over. The left-arm spinner claimed all those eight wickets and finished with figures of 10-4-10-8. Rajasthan eventually bowled out for 73 and Jharkhand chased it down in 14.3 overs for the loss of three wickets. Nadeem broke the record held by Rahul Sanghvi with the figures of 8/15 who is also an Indian cricketer.

Sanghvi created the feat during the Ranji Trophy One-Day 1997-98 while playing for Delhi. During the game hosted by Una, Rahul didn’t let the Himachal Pradesh breathe with his left-arm spin bowling. Chasing 174 to win, the Himachal team were 42/1 before Sanghvi’s magic began. He picked up eight of the next nine wickets to fall while the other one was a runout dismissal. Himachal were bowled out for only 83 as Rahul recorded the figures of 9.5-2-15-8.

3. Most stumpings in a match

MS Dhoni is the first name remembered when it comes to stumpings as he holds the record for affecting the most number of stumpings in International cricket. Dhoni stands as the only keeper with 100+ stumpings in the ODI format. The Jharkhand keeper’s 141 stumpings in all List A cricket are also the highest in this format. In fact, the record for most stumpings in a List A match is also held by a wicketkeeper from India – Ajay Mannu who once affected six dismissals in the same match.

The former keeper from Himachal Pradesh created the record during the 2009/10 Vijay Hazare Trophy game against Punjab. During the game hosted by Sirsa, Punjab lost as many as 8 wickets out of which two were runouts. All the six wickets picked up by the bowlers were stumped dismissals. Five of those wickets were picked by left-arm spinners Kuldeep Dewan (3) and Mukesh Sharma (2) while one more stumping came in the bowling of Neeraj Chauhan.

It was the 50th match in List A cricket for Ajay which turned out to be his last as well. He stood as a wicketkeeper in 15 List A matches before the record-breaking game and affected only 8 stumpings. Ajay Mannu, till date, stands as one of the two wicketkeepers with six dismissals in an innings in professional cricket. Henry Yarnold of Worcestershire affected six stumpings during Scotland’s 2nd innings during a first-class match hosted by Dundee in 1951.

2. Part of two triple century stands

1999 was a good year for Rahul Dravid in the ODI format where he scored a tons of runs and a record number of centuries. He amassed 461 runs across 8 matches in the World Cup hosted by the UK while no other player scored even 400 runs. Dravid aggregated a total of 1761 runs in ODIs during that year which were only behind Sourav Ganguly’s 1767 runs. However, Dravid led the list of players with most ODI centuries in 1999 list as he struck as many as six hundreds; two more than any other player.

Dravid smashed his top four highest scores in ODI format in 1999 only. He scored an unbeaten 123 against New Zealand in January and a 116 against Sri Lanka in Nagpur later in March. During a crucial match in the World Cup, Dravid joined hands with Sourav Ganguly with the then ODI record 318-run stand for the 2nd wicket. While Ganguly scored 183, Rahul ended up with 145 which came off only 129 balls. The record was broken later in November that year when India faced New Zealand at home.

Sachin Tendulkar smashed then Indian record of 186* while batting alongside Dravid who scored a run-a-ball 153. The duo added 331 runs in a record-breaking 2nd wicket partnership which stood as format record until 2015 and as the highest in all List A cricket until 2014. Rahul Dravid, till date, stands as the only player to be part of two triple century partnerships not only in the ODI format by also in all List A cricket.

1. Handling the ball and obstructing the field

Dismissals through handling the ball, obstructing the field and hitting the ball twice are quite rare in any format. The same reflects into List A cricket where there have been only two dismissals of hitting the ball twice and seven via handling the ball. The obstructing the field mode is unique but has been recorded 32 times in this format. However, only one player in List A cricket has got out more than once through these rare dismissal modes – India’s Mohinder Amarnath.

Amarnath was well known for his unusual dismissals as he got out hit wicket on three occasions in Test cricket. He is one of the two players with three or more hit wicket dismissals in Tests with Dennis Compton (5) being the other. Mohinder Amarnath became the first player to be dismissed handling the ball in the ODI format during the B&H World Series final against Australia. Amarnath played on a delivery from Greg Matthews that rolled towards his leg stump which he distracted with his hand.

Mohinder knew his mistake and walked off as soon as Australian fielders appealed. Four years later, Amarnath got out in a weird fashion which happen only once before. During the 1989 Nehru Cup game against Sri Lanka, Amarnath shared a 61-run partnership with Navjot Singh Sidhu after couple of early wickets. He was then dismissed obstructing the field when he kicked the ball away from the bowler trying to escape from being runout.