November 20 – The firsts in International cricket on this day

On 20th November 2009, Sachin Tendulkar reached a new milestone in his career during the Test match against Sri Lanka in Ahmedabad. The legendary player completed 30,000 runs across the formats in International cricket during his 43rd Test century and 88th hundred across formats. Batting in the 2nd innings of the game, Sachin completed the milestone when he reached his individual score of 35 and become the first player to complete 30,000 International runs and also the only one to date.

India were bowled out for 426 in their first innings after electing to bat first in the game. A brilliant 275 from Mahela Jayawardene helped Sri Lanka post 760/7 and take a lead of 334 runs. Tendulkar walked out to bat when India were 209/3 in the 2nd essay and needed to survive another 80 overs to draw the game. He rescued the Indian team with an unbeaten 137-run stand along with VVS Laxman for the 5th wicket.

With a single off Chanaka Welegedara towards deep square leg, Sachin attained the milestone. The game ended in a draw after Tendulkar brought up his century. Earlier in October 2002, he had become the first to reach 20,000 runs in International cricket during a Test match against West Indies in Chennai. The first player to complete 10,000 International runs was also an Indian, Sunil Gavaskar in August 1985.

1955 – India’s first double centurion in Test cricket:

Nearly 22 years after the first Indian player scored a Test hundred, India had their first double centurion in 1955 on November 20th. Polly Umrigar, who walked out to bat after India lost their first wicket for one run, scored 228 at the L.B Stadium in Hyderabad. Umrigar struck 26 fours during his knock, which lasted 503 minutes.

He was unbeaten on 112 on the first day and added 116 more runs on the 2nd day to complete his double ton. India declared their innings on 498/4 and bundled the Kiwis for 326. The visiting side avoided a defeat as they made 212/2 in the follow-on innings before the game came to a conclusion. India had to wait 49 more years before they had the first ever triple centurion, Virender Sehwag.

1987 – First ever obstructing the field dismissal in ODI cricket:

Rameez Raja fell one run short of an ODI century in 1987 in one of the most uncharacteristic ways as the Pakistani was declared out obstructing the field in an ODI against England in Karachi. In a 44 overs game, England posted 263/6 with help of 134-ball 142-run knock from Graham Gooch. In reply, Pakistan kept losing wickets at regular intervals with Rameez anchoring the innings at the other end.

The opener was batting on 98 when the final ball of their innings was about to be bowled and a victory was far from their reach as they needed 25 more runs. Rameez Raja struck the ball and set on to complete the second run which would’ve been the hundredth of his innings. However, he was found guilty of obstructing the field while attempting to complete his century. Thus, he became the first player to be given ‘obstructing the field’ in ODI cricket and the 2nd in Internationals after Len Hutton in a Test in 1951.

Till date, eight players been given out obstructing the field with six of them in ODIs. The latest of the eight players was Jason Roy in a T20I earlier this year who also become the first player to be dismissed in obstructing the field in the T20I format.