Nilesh Kulkarni joins elite band

MUMBAI'S left-armer and Dombivli-born Nilesh Kulkarni joined a select band of bowlers who have taken a wicket off their very first ball in ...

MUMBAI’S left-armer and Dombivli-born Nilesh Kulkarni joined a select band of bowlers who have taken a wicket off their very first ball in Test cricket. This unique feat has been achieved on only 12 occasions in 120 years of Test cricket Kulkarni is the first Indian and the second Asian to achieve this. Interestingly, the closest an Indian has come to achieving this feat was another Mumbaiite off-spinner Manohar Hardikar who against West Indies claimed the wicket of Rohan Kanhai off his third ball in Test cricket. The other Indians to capture a wicket in their first over of their Test career include WV Raman (4th ball, 1987-88); SA Banerjee, (5th ball 1948-49); Chetan Sharma (5th ball, 1984-85); VV Kumar (6th ball, 1960-61) and Saurav Ganguly (sixth ball, 1996). The full list is as follows:

Bowlers Victims For Oppo Venue Season

A Conningham AC McLaren Aus Eng Melbourne 1894-95

WM Bradley F Laver Eng Aus Manchester 1899

EG Arnold VT Trumper Eng Aus Sydney 1903-04

GG Macaulay GAL Hearne Eng SA Cape Town 1922-23

MW Tate MJ Suskind Eng SA Birmingham 1924

M Henderson EG Dawson NZ Eng Christchurch 1929-3

0HD Smith E Paynter NZ Eng Christchurch 1932-33

TF Johnson WW Keaton WI Eng The Oval 1939

R Howorth DV Dyer Eng SA The Oval 1947

Intikhab Alam CC McDonald Pak Aus Karachi 1959-60

RK Illingworth PV Simmons Eng WI Nottingham 1991

NM Kulkarni MS Atapattu Ind SL Colombo (RP) 1997-98

Mohammed Azharuddin became the second highest scorer of hundreds for India in Tests by raising his 18th century against of his career against the Sri Lankans on Sunday. Only Sunil Gavaskar with a record of 34 hundreds have scored more for India. The top-scorers of Test hundreds for India are: SM Gavaskar 34 hundreds in 125 Tests, M Azharuddin 18 in 84, Dilip Vengsarkar 17 in 116, GR Viswanath 14 in 91, SR Tendulkar 12 in 54, PR Umrigar 12 in 59, M Amarnath 11 in 69 and RJ Shastri 11 in 80.

* The 221-run partnership between Tendulkar and Azharuddin for the fourth wicket just failed by two runs to surpass India’s all-time partnership of 222 runs for the fourth wicket between the two Vijays — Hazare and Manjrekar against England at Leeds in 1952.

* When Sidhu, Tendulkar and Azhar scored hundreds in the same innings it was the eighth occasion when three Indian batsmen scored hundreds in a Test innings. Interestingly, the last occasion when three Indian batsmen scored a hundred in one Test innings was also against Sri Lanka — Gavaskar (176), Azharuddin (199) and Kapil Dev (163) — at Kanpur in 1986-87.