On this day is the birthday of Australian cricket legend Adam Gilchrist, whose style of batting was ahead of the time. Gilchrist was among the first few batters who showed how to rotate run rate swiftly, maintaining the copybook techniques.

When Ian Healy retired, many might have thought that the Australian cricket team had to play with a weak point. But Gilchrist, a keeper-batter, proved everyone wrong and became one of the key parts of Steve Waugh's revolutionary Aussie eleven.

The New South Wales-born player played 96 Tests with the baggy green camp to score a total of 5570 runs at an average of 47.60. In the Whites, the attacking top-order batter recorded 26 half centuries and 17 centuries. During the thrilling encounter against South Africa in 2001-02, Gilchrist smashed 204 not out off only 213 balls in Johannesburg. Due to his fearless batting approach, he achieved the record holder for the fourth fastest Test century and was the first player to hit 100 Test sixes.

Read More: Four Indian cricketers including Prithvi Shaw CSK can target during IPL 2026 auction

Batting stats of Adam Gilchrist

One of his memorable batting performances was against India in Mumbai. With the help of Gilchrist's quick-fire 122-run innings, Australia easily outplayed the home team. During the innings, the batter completed the hundred only against 84 deliveries. After retiring from Test cricket during the 2007-08 season, Gilchrist joined the Indian Premier League club Deccan Chargers and guided them to glory in 2009. In the One Day International format, he played 287 matches and scored 9619 runs at an average of 35.89. In this format, he smashed 55 fifties and 16 hundreds, including the highest score of 172.

Gilchrist participated in few T20Is as well. In 13 Twenty20 games, the southpaw gathered 272 runs at an batting average of 22.66. 

On this day (November 13, 2014), Rohit Sharma encrypted history by smashing 264 runs against Sri Lanka at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata. It was the fourth ODI of the series and a stage for Rohit Sharma to come back after sustaining a finger injury. After the injury layoff, Sharma himself was gasping for some extra oxygen to breathe. How could he mark the comeback? That was the question.

The way he replied was mind-blowing. His innings could have ended only for 4 but carried a long, long way because of a routine drop catch by Thisara Perera at the third man region. As the innings progressed, the young opener, Rohit Sharma, pushed the paddles hard to increase the striking rate. He scored 264 runs in just 173 deliveries. The innings was laced with 33 boundaries and 9 over boundaries, with a strike rate of 152.60.

During this innings, he touched the first 100-run mark at a run a ball, but the remaining 164 needed just 73 deliveries. With the record-breaking knock, India, as a team, posted 404 runs in exchange for 5 wickets, batting first. In reply, Sri Lanka was able to gather only 251 runs; India won the contest by a big margin of 153 runs. With the double hundred, Rohit became the first to score two double centuries in the format. His third double century came in 2017. 

Read More: After Rajat Patidar another RCB star injured ahead of IPL 2026

Record-breaking 264-run knock by Rohit Sharma vs Sri Lanka

"I have been working on it. To bat as long as possible. Finally I managed that. That run-out of Virat was my mistake. Things like that happened, but no hard feelings there. It was a crucial partnership we were building, and to lose him then was quite frustrating," Sharma said after the match. 

"But I kept telling myself to keep on going. It's going to be difficult to pick out one shot that stands out. I really cannot pick out one. I will try my best to get to 300, but as of now I will take 264. A lot of memories at Eden Gardens that will remain close to me. This one was really special."

November 5, 1988, is a memorable date for millions of cricket fans, as it is the birthday of Virat Kohli, a legend of Indian cricket and a legend of modern-day cricket across the globe. He is now 37, still fit and fine, and arguably the fittest cricketer at this age.

Not only for batting, cricket history will remember the Delhi-born for his winning mentality and dedication to the game. Throughout his career across the formats, Kohli has left his mark on a permanent basis. He is one of the former India skippers who might not have won the World Cup as a leader but dared to dream of multiple generations becoming champions.

Kohli defined modern cricket with his skillful batting and aggression on the pitch. Unlike relying on some of the crazy shots of modern cricket, the right-handed batter still can score runs at a quick pace with a straight bat. In T20Is, he played 125 matches for Team India to score 4188 runs at an average of 48.69. In tests, the batting maestro featured in 123 matches, accumulating 9230 runs in total at a batting average of 46.85. His batting stats are more eye-catching in the One Day International format, where his batting average is 57.71 after playing 305 games.

Read More: Rishabh Pant likely to be selected for IND vs SA ODI squad replacing Shreyas Iyer: Report

After winning the T20I World Cup, he took retirement from the format and, only a few days ahead of the Anderson-Tendulkar trophy, also retired from Test, which makes him available only for the 50-over format. His fans and cricket experts strongly believe that Virat still has the hunger to win the ODI World Cup. So far, 2025 has been a memorable season for the batter, who earned the nickname 'chase master.' Kohli started off the season by winning the Champions Trophy, and then, for the first time in the history of the Indian Premier League, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) lifted the trophy with the help of Virat Kohli. 

Virat Kohli's major international trophies with Team India: 

• ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup: 2008
• ICC Cricket World Cup: 2011
• ICC Champions Trophy: 2013, 2025
• ICC Test Mace: Won under his captaincy from 2016 to 2020
• ICC T20 World Cup: 2024

Chris Gayle, known as the 'Universal Boss,' on this day created a record that is still untouched. During an Indian Premier League match, the batter touched the landmark. Five years ago on October 30, the big man from Jamaica hit his 1000th T20 six of his career, which, to date, remains untouched. 

It was a match between Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium. PBKS went to bat first and registered 185 runs in 20 overs in exchange for only 4 wickets. Gayle, as expected, showed his muscle power in the match. He scored 99 runs against 63 balls, missing a century by only one run. In this match, he came to bat as a number three batter. In his 99-run innings, the batter smashed six boundaries and eight over-boundaries. 

One of those sixes was the 1000th maximum of his career. Against a delivery from Kartik Tyagi, the batsman hit the record-making over boundary. But sadly, Gayle's effort went in vain as PBKS lost the match against Rajasthan Royals. RR won the match with ease, by 7 wickets and 15 balls to spare. 

Read More:  Rishabh Pant spotted wearing new jersey number as India A captain during the 1st Test against South Africa A

Chris Gayle is the only batter to hit 1000 T20 six

As of now, Gayle is the only player in the T20 format to hit 1,000 sixes. Gayle, in total, hoisted 1,056 sixes throughout his T20 career. His countryman Kieron Pollard is second on this list with 966 sixes. If we talk about Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, then these two icons are also well behind in the list. Rohit has played 463 T20 matches so far, hitting 547 sixes. Virat Kohli has hit 435 sixes in 414 T20 matches.

Chris Gayle, now 46 and retired, played a total of 103 Tests, 301 ODIs, and 79 T20Is in his international career. He has 7,214 runs in Tests, 10,480 in ODIs, and 1,899 in T20Is. 

On September 26, 2017, a specific news story caught every cricket fan's eye: Ben Stokes was arrested. Ben Stokes was arrested after getting into an altercation with two men outside a nightclub in Bristol.

He had to spend a night behind bars for this incident. Soon, police released him from prison without any charge. Stokes was then the vice captain of the England cricket team. On that night, another England cricket star, Alex Hales, was also with them on the spot. The England and Wales Cricket Board took the matter seriously and suspended both of the cricketers for one match.

England was then engaged in a limited-over series with the West Indies; Stokes was in good form, but that incident caused him to be suspended for a match. Both Stokes and Hales were punished by the cricket board for the off-the-field incident.

Read More: [WATCH]: 'Sahibzada Farhan Ke Liye...'- Irfan Pathan's prediction proved right during PAK vs BAN Asia Cup 2025 Super 4 match

Ben Stokes had to spend a night in prison 

Later, police confirmed the incident and their actions against a 26-year-old man for suspicious activity. The altercation was perhaps wild; Stokes reportedly injured his hand, and another man was taken to hospital with facial injuries. According to laws there, these types of incidents could result in a maximum of 5 years in prison. It was fortunate for Stokes that he did not have to face the situation. Hales later reached out to the police to help in their investigation. 

Disclosing the series of incidents, ECB in their statement said, "Ben Stokes and Alex Hales will not be available for tomorrow's one-day international match against West Indies at The Oval. Stokes was arrested in the early hours of Monday morning, 25 September, following an incident in Bristol. He was held overnight and released under investigation—without charge—late on Monday and will not join the team in London. Hales, who was with Stokes on Sunday night, did not train this morning and has returned voluntarily to Bristol today to help police with their inquiries."

Two years back, on September 25, 2023, the India women's team was crowned as the champion of the Asian Games Women's Cricket Competition. In a low-scoring final match, Sri Lanka got to score only 97 for 8 in their chase, thanks to 18-year-old Titas Sadhu, who took 3 for 6 in her 4-over spell, including a maiden over.

The match was held at Hangzhou, China, and was expected to be a high-scoring match, but it turned out to be a low-scoring encounter between two Asian cricket powerhouses. Ahead of the match, India was the favorite to win, and they did it. The girls in blue glorified Indian cricket again. Before the second innings, it was Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues who put on a respectable fight against the Sri Lankan bowlers.

Apart from Smriti's 46-run and Jemimah's 42-run knocks, no other India batter was able to collect two-digit scores, which was disappointing, with 6 batters restricted to one-digit scores. India Women, in 20 overs, scored 116 runs for 7 wickets. Because of a low target, Sri Lanka perhaps went into the crease in the second innings with overconfidence.

Read More: IPL 2026: After Vaibhav Suryavanshi, these 2 U19 prodigy look promising enough to play IPL

Titas Sadhu became the wrecker-in-chief for India in the final

From the third over of the second innings, the island nation team started to lose their wickets at regular intervals. Sadhu took the openers and number three batter of the Sri Lanka women's team to dismantle their batting unit. With Rajeshwari Gayakwad, who got two scalps, and support from other bowlers, India was able to defend the subpar target—a brilliant piece of teamwork. The Sri Lanka women's team in 20 overs got only 97 runs and allowed India to clinch the title.

After the heartbreak at the Commonwealth Games and the T20 World Cup semi-final defeat, the Indian women's cricket team had finally won a major competition, which allowed some fresh air into the camp.

September 24, 2007, an unforgettable date for Indian cricket. On this day, India won their first major ICC title in the form of the ICC T20I World Cup after the 1983 World Cup triumph. It was more than just a final for Team India; it was a dream for crores of Indian cricket fans.

In the final in Johannesburg, India met their archrival, Pakistan. The match went into the final over after a rollercoaster ride. MS Dhoni, then the captain of Team India, made an unthinkable decision to protect their first innings 157 runs. Misbah-ul-Haq took Pakistan close to the target and needed only a few runs in the final over to claim the trophy.

Harbhajan Singh proved expensive in the final, especially after Misbah's three sixes against him. Before the decisive over of the match, Dhoni had already utilized the 4-over limits of RP Singh, Irfan Pathan, and S Sreesanth, which left Singh and a young Joginder Sharma available for the 20th over. Yusuf Pathan was there, but he was not a full-time bowler. Either Dhoni had to go with Harbhajan or with Sharma. He chose Sharma.

Read More: Former RCB player appointed India captain for Hong Kong Sixes 2025

India won the 2007 World Cup 

The emerging pacer had very little experience in international cricket; on the other side, experienced Misbah-ul-Haq was on the flow. On the third ball of the over, when the batter was on individual 43, he made a mistake, which let Pakistan down and let India, winner of the ICC T20I World Cup 2007, win. Pakistan needed 6 runs in 3 balls, so Misbah decided to scoop the ball to find the boundary rope. He was successfully able to connect with the ball but did not get the distance. Sreesanth was there in the right position, near the boundary line, at the deep fine leg region.

Under immense pressure, Sreesanth was not able to properly hold the ball, but he did not drop it and completed the catch process to win the prestigious trophy. India won the ICC T20I World Cup by only 5 runs. 

September 21, 1979- birthday of Jamaican giant Chris Gayle, who is considered one of the first few global superstars of the Twenty20 format. During the later part of his career, when he had already cemented his legacy, he earned the nickname 'Universal Boss.'

In his prime, he mastered the art of exploiting the bowlers with the help of his immense muscle power. To date, some of his records still remain untouched. In the opening game of the inaugural World T20 in Johannesburg, the tall left-handed batter scored 175 runs in 66 balls, which is still the highest individual score in the format and one of the fastest T20 hundreds.

He scored massive runs in all of the formats for the West Indies. The 333-run knock in Tests, against Sri Lanka in Galle on November 15, 2010, was a testimonial of his batting. Chris Gayle scored two triple-centuries in Test cricket, with scores of 317 against South Africa in 2005 and 333 against Sri Lanka in 2010.

Read More: [WATCH] Mooney’s storming 138 ends in shock run-out as Australia set record target

An iconic batter who redefined the art of hard hitting 

In the One Day International format, Gayle smashed a double ton as well. On February 24, 2015, against Zimbabwe at the ICC Cricket World Cup, the opener finished his 215-run off 147-ball innings against Zimbabwe. He achieved the ton in just 138 deliveries; at that time, that was considered the fastest knock in a Cricket World Cup. 

More than for his time with the West Indies cricket team, Gayle became a household name for his batting for various franchise teams across the globe. Throughout his professional cricket career, he played in 9 different T20 franchise leagues, including the Indian Premier League. He played over 140 matches in IPL, the most in his career for a league. After playing 142 IPL matches, he maintained a strike rate close to 150, which was further evidence of his hitting abilities, while for the West Indies, in T20Is, he played only 79 matches at an average strike rate of 137.50. 

September 20, 1998- birthday of Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan, who made his international debut for his nation at the age of only 17 and became one of the most prolific spinners in international cricket.

Now, he is 26, captain of Afghanistan, and is considered the legend of Afghanistan cricket. He is one of the first few Afghan cricketers who gained the superstar status. He is someone who can produce a huge amount of spin; his ability to generate pace on the air often proved enough to trouble the batters, accompanied by his venomous googly.

Rashid was just 17 when he made his ODI debut on Afghanistan's tour of Zimbabwe in October 2015. Three years later, in 2018, he became the youngest cricketer to top the ODI bowling rankings, the youngest man to captain an international side, and the fastest to 100 ODI wickets. Afghanistan quickly climbed up the international cricket rankings and became a Test-playing nation.

Read More: Devdutt Padikkal scores 150 runs during IND A vs AUS A 1st unofficial Test in Lucknow

In every format, Rashid Khan left his mark

During their first Test victory against Afghanistan, Khan took five second-innings wickets. When they defeated Bangladesh in a Test match, Rashid again played a pivotal role behind the infamous win. He scored a fifty and took a total of 11 wickets to secure the win. As of now, in 6 tests, the ace spinner has 45 wickets in his bag. In One Day International cricket, the spinner claimed 199 scalps in 114 wickets at an economy rate of 4.24.

And in T20 Internationals, the star Afghan cricketer took 173 wickets in 103 matches at an amazing economy rate of 6.12. Because of his exceptional skills, Rashid became a top pick for multiple franchises of various T20 leagues. So far, he has taken part in 12 different T20 leagues across the globe, including the Indian Premier League. 

September 19, 1977, is the birthday of Aakash Chopra, who started his career as a top-order batter and turned into a commentator, cricket expert, and writer. Because of the amazing batting displays in domestic cricket, the Team India selectors did not hesitate to call up Chopra to make an opening pair with Virender Sehwag.

Sehwag was known for his swashbuckling batting, and on the other side, Chopra was a cool, calm batter focused on copybook cricket. The team management had high hopes for the opening pair. Chopra started his international career with a forty-plus-run innings against New Zealand during a home Test series in 2003. In the next match against New Zealand, he scored half centuries in both of the innings.

He was dropped from Team India for maintaining repeated low scores against Australia in a home Test series in 2004. In total, Aakash played 10 tests and scored 437 runs at an average of 23.00. On four occasions, he missed half centuries only by a few runs.

Read More: BCCI top officials to meet at HM Amit Shah's residence to elect next president: Report

Chopra revived his career in a new dimension 

The batter tried his luck in the Indian Premier League as well for the Kolkata Knight Riders but never gained the momentum a batter needs to sustain in the fast-paced league. A batter, who was once considered the next big thing, quickly went behind the curtains. His career after his professional cricket career is more impressive.

He is now working as a cricket commentator, has his own YouTube channel where he is used to analyzing various topics of cricket, and also is an eminent writer. In 162 first-class matches, he bagged 10839 runs at an average of 45.35. During this time, he accumulated 53 half centuries and 29 centuries as well.