Cricket has borne witness to the most surreal of events that can unfold on the face of the planet. Not only do these facts change your perception about someone or the game completely but it also questions your understanding and knowledge of the sport.
This piece is exactly about one such fact that will turn your world upside down and will question your knowledge about the game in the most tormenting way possible.
In a massive epiphany, while rattling through a few numbers, it was found out that Sachin Tendulkar has bowled a higher number of deliveries in ODI than illustrious regular fast bowlers of the game like Dale Steyn, Imran Khan and Shoaib Akhtar.
Sachin is arguably one of the best batsmen cricket has ever seen. However, his bowling skills weren’t something that one would really be proud of. However, it is pretty decent for a batsman who used to chip in with a few valuable overs in the middle, mixing medium pace and off-breaks at a regular interval.
Shrouded in the veil of mediocrity with the ball in the hand, Sachin still managed to bowl 8054 deliveries in One Day cricket, scalping 154 victims with his wizardry, which also boasts of a career-best 5 for 32 against a formidable Australia.
When we juxtapose these figures against the world’s fastest mean machine called Shoaib Akhtar, probably everything remains unfazed. However, the number of deliveries dawns on a sparkling revelation as the Pakistani fast bowler has bowled 7764 deliveries. With 394 ODI wickets, he was one of the best Pakistan ever had.
Dale Steyn was the destructor-in-chief for South Africa. Mainly a threat in the longest format of the game, batsmen were petrified of him in the shorter version of the game too. He bowled a total of 6256 deliveries in his ODI career.
Even the Pakistani captain who won them the World Cup with his all-round performance, Imran Khan had bowled 7461 deliveries in his entire ODI career. With 182 wickets, he was one of Pakistan’s most reliable cricketers at one point in time.
