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It consists of three punishing events, a 3.9-km swim, a 180-km bicycle ride and a full marathon (42.1 km). Organized by the World Triathlon Corporation, the Ironman must be completed in 17 hours. The event begins at 7 a.m. The swim must be completed in 2 hours and 20 minutes; the bike ride by 5:30 p.m.; and the marathon by midnight. This includes the transition time, during which swimmers have to change into biking gear and then again for the marathon. The top men usually take eight hours while women complete it in nine.

The triathlon began in 1978 when a group of California athletes had an argument over whether running or swimming was more physically demanding. A member of the group called John Collins was inspired to start the first endurance triathlon in Hawaii around the island of Oahu. It combined what had been three separate events – a 2.4-km Waikiki Roughwater Swim, a 180-km Round Oahu Bike Course and the 42.1-km Honolulu Marathon.

There are Ironman races held in every continent except Antarctica, including the Ironman 70.3 which is exactly half the distance of the full Ironman. The most challenging is the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii, for which athletes have to qualify by competing in 28 Ironman races held in other parts of the world. The Kona biking track is grueling as it traverses lava fields that are lashed by fierce winds.

 

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On August 15, 2020, Mahendra Singh Dhoni announced his retirement with a short video and a message that read “Thanks a lot for your love and support throughout from 1929 hrs consider me as Retired”.

It was some time in the making, considering that the last international game that Dhoni played for India came over 13 months before he eventually announced his retirement. But like we’ve come to expect from him, the way he went about making the information public was typical Dhoni. No farewell match, no in-stadium speeches…

Having already retired from Test cricket in 2014, Dhoni’s announcement implies that this marks the end of his limited-overs international career as well.

As a wicketkeeper batsman and a captain, Dhoni has done wonders for India. Here, we will take a look at some of the numbers that define his hugely successful international career…

Runs scored between the two run outs

Dhoni’s international career started and ended in the ODI format. His first international game was an ODI against Bangladesh on December 23, 2004. His last international came against New Zealand in what was the 2019 ODI World Cup semi-final that was played across two days – July 9 and 10, 2019. Dhoni was dismissed by a run out on both occasions, scoring zero on debut and 50 in his last game for India. In the 15 years in between, he scored mountains of runs.

In Tests, Dhoni made his debut against Sri Lanka in December 2005 and played his last match against Australia in December 2014. He scored 4876 runs in the 90 matches he played, averaging 38.09 with six hundreds and 33 fifties.

He played 350 matches overall in the ODI format and finished with 10773 runs at an average of 50.57. He also had 10 hundreds and 73 fifties against his name. His T20I debut was against South Africa in December 2006 and his last game in the format was against Australia in February 2019. He managed 1617 runs in the 98 matches he played, averaging 37.6 with a strike rate of 126.13.

Dhoni, the Gloveman

While Dhoni’s captaincy and batting skills are well documented and discussed, his wicket keeping abilities aren’t often mentioned in the same vein. Dhoni finished his career as one of the best wicketkeeper-batsman ever, especially in the limited overs format, and he always prided his skills behind the wickets, innovating always and effecting lightning fast dismissals throughout his career.

Dhoni’s 444 ODI dismissals is the third-most in the format and his 123 stumpings are the most by any keeper. In T20Is, his 91 dismissals and 34 stumpings are the highest so far.

Captain cool

Dhoni relinquished his captaincy much before his retirement from the limited-overs format, but he leaves behind a rich legacy as one of the most winningest captains, not just for India, but in the cricket world in general. Dhoni is the only captain to win all three limited-overs ICC titles and he also led India to the number one Test ranking. Under his leadership, India won the T20 World Cup in 2007, reached rank one in Tests in 2009, won the ODI World Cup in 2011 and the Champions Trophy in 2013. Dhoni led India in 200 ODIs, 72 T20Is and 60 Tests, giving him a total of 332 – the most as captain for any player in international cricket.

 

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Victory in the 2019/20 season was not only their ninth successive Serie A title, but their 36th title overall in the Italian top-flight. The next best is AC Milan and Inter Milan, both with 18 titles. This was coach Maurizio Sarri’s first Scudetto (name of the Serie A title), who has previously managed other clubs (Empoli and Napoli) in the top-flight of Italian football. Sarri’s smiles, however, were shortlived as he was sacked a week after the season ended when Juve were knocked out of the Champions League.

Numbers that speak for themselves…

3000 – On Thursday, July 23, 2020, Juventus played a Serie A match against Udinese. Even though they lost that match 2-1, it marked the 3000-day milestone with the Serie A winners shield on their chest. The country continues…

300 – On Wednesday, July 15, 2020, Juventus played out a 3-3 Serie A draw against Sassuolo. That marked their celebration of 300 consecutive matches as the champions of Italy.

61 – When Juventus mathematically sealed the title on Sunday, July 26, 2020, with a 2-0 win over Sampdoria, their coach Sarri was 61 years and 198 days old. That makes him the oldest manager ever to win the Serie A.

61 – Ronaldo went past the 50 Serie A goals mark this season, taking 61 games to reach the milestone. That makes him the quickest ever to reach the feat (in terms of appearances), among those who played in the tree points (for a win) era, which is from 1994/95. In the process, he also became the first player ever to score 50 or more goals in the English Premier League, Spanish La Liga and the Italian Serie A.

31 – Ronaldo finished the Serie A season with 31 goals, becoming just the third player in the club’s history to reach 30 goals in the league. Felice Borel (32 in 1933/34) and John Hansen (30 in 1951/52) are the only other players to do it for Juventus.

 

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Golden duck (cricket), players who are dismissed by the first ball they face. The term is a shortening of the term "duck's egg", the latter being used long before Test cricket began. When referring to the Prince of Wales' (the future Edward VII) score of nought on 17 July 1866, a contemporary newspaper wrote that the Prince "retired to the royal pavilion on a 'duck's egg' ". The name is believed to come from the shape of the number "0" being similar to that of a duck's egg, as in the case of the American slang term "goose-egg" popular in baseball and the tennis term "love", derived - according to one theory - from French l'œuf ("the egg"). The Concise Oxford Dictionary still cites "duck's egg" as an alternative version of the term.

In the first Test of Australia's tour of India in 1986, with the cumulative scores tied, Indian tailender Maninder Singh was trapped LBW by Greg Matthews for a four ball duck, ensuring just the second tied Test in Test Cricket history.

Indian all-rounder Ajit Agarkar earned the unfortunate nickname "Bombay Duck" after being dismissed for ducks five consecutive times in test matches against Australia.

In a 1913 match against Glastonbury, Huish and Langport's batsmen all scored ducks for a total of zero runs. A similar occurrence in indoor cricket happened in 2016, when Bapchild Cricket Club were dismissed for zero against Christ Church University.

 

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Devine’s streak of 50-plus scores in T20 internationals:

1. 72 against India at Hamilton on 10 Feb 2019


2. 54 not out against South Africa at Mount Maunganui on 2 Feb 2020


3. 61 against South Africa at Hamiliton on 6 Feb 2020


4. 77 against South Africa at Wellington on 9 Feb 2020


5. 105 against South Africa at Wellington on 10 Feb 2020


6. 75 not out against Sri Lanka at Perth on 22 Feb 2020

Devine’s record of scoring six consecutive fifties thus started and ended against India. In the World Cup group game between the two sides last month, Devine was caught by Radha Yadav off the bowling of Poonam Yadav while her score was 14. India went on to win the match and Devine’s run too ended at six. That’s however, still two better than anyone else in T20 internationals, both men and women.

Mithali Raj’s for-match streak of 50-plus scores in T20 internationals:

1. 62 against Sri Lanka at Bangkok on 1 Dec 2016


2. 73 not out against Pakistan at Bangkok on 4 Dec 2016


3. 54 not out against South Africa at Ptchefstroom on 13 Feb 2018


4. 76 not out against South Africa at East London on 16 Feb 2018

Brendon McCullum’s four-match streak of 50-plus scores in T20 internationals:

1. 59 against West Indies at Hamilton on 28 Dec 2008


2. 61 against Australia at Sydney on 15 Feb 2009


3. 56 not out against India at Christchurch on 25 Feb 2009


4. 69 not out against India at Wellington on 27 Feb 2009

Chris Gayle’s four-match streak of 50-plus scores in T20 internationals:

1. 85 not out against New Zealand at Lauderhill on 30 June 2012


2. 53 against New Zealand at Lauderhill on 1 July 2012


3. 54 against Australia at Colombo on 22 Sep 2012


4. 58 against England at Pallekele on 27 Sep 2012

 

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On February 9, 2020, on day three of the first Test between Pakistan and Bangladesh at Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Naseem Shah took a hat-trick, dismissing Najmul Hossain Shanto, Taijul Islam and Mahmudullah off three consecutive balls.

In the process, Naseem became the youngest player ever to take a Test hat-trick.

When a 19-years-old Alok Kapali became the youngest player to take a Test hat-trick in August 2003, Naseem Shah was a six-month old baby. Kapali, the first Bangladesh player to take a Test hat-trick, achieved the feat against Pakistan at Peshawar, Pakistan, Bangladesh, though, lost that match.

Najmul Hossain Shanto was the first of Naseem’s three wickets in the hat-trick. The ball came back in a long way to hit the left-hander on his pads, but the umpire didn’t budge. Pakistan captain Azhar Ali consulted his bowler signaling for a review. It came in Pakistan’s favour as the ball hit leg stump and Shanto was out.

With few overs remaining in day three of the Test match, Bangladesh sent in Taijul Islam as a night-watchman the ploy, however, didn’t work as Taijul too was lbw, off his very first ball. The ball once again angled in from wide of the crease and hit the left-hander low on his pads. The umpire Nigel Llong had no hesitation in giving this one out.

Taijul Islam had come in to protect Mahmudullah, but his dismissal off the first ball meant Mahmudullah had to come in as the no 6 batsman. The right-hander couldn’t hold back and went for a drive, but the ball moved away just a bit: There was a thick edge, and Haris Sohail did the rest, taking a fine catch at first slip.

Pakistan won the match by an innings and 44 runs. The 16-year-old Naseem Shah, who had one wicket in the first innings and four in the second, was declared player of the match.

 

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Ukrainian pole vaulter Sergey Bubka dominated the scene for 10 years from 1984-1994. He broke the world record in men’s pole vault 35 times during his career, which included 17 times outdoors and 18 times in indoor competitions. He finished with a best of 6.14 m at outdoor competitions in July 1994 and had a best mark of 6.15 m indoors, set in 1993.

Twenty one years after Bubka set his mark for the indoor world record, Frenchman Renaud Lavillenie broke the mark at the same meet in the same arena. Lavillenie, who had won gold at the 2012 London Olympics, set the mark of 6.16 m at Donestsk, Ukraine on February 15, 2014.

Bubka was at the scene when Lavillenie performed his feat, making it even more special. As indoor and outdoor marks are not seen differently based on a ruling in 2000, Lavillenie’s mark became the official world record.

Armand Duplantis, who goes by his nickname Mondo, was born in the U.S., but represents Sweden in comptetitions. Coached by his father Greg, who was a pole vaulter, and mother Helena, a former heptathlete and volleyball player, he won the silver medal at the 2019 World Championships. On February 8, 2020, during a meet at Torun, Poland, Duplantis broke Lavillenie’s world record with a jump of 6.17 m.

In the very next week, on February 15, 2020, Duplantis added another cm to his world record. The 20-year-old jumped 6.18 m at Glasgow, Scotland.

A week later, at the “All Star Perche” competition in Clermont, France, Duplantis got to pick the brains of Lavillenie. Even though he won the competition, he could not raise the world record further, as he failed at his attempts at 6.19 m.

Duplantis’ marks of 6.17 m and 6.18 m are pending official ratification.

 

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Rafael Nadal was the first tennis player to win eight Grand Slam titles at the same tournament. He did it way back in 2013 and his in fact added a ninth, tenth, eleventh and twelfth title at the same tournament since then. No prizes for guessing where the King of Clay has achieved this feat. He has, no doubt, won these at the French Open. In fact, since 2005, he has won the tournament on 12 of the 15 occasions. Nadal has won 19 Grand Slam singles titles so far. Apart from his 12 French Open wins, he has won the Australian Open once, Wimbledon twice and the US Open four times.

Roger Federer became the second person to win eight or more titles at the same Grand Slam tournament. He did this at Wimbledon, winning the title in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 and 2017. As you can see, he had to wait for five years to get his eighth. With 20 Grand Slam titles to his name, Federer has also won six Australian Open titles, one French Open title and five US Open titles to go along with his eight titles in the grass courts of Wimbledon.

Novak Djokovic became the latest entrant to the list of people who have won eight or more titles at the same Grand Slam event. He added his 2020 Australian Open victory to titles won at the year’s opening Grand Slam in 2008, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2019. Almost half of his 17 Grand Slam singles titles won so far has thus come here. The remaining includes one French Open title, five Wimbledon titles and three US Open titles.

 

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In the fifth and final T20I between New Zealand and India that was played at Mount Maunganui, New Zealand on February 2, 2020, India won by 7 runs to complete a 5-0 series sweep.

The match saw Jasprit Bumrah bowl a wicket maiden, thereby becoming the bowler with the most number of maiden overs in T20 internationals history. The match also witnessed Shivam Dube concedes 34 runs in a single over, the second-most ever in T20I history.

Bowling the second over of the New Zealand innings, Jasprit Bumrah started off with a wicket maiden.

His first two balls to Martin Guptill were dot balls and Guptill was out LBW off the third ball. Tim Seifert, who came in as the one-down batsman, didn’t score a run off the remaining three deliveries in the over.

It was Bumrah’s seventh, maiden over in 50 T20 internationals, helping him break gis tie with Sri Lanka’s Nuwan Kulasekara, who has six maidens.

Bumrah gave away just 12 runs in his four overs in the match, picking up three wickets. He was declared as the player of the match for his efforts.

While Shivam Dube now has the ignominy of having conceded the second-most number of runs in a single over in T20Is, it is an Indian who hit a bowler for the maximum number of runs as well. The credit goes to Yuvraj Singh, who hit Stuart Broad for six sixes off a single over, for a total of 36! Yuvraj’s feat is even more special because he did it in a T20 World Cup game between India and England played at Durban in 2007.

Coming in to bowl the 10th over of the New Zealand innings, Shivam Dube was torn apart as the Kiwi batsmen scored four sixes and two fours in the over. A no ball in the fifth delivery of the over meant that Dube had to bowl an extra ball, rounding out a rather expensive over.

 

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A triple-double in basketball is a performance during which a player accumulates double-digit figures in three of the five statistical categories – points, assists, rebounds, steals and blocked shots – in a game. While most triple-doubles are based on points, assists and rebounds, it isn’t easy to achieve it, irrespective of the categories being considered.

It is therefore no wonder that only two players have produced triple-doubles against every single NBA franchise. And both of them did it this season.

LeBron James became the first player to have triple-doubles against every single franchise in the NBA when he posted a triple-double against Oklahoma City Thunder in November 2019. With four minutes remaining in the game, James made an assist to Anthony Davis and completed his triple-double. James finished with 25 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists in the game as the Los Angeles Lakers won 112-107.

It is no wonder that the triple-double that made Russell Westbrook the second person to have triple-doubles against all NBA teams also came against Oklahoma City Thunder, as he had spent his entire career with them before this season.

Playing now for Houston Rockets, Westbrook completed the set in January 2020, albeit in a losing cause. Westbrook’s 32 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists against Thunder came in a 112-107 loss.

 

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Dinesh Karthik, Wasim Jaffer, Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar were India’s top four when they achieved this rare feat for the first time. Karthik scored his first Test century and finished with 129, Jaffer retired ill at 138, captain Dravid scored 129 as well and Tendulkar was unbeaten on 122.

After a combination of rain and wet grounds had forced the first Test between India and Bangladesh in the two-match series in 2007 to a draw, these hundreds put India on their way to victory in the match and the series.

After declaring their innings at 610 for three, India bundled out Bangladesh for 118 and 253 in their two innings to win the match by an innings and 239 runs.

Pakistan’s feat is unique due to the fact that this is the first time the top four batsmen of a side have scored centuries in the second innings of the same match.

The two-Test series between Pakistan and Sri Lanka in December 2019 marked the return of Test cricket to Pakistan for the first time since 2009. Like in the Bangladesh-India series of 2007, the first Test between Pakistan and Sri Lanka too ended in a draw owing to rains and wet conditions. Pakistan won the second Test and the series on the back of centuries from their top four in the second innings.

After bundling out Pakistan for 191, Sri Lanka took an 80-run first innings lead with a score of 271. But Pakistan’s top four ensured that they scored 555 for three declared in the second innings, paving the way for their 263-run victory as the Lankans were bowled out for 212.

 

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On December 18, 2019, in the second of three ODIs between India and West Indies that was played at Viskhapatnam, India dominated proceedings to win the game by 107 runs.

Kuldeep Yadav’s hat-trick and Rohit Sharma’s 159 were some of the highlights of the match, which saw a number of records take place.

Skippers Virat Kohli and Kieron Pollard got themselves an unwanted record. Kohli was out for a duck off his first ball, caught by Roston Chase off the bowling of Pollard. Pollard too went for a first-ball duck, caught by Rishabh Pant off the bowling of Mohammad Shami. This is the first time ever in ODI cricket when both captains have been dismissed for a golden duck (first-ball zero) in the same match.

In the 33rd over of West Indies’ innings, Kuldeep Yadav took a hat-trick, his second ODIs.

After having opener Shai Hope caught by Virat Kohli for 78 in the fourth ball of the over, he then had Jason Holder stumped off the next ball. He completed his hat-trick by dismissing Alzarri Joseph off the last ball of the over, caught by Kedar Jadhav. Kuldeep became the first Indian to take two ODI hat-tricks and in fact the first Indian to take multiple hat-tricks in international matches. He is the sixth player to have multiple ODI hat-tricks.

While Lasith Malinga has there, Wasim Akram, Saqlain Mushtaq, Chaminda Vaas and Trent Boult have two as well.

Rohit Sharma has made the highest individual score for India in ODIs in each of the last seven calendar years.

Rohit’s 159 was his seventh ODI hundred in 2019. Only four players have ever scored seven or more hundreds in the same calendar year. While Sachin Tendulkar heads the list with nine centuries in 1998, Sourav Ganguly (2000) and David Warner (2016) have also notched up seven centuries in a year.

Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant were part of the most productive over ever in India’s ODI history as they plundered 31 runs in the 47th over the innings, bowled by Roston Chase.

Iyer did the bulk of the damage as he hit 28 runs, while Pant scored a single. There were extras too in the over, to add insult to injury.

 

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From the past to the present, and with an eye on the future, we will try to look at different aspects of various events. We will traverse the highs and lows of sports, connect them, learn from them and understand them better.

On January 12, 2020, Manchester City defeated Aston Villa 6-1 in a Premier League fixture away at Villa Park. Sergio Aguero had a hat-trick in the game, accounting for three of the six goals City scored.

In the process, Argentine Aguero not only became the top-scoring overseas player in the Premier League, but also became the player with most Premier League hat-tricks, breaking his tie with Alan Shearer.

With goals in the 28th, 57th and 81st minutes in the away game against Aston Villa, Aguero took his tally of Premier League hat-tricks to 12, breaking his tie with Shearer. The first goal put him level with Henry as the overseas player with most Premier League goals and the second goal made the record his own. He has scored three more Premier League goals since his hat-trick, taking his tally to 180 goals so far.

England’s Alan Shearer heads the list of top-scoring Premier League players by some distance. Aguero, the only active Premier League player in the top 10, is currently fourth in the list, 80 goals behind Shearer’s tally of 260.

 

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Chess got itself an element of youth and cool in the last decade, as Norwegian chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen became a grandmaster at the age of 13. In 2010, at the age of 19, he became the youngest person to be ranked number one in the FIDE world rankings. Carlsen was also the youngest to have an Elo rating of over 2,800 and holds the record for achieving the highest ever rating in history – 2,882 in 2014.

By then, Carlsen had already become the World Chess Champion, having defeated India’s Viswanathan Anand in the 2013 World Chess Championship at Chennai. He defended his title, again against Anand, in 2014 and also added the 2014 World Rapid Championship and World Blitz Championship, becoming the first to hold all three titles at the same time.

Since then, Carlsen has defended his classical world title in 2016 (against Sergy Karjakin) and 2018 (Fabiano Caruana) and has also repeated his 2014 feat of holding all three chess titles simultaneously by winning the Rapid and Blitz titles in 2019 again.

 

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Saurabh Chaudhary, Manu Bhaker, Jitu Rai and Apurvi Chandela are some of the name of shooters who have led India to prominence in the last decade. The youngsters have joined with the senior pros to produce consistent results across tournaments. After winning two medals in shooting at the 2012 London Olympics and having come empty handed from Rio in 2016, the current crop of shooters offer us hope ahead of Tokyo 2020.

In terms of hockey, both the men’s and women’s teams are now ranked inside the top 10, but there hasn’t been a lot to boast through the decade. The Indian’s women’s team have managed to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the first time they have managed the feat after 36 years!

There were ups and down for kabaddi in the last 10 years. The birth of the Pro Kabaddi League in 2014 brought with it unprecedented viewership to the game, as it became a staple of the Indian TV viewers. The game’s growing popularity also meant that other countries picked up the sport well, as was evident in the 2018 Asian Games. Iran defeated India in the semi-final and went on to win the title, ending seven-time Asian Games champions India’s stranglehold of the event.

 

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