Rashid Khan and 31st December

1.    Who has most man of the match of the decade in test, ODI and T20I? ----- from @SomeshBijarniy1

Lets consider that this decade is beginning in 2010 and ending in 2019, to settle a debate. In tests it is Steve Smith with 11, in ODIs it is Virat Kohli with 35 and in T20Is as well Virat Kohli leads along with Mohammad Nabi - 12 each. Virat Kohli is the only one in the top-3 of each format, while no one else is in the top-10 in all formats. Undoubtedly the player leading across formats is Virat Kohli (with 56). Rohit Sharma and David Warner won the second most MOTMs this decade - 31 each - but a daylight behind Virat Kohli.

            Table-toppers in man-of-the-match in 2010s

Test	Total	ODI	Total	T20I	Total	All formats	Total
Steve Smith	11	Virat Kohli	35	Virat Kohli	12	Virat Kohli	56
Rangana Herath	10	Martin Guptill	21	Mohammad Nabi	12	Rohit/Warner	31

2.    Since his first test century, how often did Sachin have a lower career average (upto that point, ongoing innings included) than the batsman he was having a partnership with? ------ From @TheRealYVT

Sachin Tendulkar’s first test hundred was in 1990, against at Old Trafford. Yes it is possible, since Sachin Tendulkar’s average then was just 42, and it took time to cross 50. Even possible during his peaks due to some batsmen with a great starts having an abnormally high average at their earlier stage of career. It happened 56 times out of the 855 partnerships where Sachin was involved (8.5% of the time). Mohammad Azharuddin was involved most of the times in such partnerships, due to his high-average in 90s, when Sachin’s average was yet to reach 50. Others who were superior to Sachin in a partnership at any stage were Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag, Vinod Kambli, Suresh Raina, Sanjay Manjrekar, Sanjay Bangar and Pravin Amre.

3.    Who is the fastest to complete 100 sixes in international cricket? From @keypee24

Aaron Finch

4.    How many players came in slog overs (40 or after 40) in ODI and still scored 50 or hundred? From @abhinav_me

Since 2002 (from when ball-by-ball data is fully available), it has happened quite often than you expected. A total of 54 players reached 50 despite coming to bat at the 40^th or a later over. But none of them reached hundred. An interesting leader to who did it the most is Mark Boucher - 4 times, and then more expected Shahid Afridi thrice. MS Dhoni, Shaun Pollock, Abdul Razzaq and Brendon McCullum did it twice. The most recent player to score a fifty when coming at slog overs is Alex Carey with 55*(35) against India during the World Cup. Since MS Dhoni in 2011 against England at Cardiff, no Indian could come and score a fifty at the death, though there are 17 instances from other countries.

5.    Which team has most consecutive victories and most consecutive unbeaten matches in home test matches? From @Pratham2019

One answer is completely what you expect and the other is definitely what you might not. Australia won 12 home matches in a row from 1999-01, and the second placed is also Australia - with 11 consecutive home wins from 2006-08. Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting captained most of the matches in respective streaks. But in most consecutive unbeaten home matches, the leader is Pakistan with 26 back-to-back unbeaten matches from 1980-86, closely followed by Australia’s 25 matches from 2003 to 2008.

Most consecutive home wins

12 - Australia from 1999-01

11 - Australia from 2006-08

10 - India from 1988-94

10 - Australia from 2012-14

10 - England from 2003-05

10 - South Africa from 1998-99

10 - Sri Lanka from 2001-02

Most consecutive unbeaten home matches

26 - Pakistan from 1980-86

25 - Australia from 2003-08

24 - ENG from 1956-61

22 - AUS from 1999-02

21 - AUS from 1989-93

21 - ENG from 1921-30

20 - IND from 1977-80

20 - IND from 2012-17

6.    Which player is involved in most hundred partnerships per innings in tests since the debut of Tendulkar? From @StuffedParatha

Taking a qualification of at least 20 innings. Unlock more Pakistani surprise - Younis Khan tops the chart with a hundred partnership every 3.13 innings. Then comes Navjot Sidhu (3.15), Steve Smith (3.20), Rahul Dravid (3.25) and Ricky Ponting (3.38).

7.    Who scored most test hundreds when none of his other teammates got to 50 in that innings? From @MrStarksPeter

This is the stat indicating who most often comes out the best when there is no one else supporting him at that that time. Here considering only those tests when all the other ten teammates batted in the same innings. Brian Lara did it 8 times, followed by Sachin Tendulkar who did it 6 times. Then comes Virat Kohli, Graham Gooch, Colin Cowdrey, Allan Lamb, Robin Smith, Graeme Wood, Desmond Haynes and John Reid - each of them 4 times. Most recent instance of this is during the final Ashes test at the Oval this year, with Matthew Wade’s 117 in the fourth innings.

8.    How many balls did India’s no.7-11 face in T20Is after 2016 World Cup and in 2019? From @Cricketbaba5

Since 2016 T20 World Cup, India’s no.7-11 batsmen faced only 340 balls in 53 matches - at 6.4 balls faced per match. This ratio is the lowest among all the 72 countries which played T20 cricket. Among other test nations in T20Is since 2016 T20 WC, tail-enders at least faced 9 balls per match. This is completely opposite to Virat Kohli’s statement of dropping Kuldeep Yadav to include a better batsman, as India’s lower order gets least exposure when compared to other countries. In 2019, India’s tail faced 150 balls in 19 matches (7.9 balls per match).

9.    Who has the best average in away test wins (min 10 tests)? From @Vivek7968

Don Bradman played in only 9 tests, so you cannot find him in this list. He averages 96.8 in away wins - however this is short of Steve Smith’s remarkable 108.6. Some of Smith’s mammoth innings in away wins are 215 at Lord’s in 2019, 211 at Manchester and 199 at Kingston. Next four players with highest average in away wins are Wally Hammond (95.6), Younis Khan (94.2), Steve Waugh (84.9) and Sachin Tendulkar (80.8). Among current players, the best averages after Steve Smith belong to Ross Taylor (67.5) and Ajinkya Rahane (53.2). The player with highest average in away tests, irrespective of result, is Don Bradman (102.8), followed by Ken Barrington (69.2) - and among current players, it is Steve Smith (60.2)

10. “The oldest world record to not have been broken is "Most % of runs by a batsman in a completed innings" . By Bannerman in Test #1. Is this true? Also, what is the record in ODIs? From @imdeepanshu_g

Charles Bannerman, the first player to bat in test cricket - scored 165 runs out of Australia’s 245 (67.4% of team total) - and was unfortunately retired-hurt. 142 years, and the record is yet to be broken in men’s tests. In women’s tests, Enid Bakewall scored 68.3% of team’s total once. (112* out of 164 v WI in 1979), thus placing Bannerman second.  In ODIs, Viv Richards holds the record (189* out of team’s 272/9 v ENG in 1984). That knock of 189* stood as an ODI record for most runs in an innings for many years.