Like all the years, 2021 was also a year full of records in all the departments of the game. Cricket fans enjoyed many records which we will cover in this article.
Test records
In batting, three Indians made in the top 5 highest run scorers in test in 2021. Cheteshwar Pujara scored 702 runs in the test and he is the 5th highest run-scorer in the test in 2021. Rishabh Pant is the 4th highest run-scorer in the test in 2021. Karunaratne of Sri Lanka enjoyed a great year as he smashed the highest score in the test in 2021 and 3rd highest run-scorer in the test.
He scored 4 centuries and 3 half-centuries this year. His 244 runs innings is the highest individual best score this year. Rohit Sharma was the highest scorer for India this year. He has 906 runs this year with 2 centuries and 4 half-centuries. The highest scorer of 2021 in the test is none other than England’s captain Joe Root who enjoyed a great test year. He scored a total of 1708 runs in the test with 6 centuries and 4 half-centuries.
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In bowling, it was all England’s Pakistan’s and India’s year. As in the top 5 highest wicket-taker list, there are two English players, 2 Pakistani players, and one Indian who is also at the number one position. It is Oli Robinson who was the 5th highest wicket-taker in 2021 with 37 test wickets this year.
England’s legendary pacer Jimmy Anderson is the 4th highest wicket-taker this year with 39 test wickets. 3rd highest test wicket-taker is Hasan Ali of Pakistan with 41 test wickets. Shaheen Afridi of Pakistan is the 2nd highest wicket-taker in the test this year with 47 wickets and what a great year it was for Pakistan’s Speedster. At No.1 we have none other than Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin with 54 test wickets this year. Ashwin is no doubt the best spinner in current world cricket.
ODI records
In batting, major countries’ players are not on this list as they played very little ODI cricket this year. 2021 was all about the test and T20 format. So, in top 5 highest run-scorers in ODIs are from Bangladesh, South Africa, and Ireland. Ireland played a fantastic ODI cricket this year. 5th 4th and top run-scorer are from Ireland. It was Balbirinie with 421 runs, Tector with 454 runs, and Stirling with 705 runs respectively for Ireland. Tamim Iqbal of Bangladesh is 3rd highest scorer in ODI with 464 runs. At 2nd it is Janneman Malan with 509 runs in ODI.
In bowling, 5th highest wicket-taker in ODIs is Shakib Al Hasan with 17 wickets, 4th highest wicket-taker is Mustafizur of Bangladesh with 18 wickets in ODI this year, at 3rd is Lamichhane of Nepal with 18 wickets this year, 2nd highest wicket-taker in ODIs in 2021 is Simi Singh of Ireland and top scorer of 2021 in ODIs is Chameera of Sri Lanka with 20 wickets.
T20 records
In batting, 2021 was a great year for many batsmen in T20 format but it benefited the two Pakistani openers the most. Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam are the two highest scorers of 2021 in T20. Rizwan even broke the record of highest runs in a single year in T20I. Rizwan is the top scorer of the format with 1326 runs with one century and 12 half-centuries. Babar following Rizwan is the 2nd highest run-scorer of 2021 in this format with 939 runs with 1 century and 9 half-centuries. At 3rd we have Martin Guptill of New Zealand with 678 runs, at 4th we have Mitchell Marsh of Australia with 627 runs and the 5th highest top scorer of this format in 2021 is Jos Buttler of England with 589 runs.
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In bowling, Hasaranga of Sri Lanka and Tabraiz Shamsi of South Africa are the joint highest wicket-taker in the T20 format in 2021. They both took 36 wickets in 2021 in T20Is. 2nd highest wicket-taker of this format this year is Nakrani of Uganda with 35 wickets and at 3rd and 4th we have mustafizur Rahman of Bangladesh with 28 T20I wickets and Ish Sodhi of New Zealand with 27 T20I wickets this year.
