Yuvraj leading Dada and other twists

Yuvraj leading Ganguly, his first international skipper on Tuesday, only underlines that the willow game is never short of quirks and twists. Here are some more examples:

Opening with Vinoobhai

Former India batsman Madhav Apte's college coach was Vinoo Mankad, who picked him for his batting instead of his leg spin skills. A few years later, Apte had the pleasure of opening the innings for India with his coach at the Brabourne Stadium against Pakistan in 1952.

I was your last captain, big brother!

Greg Chappell played under his elder brother Ian in Shield cricket and for Australia, but ended up being Ian's last Test captain in 1979-80. Ian first played Test cricket under Greg during the 1975-76 Australia vs West Indies series, which the Aussies won 5-1.

Sunny caught & bowled Shastri 188

Ravi Shastri made his first-class debut for Mumbai in the Sunil Gavaskar era, ditto his Test debut in New Zealand during the 1980-81 series when the little master led India. Since Gavaskar and Shastri played for Mumbai, they did not play against each other in domestic cricket. However, they clashed in the Marylebone Cricket Club vs Rest of the World XI. Shastri was part of the MCC squad led by Mike Gatting while Gavaskar played for the Rest captained by Allan Border. The Mumbai batting genius' only three-figure innings at Lord's ended like this, Gavaskar caught and bowled Shastri 188.

Hero in my wallet

Milind Rege was such a great Dilip Sardesai fan that he carried a photograph of the great batsman in his wallet since he was 11. All-rounder Rege went on to play alongside Sardesai in the star-studded Mumbai team. However, they were in rival teams in Rege's maiden first-class game - the 1966 Moin-ud-Dowla quarter-final in which Sardesai scored 195 for Dungarpur XI while Rege (who went to captain Mumbai in 1977-78) represented Vazir Sultan Colts in Hyderabad. Rege remembers that game very well, but his bigger "high" came when Sardesai made him his room partner when they played for Mumbai. "I used to watch a lot of Sardesai when he used to play for ACC, a team my brother used to represent too. I just adored Sardesai's batting," said Rege.

In the Waugh zone

Australian twins Steve and Mark Waugh spent their entire childhood playing together. While Steve made his Test debut against India in 1985-86, Mark (nicknamed Junior) got his Test call-up in the Adelaide Test of the 1990-91 Ashes series.

The Waughs played their first Test together in Trinidad on Australia's 1990-91 tour to the Caribbean. Mark scored 64 while Steve scored 26 on his Test comeback.

In his book Out of My Comfort Zone, Steve wrote:  "Becoming the first twins to play a Test together was a proud moment for Mark and me, though we both just wanted to get on with the game and bypass the sideshow that developed once the new line-up was announced. No doubt Mum and Dad back home were excited, doubly nervous and extremely proud at seeing their boys making it together."

Interestingly, Mark, who made his debut five years after Steve, played last for Australia in 2002 whereas Steve wore the baggy green for the last time in 2004, against Sourav Ganguly's India at the Sydney Cricket Ground.