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The original prize of the FIFA World Cup, the Jules Rimet Trophy, was stolen from Brazil's Rio de Janeiro on the evening of 19-20 December 1983 and has not been recovered since. Interestingly, the trophy had been stolen earlier as well, before the start of the 1966 World Cup in England but was discovered seven days later by a dog.

Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting's nickname 'Punter' was given to him by spin legend and his teammate Shane Warne, while Ponting was a part of the Australian Cricket Academy. Ponting’s liking for dog races and betting on them prompted Warne to give him the nickname 'Punter.' Post his retirement, Ponting has been associated with Greyhound Racing Victoria in Melbourne.

Former Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar became the first and only cricketer to score 50 centuries in Test cricket, on 19th December 2010. He scored 111* in the first Test of a three-match series against South Africa to record the 50th of his career-total of 51 Test centuries. He retired in 2013 with a record 100 international centuries.

A Test is considered drawn, and not tied if the batting team has wickets remaining when the time expires, even if the scores are level. A Test can be termed tied only if the chasing side gets all-out with the scores level. The Bulawayo Test between England and Zimbabwe was declared drawn with the scores level, on December 22, 1996.

Indian wicketkeeper MS Dhoni was run out on a duck on his One-Day International debut for India while facing Bangladesh on December 23, 2004. The former captain, who is 102 runs short of becoming the fourth Indian cricketer to reach 10,000 runs in ODI cricket, has played in 312 ODIs and 90 Tests for India.

English umpire David Shepherd would hop and skip on the cricket field every time the scoreboard read 111, 222, 333 and so on. Such a score, called a Nelson in cricket, is considered unlucky and it is believed that having no part of the body in contact with ground brings better luck. Shepherd was born on December 27, 1940.

Former captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who led India to 27 victories in 60 Test matches, is the most successful Indian Test captain. Dhoni is followed by former captain Sourav Ganguly, who led India to 21 Test wins in 49 matches. The 36-year-old, who retired from Tests on December 30, 2014, played 90 Tests, scoring 4,876 runs and effecting 294 dismissals.

Kapil Dev played 66 consecutive Tests before missing the only Test of his 16-year career that started on December 31, 1984, at Eden Gardens in Kolkata against England. Dev was reportedly dropped because of his dismissal in the last match. However, Dev was selected again in the next match and went on to play 65 more consecutive Tests before retiring.

Former Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne was smashed for 150 runs by the Indian batsmen in his debut Test, which started on January 2, 1992, in Sydney. Ravi Shastri, who slammed 206 runs off 477 balls, was Warne's only dismissal in the match. Warne went on to take 708 wickets in Test cricket, the highest by any Australian bowler.

International cricket's first ever hat-trick was taken on January 2, 1879, by an Australian pacer named Fred Spofforth. Spofforth, whose nickname was "The Demon", claimed three English wickets in the third-ever international Test. The second wicket Spofforth took was of a player who was facing his first ever ball in international cricket.

German Formula One legend Michael Schumacher, who won record seven championships, obtained his kart license from Luxembourg aged 12. The minimum age for karting license in Germany was 14, while the limit in Luxembourg was 12. Schumacher won the German Junior Kart Championship aged 13 in 1982 and gained his German license the following year.

Cricket legend Don Bradman reversed the Australian batting order to protect batsmen from 'wet' wicket in the second innings of the third Ashes Test in 1937. The innings was opened by Australia's tail-enders while Bradman came to bat at number seven on January 4, and scored 270(375). Bradman's knock was later named by Wisden as the greatest in Test cricket.

England captain Mike Denness left himself out of the team for an Ashes Test that started on January 4, 1975, after scoring 65 runs in previous six innings. John Edrich replaced Denness as captain and broke his ribs after getting hit by the first ball he faced in the second innings. Australia went on to win by 171 runs.

The first-ever One Day International was an impromptu one, played between England and Australia in Melbourne on January 5, 1971. The 40-overs-per-side (eight balls per over) match was played on what would have been the fifth day of the washed-out third Ashes Test. It was played to appease the crowd and recover financial losses for the Don Bradman-led Australian board.

Mohammad Mansur Ali Khan of Pataudi, who was born on January 5, 1941, permanently damaged his right eye in a car accident almost six months before making his debut for India against England. Pataudi, who had a nickname of 'Tiger', is a first cousin of Shaharyar Khan, former chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board and former Foreign Secretary of Pakistan.

Former Windies' captain Brian Lara named his first daughter as Sydney after the city where he went on to convert his maiden Test ton into a double hundred on January 5, 1993. Lara, who began the day four of the Test against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground at 121*, scored 277 in the innings, helping Windies draw the Test.

India's World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev, who is celebrating his 59th birthday today, is the only player in Test cricket's history to complete 5,000 runs along with 400 wickets. Dev, who was the first Indian to take 400 Test wickets, reached the milestone against Australia in 1992 and completed 5,000 runs during the Chennai Test.

After Australia and Windies declined to visit Sri Lanka for their 1996 World Cup league matches citing security reasons, India and Pakistan fielded a combined team for an unofficial match against the Lankan team in Colombo on February 13, 1996. The team, called Wills' India and Pakistan XI, included Sachin Tendulkar, Wasim Akram, and was led by Mohammad Azharuddin.