Does Kyle Mayers hold the record for the most T20I deliveries bowled without taking a wicket?

Which player has won the IPL the most times? asked Udyan Raj Sharma from India
Two men have been on the winning side in the IPL final on six occasions. Rohit Sharma has had five wins with Mumbai Indians, but also won with Deccan Chargers in 2009. And Ambati Rayudu won three finals with CSK and three more with Mumbai Indians.

MS Dhoni has been on the winning side in five finals, all with CSK, while Kieron Pollard won five with Mumbai Indians. Hardik Pandya has won four with MI, and another with Gujarat Titans in 2022. Jasprit Bumrah and Aditya Tare were also in five winning MI squads, but Bumrah did not play in the 2013 final, and Tare did not appear in 2019 or 2020. Dhoni has appeared in a record 11 finals, while Rayudu, Ravindra Jadeja and Suresh Raina played in eight.

CSK and Mumbai have both won the title five times. Kolkata Knight Riders' recent win was their third. No one else has won it more than once - Deccan Chargers, Gujarat Titans, Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad have won one apiece.

I noticed that Kumar Sangakkara and Brendon McCullum scored Test triple-centuries less than a fortnight apart in February 2014. Are there any other years with two triple-centuries, or even three? asked Douglas Freeman from England
Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara completed his triple-century against Bangladesh in Chattogram on February 5, 2014, and 13 days later Brendon McCullum was out for 302 against India in Wellington.

February 2014 is the only month that has contained two Test triple-centuries. There are five other calendar years with two, but none with three. The first two 300s were both scored little more than two months apart in 1930, by Andy Sandham of England (325 against West Indies in Kingston in early April) and Australia's Don Bradman (334 against England at Headingley in July). There were also two in 1958, 2004, 2012 and 2016. For the chronological list of Test triple-centuries, click here. It's rather surprising to discover that more than half of them - 16 of 31 - have come in the current century.

Has there ever been a Test in which a batter scored two centuries but his side lost? asked Nirmal Mendis from Sri Lanka
There have now been 94 instances of a man scoring two centuries in the same Test. Of those, 44 instances contributed to victories, and 39 to draws. That leaves 11 Tests that were lost despite someone making two hundreds. Arguably the most notable performance in a defeat was by Brian Lara, who made 221 and 130 for West Indies against Sri Lanka in Colombo in November 2001. Just over two months earlier, Zimbabwe's Andy Flower had scored 142 and 199 not out against South Africa in Harare, but his side still lost by nine wickets. The most recent instance was by another Zimbabwean, Brendan Taylor, who made 110 and 106 not out against Bangladesh in Mirpur in 2018-19.

I spotted that Kyle Mayers has bowled 96 balls in T20Is without taking a wicket. Is this a record? asked Zubin Deyal from the West Indies
You're right that West Indies' Kyle Mayers has so far bowled 96 balls in T20Is without taking a wicket. Going in to the T20 World Cup, he was level at the top of this particular list with Luxembourg's Shameek Vats, who's also sent down 16 wicketless overs so far.

Next as I write is Roger Mukasa of Uganda, with 66 balls and no wickets: he'll be hoping to remove his name from this list (rather than rise higher in it) as his country look for an upset in their first World Cup. In women's T20Is, Rhyda Ofori of Ghana has so far bowled 108 balls without reward, and May San of Myanmar 96.

They are all a long way behind the leader in Tests, the Lancashire left-armer Len Hopwood, whose two matches in the 1934 Ashes series produced 432 balls - 76 overs - but no wickets. In ODIs, Athula "Big Sam" Samarasekera of Sri Lanka sent down 338 wicketless deliveries, 110 more than anyone else.

I was intrigued by the mention in last week's column of someone scoring eight runs off one ball in a Test. How did this happen? asked Jamie Parkinson from England
The one talked about last week was scored by India's Vijay Hazare, early in his innings of 155 against England in Bombay (later Mumbai) in 1951-52. Hazare off-drove Brian Statham, whose new-ball partner Fred Ridgway chased the ball close to the boundary. A contemporary report explained: "The batsmen ran four before Statham collected Ridgway's throw-in. In his attempt to run out [Pankaj] Roy, Statham threw at the wicket but missed the stumps and the ball went to the boundary."

There are only four other known instances of eight runs coming from one ball in a Test. The first was by England's Patsy Hendren during his 95 against Australia in Melbourne in 1928-29 (the bowler was left-armer Percy Hornibrook), another case of an all-run four plus four overthrows.

It happened again in Melbourne in 1980, and I actually witnessed that one: New Zealand's John Wright nudged a ball from Len Pascoe towards one of the MCG's long boundaries, and ran four. Australia's wicketkeeper Rod Marsh collected the throw in the middle of the pitch, shied at the stumps and missed, and the ball shot away for four overthrows.

Most recently, in Brisbane in 2008, Australia's Andrew Symonds collected an eight off the New Zealand seamer Iain O'Brien. This was another case of an all-run four plus four overthrows.

There was another instance of eight runs from one delivery during a Test between West Indies and South Africa in Port-of-Spain in 2005. Brian Lara ran three off slow left-armer Nicky Boje, before a wayward return hit a parked helmet, incurring a five-run penalty which was added to the extras. A few years previously, before a change in the Laws, the runs would have been credited to Lara, who would thus have finished with 201 in this innings rather than his eventual 196.