The Biggest Family in the World

The man with 39 wives, 94 children and 33 grandchildren. Ziona Chana lives with all of them in a 100-room mansion His wives take it in turns to share his bed. It takes 30 whole chickens just to make dinner.

He is head of the world's biggest family - and says he is 'blessed' to have his 39 wives.

Ziona Chana also has 94 children, 14-daughters-in-law and 33 grandchildren.

They live in a 100-room, four storey house set amidst the hills of Baktwang village in the Indian state of Mizoram, where the wives sleep in giant communal dormitories.

The full Monty: The Ziona family in its entirety with all 181 members

You treat this place like a hotel: With 100 rooms the Ziona mansion is the biggest concrete structure in the hilly village of Baktawng 


Mr Chana told the Sun: 'Today I feel like God's special child. He's given me so many people to look after. 'I consider myself a lucky man to be the husband of 39 women and head of the world's largest family.'


The family is organised with almost military discipline, with the oldest wife Zathiangi organising her fellow partners to perform household chores such as cleaning, washing and preparing meals.


One evening meal can see them pluck 30 chickens, peel 132lb of potatoes and boil up to 220lb of rice.

Coincidentally, Mr Chana is also head of a sect that allows members to take as many wives as he wants.

Feeling peckish? The senior ladies of the Chana family show what it takes just to make a meal

The wives and I: Mr Ziona Chana poses with his 39 wives at their home in Baktawang, Mizoram, India 


He even married ten women in one year, when he was at his most prolific, and enjoys his own double bed while his wives have to make do with communal dormitories. He keeps the youngest women near to his bedroom with the older members of the family sleeping further away - and there is a rotation system for who visits Mr Chana's bedroom.


Rinkmini, one of Mr Chana's wives who is 35 years old, said: 'We stay around him as he is the most important person in the house. He is the most handsome person in the village. She says Mr Chana noticed her on a morning walk in the village 18 years ago and wrote her a letter asking for her hand in marriage.

Shared bedroom: A look inside the four-storey mansion, Chhuanthar Run - The House of the New Generation 

Another of his wives, Huntharnghanki, said the entire family gets along well.The family system is reportedly based on 'mutual love and respect.' And Mr Chana, whose religious sect has 40,000 members, says he has not stopped looking for new wives. 


'To expand my sect, I am willing to go even to the U.S. To marry,' he said. One of his sons insisted that Mr Chana, whose grandfather also had many wives, marries the poor women from the village so he can look after them.

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World Cup Cricket formats from 1975 to 2011

2011 World Cup will have new exciting features like UDRS and Super over’s in its folds. This is the latest in a series of changes to formats over the years.Did you know the first 3 World Cup events were played with 60-over innings? Did you know that World Cup was played with red balls till 1987? 

Did you know 30-yard circle was first introduced in the 1983 World Cup?There are so many changes that have taken place over the years as cricket’s premier event kept marching ahead. Find out in this page everything about each World Cup in snippets. 

1975 World Cup

No. of teams: 8

Winner: West Indies

Tournament duration: 15 days

Format: Two groups and top two in semi finals

Clothing: White clothing and red balls

Overs per inning: 60

Field restrictions: No

Biggest change in format: NA

Highest score: 334/4 by England against India in Group A

Lowest team score: 86 by Sri Lanka against West Indies in Group B

Unforgettable moment: Dennis Amiss making the first ever World Cup century when he scored 137 off just 147 balls. Another unforgettable moment was Sunil Gavaskar scoring 36 off 174 balls while batting out the 60 overs 

1979 World Cup

Winner: West Indies

No. of teams: 8

Tournament duration: 15 days

Format: Two groups and top two in semi finals

Clothing: White clothing and red balls

Overs per inning: 60

Field restrictions: No

Biggest change in format: No change

Highest score: 286/9 by West Indies against England in the final

Lowest team score: 45 by Canada against England in Group A

Unforgettable moment: A great knock of 138 by Vivian Richards in the final at Lord's 

1983 World Cup

Winner: India

No. of teams: 8

Tournament duration: 17 days

Format: Two groups and top two in semi finals

Clothing: White clothing and red balls

Overs per inning: 60

Field restrictions: 30-yard circle introduced in cricket for the first time. Minimum of 4 fielders inside it throughout the innings

Biggest change in format: Introduction of 30-yard circle

Highest score: 338/5 by Pakistan against Sri Lanka in Group A

Lowest team score: 136 by Sri Lanka against England in Group A

Unforgettable moment: India beating the tournament favourite West Indies in a dramatic final at Lord's 

1987 World Cup

Winner: Australia

No. of teams: 8

Tournament duration: 31 days

Format: Two groups and top two in semi finals

Clothing: White clothing and red balls

Overs per inning: 50

Field restrictions: Yes. 30-yard circle

Biggest change in format: Reduction in number of overs from 60 to 50 plus introduction of neutral umpire concept

Highest score: 360/4 by West Indies against Sri Lanka in Group B

Lowest team score: 135 by Zimbabwe against India in Group A

Unforgettable moment: First hat-trick in World Cup history. The honours went to Chetan Sharma of India who removed Kiwi batsmen Ken Rutherford, Ian Smith and Chatfield in successive balls 

1992 World Cup

Winner: Pakistan

No. of teams: 9

Tournament duration: 32 days

Format: Round robin. All teams played each other once 

and top four went through to the semi finals

Clothing: Coloured clothing and white balls

Overs per inning: 50

Field restrictions: Only 2 fielders allowed outside 30-yard

circle in the first 15 overs

Biggest change in format: Day-night matches. 

Coloured clothing and white balls

Highest score: 313/7 by Sri Lanka against Zimbabwe

Lowest team score: 74 by Pakistan against England

Unforgettable moment: South Africa rejoining mainstream cricket 

after the end of apartheid 

1996 World Cup

Winner: Sri Lanka

No. of teams: 12

Tournament duration: 33 days

Format: Two groups and top four in each group through to quarterfinals

Clothing: Coloured clothing

Overs per inning: 50

Field restrictions: 30-yard circle in the first 15 overs. 

Only 2 fielders allowed outside of it

Biggest change in format: Quarterfinal stage introduced for the first time

Highest score: 398/5 by Sri Lanka against Kenya in Group A

Lowest team score: 93 by West Indies against Kenya in Group A

Unforgettable moment: Sri Lanka scoring over 100 runs in the first 15 overs in 3 matches enroute to winning their first World Cup plus Aravinda de Silva's back-to-back Man-of-the-match awards in the semi final and final. Add to this Kenya shocking West Indies at Poona after bundling out the Caribbean giants for the tournament's lowest total 

1999 World Cup

Winner: Australia

No. of teams: 12

Tournament duration: 38 days

Format: 2 groups and top 3 from each group progressed to Super Six. the top 4 from Super Six made it to semi finals

Clothing: Coloured clothing

Overs per inning: 50

Field restrictions: 30-yard circle

Biggest single change in format: Introduction of Super Six

Highest score: 373/6 by India against Sri Lanka in Group A

Lowest team score: 68 by Scotland against West Indies in Group B

Unforgettable moment: Tied semi final match between Australia and South Africa, which allowed the Aussies to go through on better net run rate 

2003 World Cup

Winner: Australia

No. of teams: 14

Tournament duration: 43 days

Format: 2 groups and top 3 from each group progressed to Super Six. the top 4 from Super Six made it to semi finals

Clothing: coloured clothing

Overs per inning: 50

Field restrictions: 30-yard circle for the first 15 overs

Biggest single change in format: Nothing notable

Highest score: 359/2 by Australia against India in the final

Lowest team score: 36 by Canada against Sri Lanka in Pool B

Unforgettable moment: First time cricket world cup event went to the African continent. Ricky Ponting's phenomenal 146 off just 121 balls in the final 

2007 World Cup

Winner: Australia

No. of teams: 16

Tournament duration: 47 days

Format: 4 groups of 4 teams each. Top two from each group progress to super 8. The top 4 in Super eight progressed to semi finals

Clothing: coloured clothing

Overs per inning: 50

Field restrictions: Powerplay introduced for the

first time in World Cup cricket

Biggest change in format: Introduction of Super 8 and powerplay

Highest score: 377/6 by Australia against South Africa in Group A

Lowest team score: 77 by Ireland against Sri Lanka in Super Eight stage

Unforgettable moment: Bangladesh knocking India out in first round and Ireland knocking Pakistan out in the first round. Plus Gilchrist's unbelievable 149 off just 104 balls simply stands out as the greatest World Cup final inning by an individual 

2011 World Cup

No. of teams: 14

Tournament duration: 41 days

Format: 2 Groups with 7 teams in each group. The top 4 in each group go through to the quarterfinals

Clothing: Coloured

Overs per inning: 50

Field restrictions: Powerplay

Biggest change in format: Super Eight removed. UDRS and Super Over introduced 

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