The Common Man Speaks

Why Kaluwitharana’s stint in ’96 World Cup is overrated

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Note: The aim of this article is not to insult or badmouth Romesh Kaluwitharana. This is just an attempt to present some facts and statistics that are generally overlooked when it comes to the 1996 World Cup

The 1996 World Cup turned out to be memorable because an underdog team like Sri Lanka not only emerged victorious but played like true champions throughout. Aravinda De Silva became the hero for them in the final against Sri Lanka at Lahore where he scored an unbeaten 107 and picked up 3 wickets.

But a large amount of credit has been given to Sri Lanka’s openers Sanath Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluwitharana. Both the batters were given the license to go after the bowling right from the word go and score as many runs as possible during the field restrictions (15 overs).

Both were known to revolutionize the role of opening batters. They started opening the batting in the series in Australia just before the 1996 World Cup and it worked during that tour.

Romesh Kaluwitharana
Romesh Kaluwitharana

Till today, Jayasuriya and Kaluwitharana are known as the destructive opening pair of the 96 cup. I have read numerous articles saying the same and heard commentators over the years glorifying both of them as dangerous batters of that series.

However, that is far from true. There is no doubt that Jayasuriya had a great world cup both with the bat and the ball and was rightly adjudged the man of the series. But to say that Kaluwitharana was also a success story in that series doesn’t sound logical.

While this might sound harsh, that isn’t my intention here. Just have a look at his scores in the whole series:

v/s Zimbabwe: 0

v/s India: 26

v/s Kenya: 33

v/s England: 8

v/s India: 0

v/s Australia: 6   

ESPNCricinfo in an article says “he [Kaluwitharana] was an integral figure in Sri Lanka’s astonishing World Cup victory that winter.” But his aforementioned performances tell a completely different story. He played 6 innings in that series and his total number of runs amount to just 73! His average comes down to just 12.16.

When you say that a batter had a good world cup, one would expect at least one score of 50 from him. If not this, there should be at least few scores in the 30s and 40s as that would have helped the team get a good opening partnership. But Kaluwitharana scored in double figures just twice.

He gave a good start to Sri Lanka in just two matches and one of them was against an associate team that was playing international cricket for the first time. On top of that, he had two golden ducks. He failed to score in all the three matches in the knockout stage where his total remained just 14 runs.

How can he be considered a ‘integral figure’ in Sri Lanka’s victory? You can’t be considered an important contributor to the team if you don’t contribute.  

Kaluwitharana’s overall career was surely much better than this. He was a good partner for Jayasuriya before and after the 1996 World Cup. But to say he was a part of a destructive opening pair in the 96 cup would be more than an overstatement.

Also read:

One of Wasim Akram’s biggest achievements is forgotten

When Sachin, the bowler, bailed out India in THRILLING situations

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Sachin Tendulkar is considered the legend of the game and the best batsman to have played the game. But those who have grown up alongside his career would know that he was an underrated and underused bowler.

Sachin Tendulkar

Tendulkar has had a number of successes with the ball, including two 5-wicket and 4-wicket hauls. He picked up 154 ODI wickets and 46 test wickets in his long career. But apart from being the highest wicket-taker in these matches, he also rolled his arm over for just an over or even a ball in situations that were purely nail-biting in few ODIs; where the match could have gone anywhere but for his calm and calculative bowling.

These are those moments:

Hero Cup: India vs South Africa (1993):

This was a must-win match for both teams as it was the semi-final. The winner was set to play either West Indies or Sri Lanka in the final. The match, as Ravi Shastri would say, went right down to the wire. India batted first and were all out exactly at 50 overs for just 195. South Africa never got going and struggled during the chase.  

In the end, South Africa needed 6 off 6 balls with 8 wickets down. During this time, skipper Mohammad Azharuddin gave the ball to Tendulkar. After getting Fanie de Villiers runout of the first ball, he literally made Allan Donald dance on his tunes by not allowing him to take any run on the next three balls. McMillain, the set batsmen, stood frustrated at the other end.

Donald finally got a single on the fifth ball and McMillain needed to score a boundary off the last ball. He was unable to connect well and just managed to take a single. India won by two wickets.

Titan Cup: India vs Australia (1996):

Tendulkar had a phenomenal record against Australia with the bat. But he has also made life tough for the Aussies with the ball. He had a 5-wicket and 4-wicket hall each against them in 1998. But he also had a small but major achievement with the ball against Australia in the unofficial semi-final of the Titan Cup in 1996 in Chandigarh. The winner of this match was to play South Africa in the final.

This situation was similar to the one in the Hero Cup semi-final. India scored 289 for 6 batting first with skipper Azharuddin again top-scoring with 89. This match also turned out to be a thriller with Australia needing 6 runs of the final over. Sachin was the captain on this occasion. He decided to bowl the last over himself. Again, he hadn’t bowled in the entire innings.

Tendulkar bowled a length ball to Brad Hogg who looked good in that innings. He tried to play the sweep but got hit on the pads and there was an appeal for LBW. McGrath, at the other end, took the run but Hogg was busy watching the ball. Hence, it was too late for him to reach the other end as keeper Nayan Mongia succeeded in a direct hit. India won by 5 runs.

Benson & Hedges World Series: India vs West Indies (1991)

This is one of the most underrated heroics of Tendulkar with the ball. It was the first match of the Benson & Hedges World Series between India and West Indies and it ended in a tie. Tendulkar had a major role to play in it.

In this low-scoring match at Perth, India were bundled out for just 126. In reply, West Indies kept losing wickets at regular intervals, which ensured that India was always in the game. This was the match where Javagal Srinath got Keith Arthurton bowled in the famous way after squaring him up.

When West Indies were reduced to 113 for 9, it looked like India would win from there on. But a gutsy last wicket stand between Anderson Cummins and Patrick Patterson got them on par with India’s score of 126.

This was the first time that captain Azharuddin threw the ball to Tendulkar in such a tense situation. And like the two aforementioned incidents, he hadn’t bowled in the entire inning. He gave away five runs in the first five balls of the over. But on the last ball, he got Cummins caught at second slip by Azharuddin in a spectacular manner.

We all know how Tendulkar kept a calm head despite crores of people scrutinizing him while having high hopes from him when he is batting. But the aforementioned incidents show that he also had the nerve as a bowler in situations where even the best of bowlers would feel the pressure.

Also read:

Sachin Tendulkar’s 8 best bowling performances

Meet the 49-year-old test cricket debutant

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The biopic on former IPL (Indian Premier League) and Ranji Trophy player Pravin Tambe released this week titled Kaun Pravin Tambe? The special part about his story is that he made his IPL debut at the age of 41.

During this time, it would be interesting to know someone who made his debut at the age as advanced as 49 and that too at the international level. England’s James Southerton holds that record by making his test debut for England at that age. He remains the oldest test debutant in the history of test cricket.

Born on 16 November 1827 in Sussex, England, Southerton played as a batsman initially in the 1850s both for Sussex and Hampshire. During those days, it was allowed for one player to play for more than one county in one season. He later played for Surrey as well.

But in 1865, Southerton realized his great potential as a slow left-arm spin bowler. It was an era where there were mostly only fast or pace bowlers. This fact along with his ability to spin ball both ways and that too in an intelligent manner made him a headache for the batsmen.

James Southerton
James Southerton [Photo source: InShorts]

Southerton picked up loads of wickets at the first-class level. In 1868 while playing for Surrey and Sussex he became the leading wicket-taker with 151 wickets. Two seasons later, he became the first bowler to pick up 200 wickets in a season. He was a leading bowler from 1871 to 1875.

It is also believed that the legendary WG Grace also found it difficult to face Southerton’s bowling.

The following year, Southerton made history when he grabbed a place in England’s side that toured Australia in 1876 under the captaincy of James Lillywhite. He was 49 years and 119 days old when he played the first test of the series on 15 March 1877.

This was no ordinary test. It was the first ever test match in the history of the game. Hence, Southerton had two records on his name. Apart from being the oldest test debutant, he also got a chance to play the first ever international game of cricket.

It was a two-match series that went into unlimited days; it wasn’t confined to five days. And in those days, one over contained just 4 balls, instead of 6.

The England team of 1876. Southerton is seated second from the left [Photo source: Wikipedia]

Strangely, Southerton bowled in just two of the four innings in the series – in the first innings of the first match and the second innings of the second one. He picked up 3 for 61 on the first occasion and 4 for 46 in the second. It wasn’t that he was also selected for his batting abilities because he batted at number 11 in all four innings.

How someone who started off as a batsmen went onto bat at number 11 can also be an interesting story. He did score a couple of 50s at the first-class level.

This was the only test series Southerton played and understandably so considering his age. He last played at the county level cricket in 1879 before he announced retirement. Sadly, just 10 months after his retirement, he passed away on 16 June 1880 due to a pleurisy attack at the age of 52.

Of course, when Southerton made his test debut at 49, he wasn’t known as the oldest debutant because it was the very first match in the history of test cricket. But today, even after more than 145 years, he still retains that record.

And it looks like this is one record that won’t be broken.

Also read:

How rain helped Pakistan in the 1992 World Cup

When the umpire denied Shane Warne his 1st test century

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The world lost one of the game’s greatest when Shane Warne untimely passed away earlier this month due to a heart-attack at the age of just 52. He was a legendary leg-spinner who continued to astonish with his sheer skills of getting batsmen out, including behind their legs, throughout his career.

Warne picked up a huge number of 708 wickets in test cricket and 293 in one-day internationals. He took a 5-wicket haul as many as 37 times in tests.

But Warne was also handy with the bat. At times, more than handy when the Aussie batting line-up struggled. One such incredible knock of his came against New Zealand in December 2001 in the 3rd and the last test of the series.

The first two tests in Gabba and Hobart turned into draws, so the winner of the 3rd match would have taken away the series.

New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat. Thanks to the three centuries from Lou Vincent, Stephen Flaming and Nathan Astle, they declared at a large score of 534 for 9. Australia didn’t have a good start and they kept losing wickets. Warne entered the scene when they were in trouble at 192 for 6 and unsure whether they would avoid the follow-on.

Shane Warne

He had a good counter-attacking partnership with Damien Martyn but the latter got out on 60 when the score was 270 for 7. Warne continued playing attacking shots. But when he reached 80 odd, Australia had lost 9 wickets with Jason Gillespie out with the score on 346 for 9.

With Australia’s famous number 11 batsman Glenn McGrath for company, Warne took two 2’s off Shane Bond’s bowling when he was on 94, which took him to 98. He took a single off the last ball of the over and reached 99. Interestingly, Warne had scored an impressive 70 in the previous test at Hobart in the first innings.

Also read: When Geoffrey Boycott had to chew his hat because of Ajay Ratra

New Zealand’s Daniel Vettori, who was just in his early 20s back then, bowled to Warne when he was on 99. Maybe in a hurry to reach the three-figure milestone, Warne slogged Vettori on the second ball of the over. It still wasn’t a completely bad shot because mid-on and midwicket fielders were inside the circle.

However, he got a top-edge and the ball went high up in the air. Mark Richardson, fielding at deep square-leg, took a difficult catch. Warne was out on 99! Obviously, he was dejected and so was the enthusiastic crowd at the WACA.

But the story doesn’t end here. Later on, it was found that the ball on which Warne got out on 99 was a no-ball. Vettori had clearly overstepped, which is visible in the picture below. Warne’s disappointment increased further. If the umpire had spotted the no-ball, he would have crossed to the other end and that would have been his 100.

Vettori’s a no-ball

In just September last year, Warne was the guest on the funny cricket show ‘The Professor and Barney’ on Fox Sports where he relived those moments in a humorous way. During the course of the discussion while speaking about the no-ball not given, he said,

“Gimme a 100!”  

Watch from 1:10 onwards to hear Shane Warne speak about his dismissal on 99

When Geoffrey Boycott had to chew his hat because of Ajay Ratra

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Sir Geoffrey Boycott is easily one of the best test batsmen the cricketing world has seen. He played over 100 test matches for England and scored as many as 22 hundreds with an average close to 50. And this came at a time when batting was much tougher in the longest format of the game.

Geoffrey Boycott retired from international cricket in 1982 but that didn’t end his fame. As a commentator, in the coming years, he gained supreme popularity for his no-holds-barred and bold views behind the microphone. This resulted in him gaining fans from people who were born even after he stopped playing cricket, including me.

As per his true nature, Geoffrey Boycott had the habit of rubbishing off any player he didn’t like or felt wasn’t worthy enough to play international cricket. One such cricketer who became his target was India’s 20-year-old wicket-keeper batsman Ajay Ratra in the fourth test against the West Indies at Antigua during the 2002 tour.

It was Ratra’s debut series and he wasn’t able to show any magic from his bat before that match. Deep Dasgupta played the role of the wicket-keeper in the first test. But he was replaced by Ratra from the second test onwards in the five match series. In his first two tests [2nd and 3rd test of the series], he had scores of under 20 with one 0.  

Geoffrey Boycott
Geoffrey Boycott and Ajay Ratra [Photos: Boycott and Ratra’s Twitter pages]

But Ratra was still included in the playing 11 in the fourth test. He came into bat in the first innings when India were 257 for 6. As soon as he faced a few balls and wasn’t able to play them with confidence, Geoffrey Boycott started criticizing him with his famous line being, “I don’t think he can bat.”

This started a fun banter in the commentary box between him and Ravi Shastri, who subtly took Ratra’s side. When Shastri said he is a good batsman, Boycott came up with a vow saying that he will chew his hat if Ratra scores a hundred.

I didn’t think much of that at that time because I could see Ratra was struggling and I didn’t have much hopes from him. But somehow, he stood his ground and started playing with some confidence. After a while, he even reached his fifty. Now, I did start thinking about Boycott’s vow. The also led to some fun in the commentary box.  

Ratra finished the day on 92 not out.

In an interview with former cricketer and YouTuber Padamjeet Sehrawat in 2020, Ratra said that he wasn’t aware at all about what transpired in the commentators’ box that day. After the day’s play, Shastri told Ratra to please score the remaining 8 runs and that it would be great fun in the commentary box if he did so.

The next day, after some anxiety-driven moments when he was on 99, Ratra finally reached the three-figure mark through a boundary down to the fine leg area. He was, obviously, overjoyed and so was Shastri. He then came up with his remark that I still remember, “The man who can’t bat is batting on 100.”

Ratra’s century had an even more importance. He became the first Indian specialized wicket-keeper to score a test century overseas. The yesteryear icon Vijay Manjrekar did score a 100 against West Indies in West Indies in 1953 while keeping wickets, but he wasn’t a specialized wicket-keeper.

There were more records broken in the match. It was the first test match ever where wicket-keepers from both the teams scored centuries after WI’s Ridley Jacobs also scored one. Other than these records, the match was a boring draw.

Coming back to Ratra’s century, Geoffrey Boycott had to keep his word. I remember he showed some great sportsmanship and did chew his hat once after the day’s play while criticizing the West Indian bowlers. Shastri made the occasion livelier by bringing a glass of wine.

Of course, it was all in good humour.

P.S: I was reminded of this incident at the end of last year while watching Kabir Khan’s 83. The film highlighted an incident where an English journalist had to literally eat his own words after team India proved him wrong by winning the 1983 World Cup.

Also read:

Zimbabwe’s iconic feat in 1983 World Cup is forgotten

When India won U-15 World Cup Final against Pak at Lords; ruckus followed

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India’s Under-19 team winning the 2022 World Cup has rejoiced cricket fans across the nation. With the fifth world title under their belt, they have ruled this tournament. But this victory, under the captaincy of Yash Dhull, has brought back memories of India’s Under-15 World Cup victory many years ago in 1996. Yes, there was an U-15 tournament in that year and it was never tried again.

India won the cup by defeating arch rivals Pakistan at the historic Lords cricket stadium. Both the teams were unbeaten before the final.

It was the year I started watching and keenly following cricket. Hence, I didn’t know much about the game. I wasn’t knowing that countries also participate at the junior levels in World Cups.

I had no idea that such a tournament was being played that year. I just switched on the TV and realized that some cricket match is being played in England. The commentators were referring to it as the ‘World Cup’, which confused me since the World Cup had already taken place that year in February and March in Asia.

I later realized that this is an Under-15 team and that a tournament like Under-15 World Cup even exists. After I came to know that India and Pakistan have reached the finals, I, obviously, followed the match in all excitement. After all, this was the first time I was watching a big final at Lords.

I saw a teenaged sardar guy bowling his heart out in the match as India opted to bowl first. I came to know his name is Reetinder Singh Sodhi. I was impressed with his determination and fiery attitude at such a young age. He played a major role in restricting Pakistan to 222 for 7 with figures of 3 for 34 in his allotted overs.

India Under-15 World Cup Final
Photo courtesy: CricketCountry.com and Lords official Facebook page

The Under-15 provided an old world charm in terms of the number of overs. The matches comprised of 55 overs. ODIs were reduced to 50 overs a side in 1985, except for the matches played in England. It was in 1995 that England also adopted the 50 overs’ version. So it was a surprise to see the U-15 World Cup having 55 overs a side in 1996.

In reply, India were in trouble early on as they lost 2 wickets with just 19 on the board. But it was Sodhi again to the rescue; this time with the bat as he scored 82 not out. He was ably supported by the wicketkeeper-batsmen Pradeep Chawla who scored 34. Bhavan Chander also scored a useful 27.

But India were reduced at one stage for 178 for 6. Sodhi, however, guided the team to victory along with the number 8 batsman Vivek Mahajan, who played a crucial innings of 19 not out. India won by 4 wickets with 14 balls to spare. I somewhat remember the well-timed powerful shots by Sodhi.

This was the first time I saw India win a world title; so what if it was U-15? To see an Indian captain lift the cup on the Lords balcony, just like some of the greats of the games in the past including Kapil Dev in 1983, filled me with pride.

Surprisingly, there’s just one proper scorecard available of the match on Cricinfo [see HERE]. Strangely, it doesn’t list the number of balls played by each batsmen and the number of boundaries they hit! Not surprisingly, there’s no video footage of the match available on YouTube either.   

Under-15 team
India’s Under-15 team [Photo courtesy: CricketCountry.com]

But a report of the match by Christopher Martin-Jenkins with the same portal states that the fans of both the countries created ruckus and violence, which also injured few of them. There was an unprecedented crowd of over 8000 people, which the organizers weren’t expecting. Read more about it HERE. To hear from the team of the 1996 Uder-15 World Cup, click HERE.

Apart from Sodhi, the other player that went onto play for India’s senior side was Mohammad Kaif. Interestingly, he became the hero at the same venue six years later in the famous Natwest Series Final against England, along with Yuvraj Singh.

For Pakistan, there were seven players that represented the senior’s national side later – Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal, Yasir Arafat, Taufeeq Umar, Hasan Raza, Faisal Iqbal and Bazid Khan.

But this isn’t the only World Cup Final achievement for Sodhi. Four years later, he went onto win the Under-19 World Cup for India against Sri Lanka and was awarded the Man of the Match again for his unbeaten 39 and giving away only 26 runs off his 10 overs. This time, Kaif was the captain while the team also had Yuvraj Singh, who was adjudged the Man of the Series.

Interestingly, Raj Bawa, who picked up 5 wickets against England in the U-19 final yesterday and was adjudged the Man of the Match, is Sodhi’s uncle’s [chacha] son. Congratulating him, Sodhi tweeted, “It’s a great feeling when your Chacha’s Son do what you did 22 years back..So Man of the Match of two World Cup Finals in one family.” [sic]

I guess Sodhi didn’t count his own Man of the Match award in the 1996 Under-15 World Cup final. Hence, there are not two but three World Cup Final Man of the Match awards in the Sodhi family.

Also read:

He was selected for ’83 World Cup but could play only in ’99

Review: Down Underdogs – India’s GreaTEST Comeback on Sony LIV

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After watching Kabir Khan’s 83 and being mighty impressed with it, I felt there should be a sequel to the film based on India’s test series victory in Australia in the 2020-21 tour. But 83’s box office performance clearly indicated that a second film in the series is practically impossible. But Sony Sports’ documentary on the same series Down Underdogs: India’s GreaTEST Comeback has fulfilled my wish.

Despite it being a documentary, for cricket lovers this is nothing short of a well-made cricket feature film that makes you go through various emotions while celebrating India’s greatest test cricket win overseas.

Choosing this test series as a subject is a fair amount of job already done. It has all the ingredients of a Bollywood movie script, although it’s not fiction.

There is an embarrassing downfall right at the start as India gets all out for a paltry 36 in the first test at Adelaide. One can just imagine the team’s morale at this point when the whole world spoke about it while the Australian media made merry.

Down Underdogs

Before the decider fourth test, almost an entire team gets injured [captain Virat Kohli is already gone home after the first test]. The acting captain Ajinkya Rahane has to settle with whoever is available in the team! Debutant Mohammed Siraj’s father passes away during the series and he has to play with a heavy heart. Then we have ‘villains’ in the form of Tim Paine with his taunts, the Australian media and the racial abuse by few Australian spectators.

Isn’t this right out of a Bollywood potboiler? And like most of the dramatic movies, we get a tease of the ending part at the start in Down Underdogs as well and then the film then goes into the flashback mode.

Any sort of comeback in the series after being 36 all out would have been heroic but India did much more than that. What makes the experience even memorable is director Wrik Ganguly’s narrative and presentation of the series in the four-episodic documentary.

Also read: 83 review – Near flawless recreation of India’s cricketing triumph

There is no anchor presiding over in the background. The series is narrated by a long list of cricket experts – Sunil Gavaskar, Harsha Bhogale, Sanjay Manjrekar, Mohammed Siraj, Hanuma Vihari, Michael Clarke, Isa Guha, Nick Knight, Gaurav Kapur, Rajdeep Sardesai, Vivek Razdan, Ayaz Memon, Joy Bhattacharya etc – whose bytes are used in a simple manner that provides a smooth narrative.

India Australia 2021
Source: YouTube screenshot

A lot of these people are cricket commentators but what they speak in the film is not what they generally do in the commentary box during the matches. The conversation is more fruitful, insightful and exclusive to the film.

It is also noticeable how an atmosphere is created before every match or an important event through the visuals, especially of the particular city where the match is being played. In other words, you just forget that you are watching a documentary.

Also read: Can we stop giving unreal reasons for 83 box office failure?

Down Underdogs ends in an overwhelming and exciting manner when Rishabh Pant hits the winning runs in the fourth test at Gabba, Brisbane. That moment and the scenes that follow provide as much satisfaction as the final moments from feature films like MS Dhoni: The Untold Story and 83.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Director: Wrik Ganguly

Platform: Sony LIV

83 review – Near-flawless recreation of India’s cricketing triumph

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The last time cinema halls turned into cricket stadiums was in Ashutosh Gowariker’s Lagaan (2001). The scenes are repeated 20 years later through Kabir Khan’s 83, a film based on India’s cricket World Cup victory in 1983.

As Lagaan was fictional, the makers were able to script the match as per their wishes; it finally went down to the last ball. In other words, the audience didn’t know how the match would play out. But 83 is based on a real cricket tournament and India’s numerous cricket fans know the team’s cricketing journey in the series by-heart, even if they were born after 1983. This is more for those who actually witnessed that World Cup victory and the celebrations that followed.

But despite knowing the whole story before the start of the film, 83 makes us go through various states of minds and emotions as if we don’t know the story. Hence, one feels sad for the team when its losing and erupt with joy when they defeat their opponents.

This is nothing but the triumph of Khan’s direction and the writers – Khan himself along with Vasan Bala, Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan and Sumit Arora.

There is a danger in a film featuring a series of matches to become repetitive. This is also taken care of smartly in 83. Each match brings about different situations. Plus, they have also used Pritam’s music smartly in between to ensure that you are glued to your seats.

83 is also high in humour. In fact, the film is full of funny moments. The team members of 83 have narrated several such incidents over the years. It’s good to see them recreated here, especially the one where Kapil gets shocked to see a woman in Balwinder Singh Sandhu’s room.

Quality of cricket

I have seen the highlights of India’s 1983 World Cup semi-final and final numerous times. While watching the quality of cricket in 83, I didn’t feel I was watching a movie. The recreation of the matches is done that well, including the fall of some wickets that are too hard to recreate. For example, Balwinder Singh Sandhu’s dismissal of Gordon Greenidge in the final and Jeff Dujon hitting the ground in dismay after being dismissed in the same match.

83 movie

The camera angles, colour grading and the font of the scores also match exactly to the real matches. The recreated shots in the film are intercut by visuals of the real matches and it matches [pun intended]. Such is the confidence of the makers. Cinematographer Aseem Mishra, Khan’s long-time associate, also deserves major credit for achieving this.

Creative liberties

At the end of the day, 83 is a feature film. So it’s obvious that the makers have taken creative liberties. But it’s done here at a lower level as compared to other sports films from Hindi cinema.

Patriotism

83 is one of the rare Hindi films of today’s era, as far as mainstream Hindi cinema is concerned, that naturally brings about a feeling of patriotism. It never goes over-the-top and remains subtle despite it being based on cricket. The interval point deserves special mention.

Ranveer Singh as Kapil Dev during the recreation of India’s match against Zimbabwe where he scored 175*

The unrecorded match against Zimbabwe

A major attraction of 83 is the recreation of India’s second match against Zimbabwe played at the Turnbridge Wells because it was never telecast or recorded as the broadcasters BBC went on strike. 83 becomes a memorable recreation of the match and Kapil Dev’s unbeaten and record-breaking knock of 175 not out.

Apart from the match, what went around in the dressing room and outside also adds to the excitement.

The all-important final

The final of the 1983 World Cup final wasn’t a close nail-biting match that went down to the wire. But the makers have made it look that way and that too without taking any major creative liberties. The film achieves this through smart and intelligent story-telling, especially at the very end [won’t say further to avoid spoilers]. The makers are also blessed with few real incidents related to the match that are naturally dramatic.

Performances

Performances play a major role in 83 scoring high marks. Ranveer Singh not only brings Kapil Dev’s mannerisms alive but also gets his extremely difficult bowling action and batting style near-perfect. He makes an impact during emotional parts as well. This will go down as one of his best performances. Pankaj Tripathi plays the team manager PR Man Singh but gets as much importance as any main player. He completely justifies his casting and shines on various occasions.

From all the players, Jiiva, who plays Krishnamachari Srikkanth, gets the maximum scope and he comes up with a brilliant act. He performs the best during the monologue. Tahir Raj Bhasin, Saqib Saleem, Jatin Sarna and Ammy Virk get the characters of Sunil Gavaskar, Mohinder Amarnath, Yashpal Sharma and Balwinder Singh Sandhu right.

The film also has believable performances from a list of actors – Hardy Sandhu (Madan Lal), Chirag Patil, (father Sandeep Patil), Dhairya Karwa, (Ravi Shastri), Addinath Kothare, (Dilip Vengsarkar), Sahil Khattar (Syed Kirmani), Dinkar Sharma (Kirti Azad) and Nishant Dahiya (Roger Binny). Deepika Padukone is appealing as Romi Dev.

Much more than a mere cricket film

83 isn’t just about India winning its first world cup against various odds. It shows the game’s potential to unite Indians even when hatred is spread by the vested interests [I won’t say much to avoid spoilers].

Negative points:

The 1983 WC has an interesting story about the 12th man Sunil Valson who couldn’t play a single match. He does come close to playing one but that’s about it. The movie gives only a fleeting reference to this despite signing R Badree to play Valson. In fact, even his full name isn’t taken. Those who don’t know Valson’s story won’t realize the importance of that scene. When your film is already two hours 42-minute-long, adding half a minute more wouldn’t have hurt. [Read Sunil Valson’s story HERE]

But this is just a minor issue. 83, as such, doesn’t have any negative point, although few moments are debatable.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Director: Kabir Khan

Producers: Reliance Entertainment and Phantom Films

Writers: Kabir Khan, Vasan Bala, Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan and Sumit Arora

Cast: Ranveer Singh, Pankaj Tripathi, Jiiva, Tahir Raj Bhasin, Saqib Saleem, Jatin Sarna, Ammy Virk, Hardy Sandhu, Chirag Patil, Dhairya Karwa, Addinath Kothare, Sahil Khattar, Dinkar Sharma, Nishant Dahiya, R Badree, Deepika Padukone

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Zimbabwe’s iconic feat in 1983 World Cup is forgotten

He was selected in 1983 WC, but could play for India only in 1999

Zimbabwe’s iconic feat in 83 World Cup is forgotten

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When we think of Zimbabwe with regards to the 1983 World Cup, the only match that comes to our minds is the one where they reduced India for 17 for 5 and still lost the match, thanks to Kapil Dev’s incredible 175 not out.

But there is more to Zimbabwe in the 1983 World Cup than their dramatic defeat against India. What they achieved in the tournament is rare and, unfortunately for them, hardly spoken or written about.

Zimbabwe won the ICC Trophy in 1982 in England after defeating Bermuda in the finals and hence qualified for the 1983 World Cup that was played in the same country.

Zimbabwe’s first match was against a strong and established team like Australia at Trent Bridge on 9 June 1983. As they were to play their first ever international series, there were no hopes from them. It would have been good for them even if they gave a decent fight to the opposing team.

But they did much more than that.

Batting first, Zimbabwean openers Ali Shah and Grant Paterson gave them a good start but both were dismissed with the score being on 55. Captain Duncan Fletcher had his task cut out as one of the prominent batsman David Houghton was out for a golden duck at the score being 86 for 4.

But Fletcher played a true captain’s innings with an unbeaten 69 off just 84 balls and helped Zimbabwe reach 239 for 6 off their 60 overs.

Zimbabwe 1983 World Cup
Duncan Fletcher at the post-match presentation [Photo source: ICC Twitter page]

Chasing 240 in 60 overs against minnows looked like an easy task. But Fletcher wasn’t done yet. He excelled with the ball as well and ensured that Zimbabwe won the match! Yes, the African country in their first ever match and that too against a test-playing team like Australia managed to win by 13 runs. This went down as the first ever upset in World Cup history.

In fact, this remains the only instance where an associate nation won its first ever ODI match against a test-playing nation.

Fletcher had figures of 4 for 42 from 11 overs. This coupled with his heroic innings with the bat rightfully earned him the man of the match award.

Strangely, Australia didn’t get all out. They lost by not being able to score 240 despite having 60 overs at their disposal. They lost their 7th wicket at the score of 176. Rodney Marsh and Rodney Hogg then scored 50 off 42 balls and 19 off 22 balls respectively and had a 50 run unbeaten stand. But that wasn’t enough as the damage was already done by the top order by scoring slow.

I am sure Zimbabweans would have been over-the-moon with the result. But unfortunately, there isn’t a single video available of this match anywhere on the internet.

Zimbabwe, however, couldn’t repeat this feat in the remaining five matches of the series, although they did put India in a state of panic in their infamous defeat. But the team slowly progressed from here on. In the 90s and early 2000s, they defeated India on few occasions, including the close encounter in the 1999 World Cup, and got them tensed in few other. They also got the test status in 1992.

Unfortunately, political turmoil gripped the African nation at the start of the new millennium. During their 2003 World Cup campaign, Grant Flower and Henry Olonga protested against their government by wearing black bands on their arms and that was the end of their career as well as Zimbabwe’s miniature dominance. Their national team has been trying to climb the ladder since years.

These days, they are playing as an associate nation and hoping for a comeback and, maybe, a few more upsets.

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Ajaz Patel: Witnessing history LIVE at Wankhede on an unusual day of cricket

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I had unusual feelings while entering the Wankhede Stadium today on the second day of the second test between India vs New Zealand. I was happy to have got a chance to witness test cricket after 9 years. But it also reminded me that this was the first time I would be watching a test live after Sachin Tendulkar’s retirement. The last I went to see a test was in 2012 when England crushed India.

India was to resume after ending the rain-interrupted first day on 221 for 4 with Mayank Agarwal not out on a century overnight. I was hoping to see India put on at least a respectable score and then get few New Zealand wickets.

But I had never imagined that I would be witnessing something historical and this would then be followed by something completely unexpected.

I reached around half an hour late because of some massive confusion over which gate to enter from. They changed the gates after ages. So by the time I reached, India were 6 down but Mayank Agarwal was still not out. I wanted India to bat at least some more time and reach 300. I wasn’t disappointed as Mayank reached 150 and Axar Patel made a gutsy half century.  

But after Mayank got out at the score of 291 for 7, we realized we might see something special here as all 7 wickets were taken by Ajaz Patel. I developed mixed feelings at this stage. I wanted India to score well but at the same time I also wondered what if Ajaz Patel creates history today?

Ajaz Patel

But an aggressive and short-tempered boy sitting ahead of me was angry and he kept saying that Patel shouldn’t be the next after Anil Kumble to pick up all 10 wickets.

When Ajaz Patel picked up 9 wickets, I dearly wanted to see him pick the 10th as well, so that I get to witness history. The aggressive boy would have labeled me “anti-national” if I told him my wish.

Then came the moment when Mohammed Siraj lofted Patel in a miscued shot. When Rachin Ravindra was getting under the ball, it was the first time in my life that I badly wanted an Indian batter to get out. When he finally caught the ball, I rose up with jubilation. And to my pleasant surprise, the entire stadium did.

I wasn’t the only “anti-national” over there. The stadium was full of them, except that aggressive boy who had gone quite by now.

On a serious note, we were delighted to witness something that has happened just for the third time in the 144 years old test cricket history! This day shall remain one of the most memorable ones.  

This was even special because Patel achieved the historic feat in the city he was born and brought up (in Jogeshwari locality) till he was eight years old.

As Indian fans would know, Anil Kumble was the second bowler in history to take all 10 wickets against Pakistan in the second innings of the Delhi test in 1999.

The first one was the England’s off-spinner Jim Laker who picked up 10 wickets against Australia in the second innings of the 1956 test at Manchester. More astonishingly, he had picked up 9 wickets in the first innings of the same match! It will take some doing to even equal Laker’s record of 19 wickets in a match.

But just when we thought we had seen it all, the dialogue, “Picture abhi baaki hai mere dost” played out. I wanted India to pick wickets regularly to stay in the game but what we saw looked like a highlights package. Who would have expected New Zealand to be bundled out for just 62? There was more surprise in store when Indian captain Virat Kohli didn’t enforce the follow on.

Looking back, from a neutral point of view, it also feels bad for Ajaz Patel. He achieved rare history but on the same day his side got all out for 62 and is staring at a massive defeat, unless a miracle happens.

So how exactly should he look back at the day?

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15 years later: From Tendulkar’s comeback to Aleem Dar’s batting, this match saw it all

Only time Tendulkar was NOT selected in team India, neither injured nor rested