When 2 instances of bowler picking 4 wickets in 4 balls happened in a single English season

March 12, 2023 by Keyur Seta Leave a Comment

Hattricks don’t happen often on a cricket field. But taking 4 wickets in 4 balls is even rare. Sri Lanka’s Lasith Malinga is the only bowler ever to pick up 4 in 4 not once but twice. There aren’t too many instances of bowlers achieving this feat. Interestingly, out of all the instances of 4 wickets in 4 balls, two took place in the same county season in England in 1996.

The first one happened at the start of the season on April 26. The great South African all-rounder Shaun Pollock was making his debut in the Benson & Hedges ODI series for Warwickshire at Edgbaston against Leicestershire. He picked up his first wicket in the form of Vince Wells in his second over when the latter miscued a pull shot.

But the real fun was yet to happen. In Pollock’s fourth over, Greg Macmillan was out caught behind off a peach of a delivery. The South African then got the opposition captain James Whitaker bowled off the very next ball; the latter had no clue about that one. Phil Robinson, the next man, was caught at forward short leg, like those test dismissals. The next batter, Darren Maddy, was caught in slips.

The commentators and the spectators were amazed. The same was the case with me as I was watching the match at my aunt’s place. Another reason why I can’t forget this match is that this was my first county match. Funnily, I didn’t know it’s called a county match and in which part of the world it was being played. I was watching just because it was cricket!

Leicestershire somehow recovered by finishing at 182 for 9 but Warwickshire won the match comfortably by 7 wickets (see the scorecard HERE).

The second instance, that happened in the same season, is even more legendary. India were on the tour to England in the same 1996 season. After the second test, they had a practice match against Hampshire on July 1. Before the start of the match, Kevan James wouldn’t have known that this was going to be the biggest day of his life and one of the most memorable days in the history of the game.

It appeared like one of those easy warm up games for the tourists when their openers Ajay Jadeja and Vikram Rathour were cruising at 192 for no loss. But the left-arm medium fast bowler Kevan had other plans. He first got Jadeja bowled. Soon enough in his later over, he got Rathor stumped. The great Sachin Tendulkar was trapped the very next ball as he was caught at short leg. The buddying talent Rahul Dravid was out LBW the next ball, which gave Kevan his hattrick.

There was more to come. Sanjay Manjrekar, the next batter, chased a wide delivery the very next ball and was caught in the slips by Paul Terry. Neither Kevan nor others could believe what they witnessed.

Kevan would have already felt that his day couldn’t have got better than this. But he was in for more greatness. When Hampshire went into bat, the left-hander came in at number 4 and went onto score a hundred. This remains the only instance in the history of cricket of a player to taking 4 wickets in 4 balls and also scoring a 100 in the same match!

The match ended in a draw (see the scorecard HERE) but the crowd that had come in witnessed something extraordinary that hasn’t happened even 27 years later. And they are the only ones to have witnessed this as the match wasn’t telecast and, hence, there is no video available.

Kevan James’ herculean effort didn’t get him a place in the England side though. He was 35 when this match took place, so age was clearly not on his side.

Also read: He played 1 test but has ZERO tests to his name

When it was Kambli v/s Kaluwitharana in this FINAL at Shivaji Park

February 10, 2023 by Keyur Seta 2 Comments

Mumbai is one of the prominent cities to have produced a number of Indian team cricketers over the decades. And if one has to name the place in the city where maximum number of Indian stars were groomed, it has to be Shivaji Park. The great Vijay Manjrekar, father of cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar, was one of the heroes of this place.

For this reason, a single wicket and double wicket tournament used to be held at Shivaji Park Gymkhana at one point of time. Called ‘Veedol Vijay Manjrekar Single and Double Wicket Tournament’, it was prominent in the 90s and it used to take place somewhere around April or May each year.

A single wicket match is played between two individual cricketers instead of two teams. There are only 3 or 4 overs per innings. The same person would bat as well as bowl, while a number of junior cricketers would field in both the innings of the match. The interesting part was that if the person who is batting gets out, 2 or 4 runs would be deducted from his score. In the end, whichever player scores the highest in the innings would be the winner.

Similarly, a double wicket match saw the participation of two sets of players instead of one. The rest of the rules are the same. In the two-day tournament, the first day would see the single-wicket tournament while the next day would be dedicated to double-wicket. Interestingly, we got to see a much shorter version of the game than T20 when T20 was not even a thing.

Temporary stands used to be created around the playing area in Shivaji Park where spectators could watch the matches for free. The local cable TV also used to telecast all matches on the channel where they usually played movies. Personally, witnessing this series in 1996 or 1997 meant a lot to me because it was the first time I was watching live cricket.

Some prominent names from Indian cricket used to play this series each year, including Sachin Tendulkar, Sanjay Manjrekar, Vinod Kambli, Ravi Shastri, Sandeep Patil, Narendra Hirwani, Ajit Agarkar, Pravin Amre, Robin Singh, Robin Uthappa, Amol Muzamdar, Ramesh Powar, Paras Mhambrey, etc; most of the cricketers were from Mumbai, understandably.

One such tournament in 1997 saw the participation of the Sri Lankan star Romesh Kaluwitharana (in the single wicket form). I have fond memories of this particular tournament, although it was a struggle to catch a glimpse of the pitch because of the height factor. As it turned out, Kaluwitharana and Kambli reached the final.

Kambli batted first and scored a decent amount of runs. The entire crowd supported him, which was obvious. We also got to see a rare sight of Kaluwitharana bowling slow medium pacers; something we never saw in international cricket since he always played as a wicket-keeper. When Kaluwitharana batted, it was also a rare sight to see Kambli bowl right-arm spin.

The pitch on Shivaji Park where the matches were played

The match between the two went right down to the wire. In the ending moments during Kaluwitharana’s chase, he mistimed a big shot and the ball went high up in the air. Co-incidentally, Kambli himself was under the ball. He got under it and did everything right, just to drop it in the end. There was a massive disappointment among the crowd. This ensured that Kaluwitharana won the final.

In the following year in the double wicket tournament, Robin Singh participated with a player from Hyderabad’s Ranji Trophy team. This time, Kenyan cricketers Thomas Odoyo and someone else from their team (might be Kennedy Otieno) also participated as a pair. The final match saw Robin and his partner versus the two Kenyan cricketers.

The Kenyan players batted first and put up a good score. This match too was a nail-biter. In the end, Robin and his partner needed four runs of the last ball with the former on strike. Robin hit that one for 6, much to the jubilation of all of us.

After doing a Google search, one can find Facebook updates of the 2011 edition of the tournament held in 2011 (see HERE). Dilip Vengsarkar, Gulshan Grover and Tanushree Dutta were the guests. Apart from this, there is only one Mumbai Live article about this tournament held in 2017, which was won by Parag Pingle (read HERE).

The tournament doesn’t happen anymore. Strangely, apart from these two updates, there is not even a single text article on any of the editions of this tournament, not even the ones featuring Kambli, Kaluwitharana and Robin. If someone does have more info about the same, please feel free to comment below.

Also read: Why Kaluwitharana’s stint in 1996 World Cup is overrated

Why Ganguly had to open the bowling in this test match?

December 17, 2022 by Keyur Seta Leave a Comment

Sourav Ganguly is one of the celebrated names of Indian cricket. Apart from being a fine batter, he, as a captain, also taught the team to win test matches abroad. But along with that, he was also a handy medium pace bowler. He has had quite a few moments of glory with the ball but the one being talked about here is quite underrated.

It happened in the second test match between India and Australia in Kolkata’s Eden Gardens in March 1998.

There is a story behind why Ganguly was asked to open the bowling in that match. In the first test, before this match, India went in with two fast bowlers – Javagal Srinath and debutant Harvinder Singh – and three spinners in the form of Anil Kumble, Venkatapathy Raju and Rajesh Chauhan. They won the match comprehensively by 179 runs.

This might come as a surprise for people from today’s era but back then India going in with three specialist spinners in home matches was quite normal. The pitches back then used to assist spinners even more. So, for the second test, there was no way India was going to remove any of the three spinners.

The team was keen on including VVS Laxman as an additional batter. Hence, the only person that could have been removed from the 11 was Harvinder Singh. He didn’t bowl badly in the first test, which was his debut, and he did get the important wicket of the Australian captain Mark Taylor caught behind.

At that time, the Australian commentator Ian Chappel said quite confidently that picking up the only wicket of the Assuie skipper is enough for Singh to be selected in the second test, as not much was expected from the seamers in these conditions. But the Indian team management proved him wrong in the second test.

Ganguly being given the new ball along with Srinath was more like a formality. They were just waiting for the ball to get old, so that the spinners could come into action. But Ganguly had other plans.

He started troubling Taylor right from his first over. In fact, it seemed as if he got him caught behind, only for the umpire to call it a no-ball. However, Dada soon got the left hander caught behind again, much to his jubilation as well as his home crowd in Kolkata.

India was on top as the Aussie were 29 for 4 with Srinath picking the other 3 wickets. In the video shared below, Chappel is heard saying when number 6 batter Ricky Ponting comes in to bat early, “Ricky Ponting wouldn’t have been expecting to come in before lunch. Here he is in before drinks.”

But that’s not all as far as Ganguly’s heroics with the ball were concerned. Believe or not, but he, with his medium pace, deceived Michael Kasprowicz with a bouncer in his next spell and Azharuddin took a flying catch at wide gully. He then got the last wicket of Gavin Robertson, finishing with fine figures of 3 for 28.

Australia got all out for just 233 and India declared their first innings at a humongous 633 for 5 with Azhar top-scoring with 163 not out. Ganguly scored 65 but, funnily, this was the lowest score of all the batters who got out in the innings. India won the match by an innings and 219 runs. The team lost the third test in Bangalore but it had already won the series before that.

Also read: One of Wasim Akram’s biggest achievements is FORGOTTEN

Babar Azam did what MS Dhoni didn’t in 2007

October 23, 2022 by Keyur Seta Leave a Comment

The match between India and Pakistan in the ongoing ICC World T20 will go down as one of the most memorable ever. Of course, Indian fans are jubilant and the ones on the other side of the border aren’t. But if looked from a neutral point of view, such games eventually help in making a sport even popular.

This game brings back memories of the 2007 World Cup final between both the nations. Despite it being 15 years, the match still remains a tense and high-octane clash between both the teams. It eventually saw India win by 5 runs after they scored 157 for 5 in their allotted 20 overs, electing to bat first.

Apart from the fact that it was a match that went all the way down to the wire, the 2007 match also had a similar situation during its ending moments.

Babar Azam and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Sources: Twitter and Indiatvnews.com)

Pakistan struggled mostly while chasing India’s modest target. But Misbah-ul-Haq turned the match around singlehandedly by changing gears in a couple of overs before the last one. Similarly, India too struggled today during their chase but Virat Kohli had other plans. He brought India back in the game in a similar way. His 2 sixes off against the crafty Haris Rauf announced India’s fightback.

In the 2007 final, Pakistan needed 12 off the last over. After a lot of deliberation, Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni decided to hand over the ball to the inexperienced Joginder Sharma, over the experienced Harbhajhan Singh, who also had one over left. The obvious reason was that the latter was smashed around by Haq in his previous over.

The move initially looked like a mistake as Sharma bowled a wide and, worse, was hit for a 6. But, as we all know, Haq played that infamous scoop shot and was caught at short fine leg by S Sreesanth.

In this match, Mohammad Nawaz had given 20 runs in his previous over after letting the opposition hit 3 sixes off that one. But Pakistani captain Babar Azam still decided to go with him. He had the option of giving him the 19^th or the 18^th over but he decided to give him the last one. The move, obviously, didn’t work, with the extras proving it to be worse.

Also read: Meet the 49-year-old test debutant

This is not to say that if Rauf or some other fast bowler had bowled the last over, India had no chance of winning. It’s just an interesting similarity in both the matches between the same nations with different batting order as well as the result.

Dear Sony LIV, Dean was run-out, NOT ‘Mankaded’

September 25, 2022 by Keyur Seta Leave a Comment

The third ODI between India and England at the historic Lords stadium turned out to be an exciting and nail-biting affair. By winning the match by 16 runs, India wrapped up the series 3-0.

It was also an emotional match as it was also the farewell for India’s great pace bowler Jhulan Goswami. She provided a fine performance in her last match by picking up 2 for 30 off her 10 overs with 3 maidens.

But unfortunately, instead of the close encounter and Goswami’s retirement, the cricketing world has been discussing and debating the last wicket of the match in which Charlie Dean was run out at the bowler’s end by Deepti Sharma for backing up too far.

This has been a legitimate mode of dismissal but it was considered unsporting earlier because of its nature. It was referred to as ‘Mankading’ as India’s Vinoo Mankad effected two such run-outs in two different games during India’s 1947-48 tour to Australia.

Deepti Sharma Mankading run out — Screenshot from Sony LIV’s broadcast

Ravichandran Ashwin got embroiled in a controversy when he run-out Jos Buttler in the same way during the 2020 season of the IPL (Indian Premiere League). Similarly, Deepti Sharma has become the talk of the town for the same reason.

However, the rules were recently updated wherein it was decided that such run-outs won’t be considered against the spirit of the game. More importantly, the new rules also stated that such dismissals should be counted as run-outs instead of referring to them as ‘Mankading.’

But despite such official declarations, commentators Nasser Hussain and Lydia Greenway started the unfair game rhetoric when the final wicket fell. Greenway reacted as if something illegal was done. While Hussain kept saying that this is within the rules of the game, he messed it up by referring to the dismissal as ‘controversial’ later on.

If it is well within the rules and also not against the spirit of the game, as per the latest update, how is it controversial, Mr Hussain?

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

But what really took the cake (not in a good way) was Sony Sports’s streaming platform Sony LIV highlighting that the batter was ‘Mankaded’ while showing that video. [See the image above].

How is the platform unaware about the latest guidelines stating that such run-outs are nothing but run-outs? Do the people responsible for the text on the platform are so naïve about the important developments in the game?

Harsha Bhogle discussing why such dismissals shouldn’t be referred to as ‘Mankading’ after the Ashwin incident in 2020

When team Mumbai almost AGAIN defeated Australia

July 31, 2022 by Keyur Seta Leave a Comment

One of the fondest memories for Mumbai cricket fans who started watching the game in the 90s would be their team’s victory against the mighty Australians in 1998 at the Brabourne Stadium. That three-day match saw Sachin Tendulkar score his first ever first-class double century.

It was also the first time I set foot inside a cricket stadium in my life and I couldn’t have asked for anything better. But even after Tendulkar and his team’s terrific display of batting, none of us thought that Mumbai’s Ranji team would go on to defeat Australia in two-and-a-half days. Read more about that match HERE.

It was a practice match before the three-match test series Australia was to play against India. Similarly, in 2001, Australia was set to play against Mumbai again before the test series. The 2001 test series turned out to be one of the best ever, especially due to the historic second test at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata.

But before the test series commenced, the match between Mumbai and Australia, again at the Brabourne Stadium, brought back terrific memories of the 1998 match between the same teams.

Tendulkar wasn’t playing this one as he was rested. But before the start of the match, a news article quoted the Master Blaster motivating team Mumbai by saying, “Don’t forget what we did in 1998.” [I can’t find that article now]

Sameer Dighe and Steve Waugh [File photos]

Mumbai batted first and soon started struggling at 82 for 5 with Amol Muzumdar and Vinod Kambli out for 1 and 0 respectively. But captain and wicket-keeper Sameer Dighe’s counterattack (84) with Sairaj Bahutule (51) and later with Romesh Powar (65*) took Mumbai to a good score of 328 for 9 at which they declared the innings.

When Australia turned out to bat, skipper Steve Waugh scored an unbeaten 106. However, nobody else from their line-up got going and the team was all out for just 203. The Aussies couldn’t get the services of Mark Waugh as he was injured soon after the match commenced.

Mumbai’s top order showed more maturity in the second innings as both the openers Vinayak Mane and Wasim Jaffer scored half centuries. They declared the innings at 191 for 8. Out of all the Mumbai wickets, Shane Warne picked up 7. Australia were given a target of 317 after the first session of the third day.

It looked like the match will end in a draw but there was drama in store in the last session. Australia’s top order collapsed and they were reduced to 64 for 5 at one stage and 80 for 6 soon after. Bahutule rocked the Australian top-order by scalping 4 wickets. He was getting the ball to talk.

I remember watching the last day of the match at my cousin’s place and we were super excited as we anticipated the repeat of 1998. Plus, Australia had only 9 wickets to play since Mark Waugh was injured.

But his twin and the Aussie skipper saw the day through (34*) with some gutsy support from Damien Fleming who battled 72 balls for his unbeaten 22.

Although Mumbai couldn’t win again and repeat 1998, they gave a scare to the best test side of the world. Tendulkar’s motivation before the match had a positive impact on the team.

Interestingly, Australia had fielded a much stronger side in the 2001 match against Mumbai in comparison to the one they did in 1998. And most importantly, there was no Tendulkar in the 2001 encounter. It goes onto show Mumbai’s talent backed by some terrific fighting spirit back then. Today, not even a picture (forget video) of that match is available. There’s only the scorecard available HERE.

Mumbai’s skipper and wicket-keeper Sameer Dighe, who top-scored in the first innings, was selected in the Indian team for the third test match at Chennai in the following series. His 22 not out in the fourth innings of the match became instrumental in India winning the test and subsequently the series by 2-1.

Also read: Forgotten innings – Nayan Mongia’s historic feat vs Australia

Didn’t consider W Indies as big opponent in ’83 World Cup, says Mohinder Amarnath

June 26, 2022 by Keyur Seta Leave a Comment

The 1983 cricket World Cup-winning team had another reunion last evening in Mumbai at the launch of the coffee table book titled The 1983 World Cup Opus, facilitated by Paymentz.

The event saw the presence of Kapil Dev, Mohinder Amarnath, Kirti Azad, Roger Binny, Syed Kirmani, Madan Lal, Sandeep Patil, Balwinder Singh Sandhu, Krishnamachari Srikkanth, Dilip Vengsarkar, Sunil Valson and the then team Manager PR Man Singh. Ravi Shastri and Sunil Gavaskar, who were also a part of the team, joined the event virtually.

The event saw the 1983 team go down memory lane and recall interesting stories behind their triumph.

Much before the final of the world cup, India had beaten West Indies in their very first league match of the series. This was a huge hurdle to cross because before this match, the West Indies hadn’t lost a single match in the world cup from 1975 onwards when the series started.

Mohinder Amarnath and Kapil Dev after winning the 1983 World Cup

Speaking about the victory, Amarnath said, “If you trust yourself and have the guts, you can do anything. We didn’t consider West Indies as a very big opponent. To be very honest, this was my way of thinking. [But] I am sure all 11 players on the field were also thinking this way that we are better than them. This is what made us the world champions. We clicked at the right time.”

The event was also attended by Anupam Harshad Vassa, the Founder and Chairman of Paymentz, and Amoolya Vassa, the Founder and Managing Director of the firm, along with other dignitaries from the same firm.

During the course of the discussion, it was recalled how defeating England in the semi-final was also an important landmark since India was not given a chance by many. “It was a crucial, crucial game,” said Ravi Shastri. “England were firm favourites, at least in their media. When you open the newspapers in the morning, it was only England. India was as if we are the outsiders and we have absolutely no chance.”

The launch of the book at the hands of Kapil Dev

The final of the ’83 world cup changed with the wicket of the legendary Vivian Richards whose catch was taken spectacularly by Kapil Dev off the bowling of Madan Lal. The bowler revealed that this wasn’t the first time he got Richards out.

“I wanted to bowl that over. I would like to tell you that I had also got him out 2-3 times before in the Calcutta test match and in West Indies. Once the umpire gave him not out in my bowling in Sharjah when he was clean LBW,” said Lal.

Also read: He was selected in ’83 World Cup, but could play only in ’99

Not much is said about the 22 run last-wicket partnership which involved Sandhu, who scored 11 not out batting at number 11. Sandhu recalled that without that partnership, India’s score would have been much lower.

“Last wicket partnership is always very crucial,” said Binny. “If he (number 11 batsman) is not out, then how many runs are made (in the last-wicket partnership) are made by him because if he had gotten out, the runs wouldn’t have been made.”

1983 World Cup team — The 1983 team with their families

India looked favourite to win the World Cup final after West Indies were 6 or 7 down. But Kapil Dev didn’t think that way.

When Harsha Bhogle, the host, asked him when during the match he felt that the World Cup is theirs, Dev said, “(After getting the) last wicket,” said Dev. “How Jimmy bowled and he got the LBW, I think it was just a different feeling. Before that, you do think that it was possible. But it’s not possible till the last wicket. I think that’s the most important thing.”

Also read: 83 movie review

The ’83 team captain also said that it is only in recent years that the team is getting more recognition for the victory. “In last 10 years, I have felt it more. Now we are getting more respect and honour. It is something you can’t express in words. If you would have asked that day (after the final), I would have said that life is normal. We played the next series and we lost,” he said.

Filmmaker Kabir Khan, who made a film on India’s victory in that World Cup titled 83, was also present at the event.

Speaking about the event, Anupam Harshad Vassa said, “It was a no brainer and being cricket fans ourselves, we just grabbed the opportunity. The 1983 World Cup win put India on the world map. It was a proud moment for any Indian. Being a part of the ‘1983 World Cup Opus’ is an honor for Paymentz, and it is only the beginning of the company’s involvement in the sporting industry and recognition of cricket legends. Cricket is a religion in India and to be associated with the sporting giants, the first team who won the World Cup for India and gave us one of the most iconic sporting moments, is an honor for our company.”

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

May 4, 2022 by Keyur Seta 1 Comment

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.

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

April 23, 2022 by Keyur Seta Leave a Comment

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.

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.

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Meet the 49-year-old test cricket debutant

April 3, 2022 by Keyur Seta 1 Comment

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 [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.

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