The Common Man Speaks

Babar Azam did what MS Dhoni didn’t in 2007

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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
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 19th or the 18th 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’

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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

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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

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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.

1983 World Cup
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

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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.

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