Category Archives: Cricket

Sachin’s 1st first-class 200 vs Australia in 1998: Forgotten moments

1998 belonged to Sachin Tendulkar. He was unstoppable in that year, especially against Australia, be it in tests or ODIs.

His two heroic centuries in Sharjah, mountain of runs in the test series at home, 5-wicket haul in the ODI series and some quality innings in the same series, a century and 4-wicket haul in the first ICC Champions Trophy match; all came in the same year against the Aussies. Along with this, Tendulkar also scored an unbeaten 100 against Zimbabwe in the Sharjah Cup Final later that year.

But one of the major achievements of his career also happened in 1998 that people seem to have forgotten. I have never heard this being mentioned in any of the cricket discussions I have heard or read over the decades.

It came in the practice match between Mumbai and Australia at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai in February 1998. Here’s revisiting that match as the Master Blaster celebrates his 48^th birthday.

Apart from Tendulkar’s greatness on the field, another reason I can’t forget this match is because it was the first time that I set foot inside a cricket stadium.

I was in eighth standard and had started following cricket keenly a couple of years before during the 1996 World Cup. When I came to know that the practice match will be played in Mumbai in which Tendulkar will be playing for his home Ranji team, I got all excited. It didn’t take much to convince my father, which was a pleasant surprise since he wasn’t so interested in cricket.

We went on the second day of the 3-day match. Australia had declared their first innings on 305 for 8 on the previous day.

Sachin Tendulkar 200 — Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Warne [File photos]

As we entered the premises of the stadium, my excitement knew no bounds. I couldn’t believe I would be entering a cricket stadium for the first time ever. Same was the case with my younger brother.

It was a surreal moment when we finally reached the stands and could see the ground. I was amazed to witness the big names of Australian cricket in front of my eyes; the likes of Shane Warne, Ricky Ponting, Mark Taylor, Ian Healy, Michael Slater, Paul Reiffel, etc.

We got a display of some quality batting right at the start. Much before Tendulkar, it was Mumbai’s left-handed opener Amit Pagnis who hit Warne around the ground; even hitting against the spin over mid-off. Warne’s nightmare on that tour actually started on that day and it was Pagnis who inaugurated it.

This was the first time I came to know that the Indian crowd actually starts celebrating when the home team’s second wicket falls because that’s when Tendulkar comes out to bat. So when Pagnis got out after a well-made 50, in came the Master Blaster.

I still can’t forget the heart-pumping moment when Tendulkar came out amid loud cheers and whistles and a lot of dust in the air when he took guard. I was finally seeing him in front of my eyes after watching him numerous times on TV.

He started hitting the ball right from the word go. Like everyone else, I was keen to see him bat against Warne. When the moment came, Tendulkar, showing no respect for the bowler, just started hitting him around. He hit some quality drives and cuts. But his pull short against the spin is the one shot I remember the most. After a while, it felt Tendulkar was batting in the nets.

There were few hiccups for Mumbai when Sanjay Manjrekar was runout after Tendulkar flicked Warne at square leg. It was Manjrekar’s last first-class appearance as he had announced his retirement. It was sad to see him get out in this fashion after reaching 39 in his last match for Mumbai.

This was followed by Vinod Kambli’s dismissal for 10 with Mumbai being 161 for 4. But Amol Muzumdar (42) and Rajesh Sutar (45) had useful partnerships with Tendulkar.

Tendulkar’s 155 vs Australia in the 1st test at Chennai in 1998 right after the practice match for Mumbai against the same opposition

In between that phase, I got to experience the moment when Tendulkar reached his 100. It was magical to be able to witness it in my first match in a stadium. I don’t remember cheering and clapping to this extent ever before. The same was the case when Tendulkar reached 150 and 200.

The double century was an important milestone as it was the first time Tendulkar reached that number in first-class cricket. His previous best was 179 against West Indies in 1994 at Nagpur. Mumbai declared its innings at 410 for 6.

While returning back, I had the most satisfactory feeling. I knew I would be able to recall this day throughout my life. I felt it can’t get better than this in a Mumbai vs Australia match.

But it did. The next day, which was the third and final day, I switched on the radio to follow the match. Much to my extreme surprise, Australian wickets were falling like a pack of cards. They got all out for a paltry 135! This meant Mumbai needed to score just 31 runs to win, which they did in 5.3 overs with all wickets intact at around 1:30 pm.

I couldn’t imagine Mumbai defeating Australia in two and a half days. 1998 deserves to be remembered for this match too…

Note: There is no recording of this match available as it wasn’t telecast. See the full scorecard HERE.

Also read:

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

One of Wasim Akram’s biggest achievements is forgotten

When Livingstone’s team won a ONE-DAY match by 500 runs!

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We all have seen teams winning one-day matches by huge margins, especially while playing against minnows. But the info I came across about Liam Livingstone during India’s third and final ODI against England on Sunday 28 March shocked me.

One of the commentators shared this interesting trivia when England’s Livingstone came into bat.

In 2015, when Livingstone was just 21-year old, he played a 45-over one-day match for his club Nantwich CC against Caldy in Cheshire in the Royal London Club Championship.

Liam Livingstone after the match — Liam Livingstone with Ben Johnston after the match [Photo credits: Nantwich CC Twitter page]

Livingstone went onto score as many as, hold your breath, a mammoth 350 runs in just 138 balls. He hit 34 fours and 27 sixes! His team scored an unbelievable total of 579 runs in the allotted 45 overs!

He also had a partnership of as many as 290 runs with fellow batsman Ben Johnston, which is considered a record.

Speaking about his innings, Livingstone had told in an interview with ESPN Cricinfo, “It was just one of those days when everything I did came off. Every shot I tried to play, most came out of the middle [of the bat]. All the edges went past fielders. Balls landed in the gap. I think it was just my day and luckily I cashed in on it.”

Interestingly, there were still 9 overs to go when Livingstone got out. “I was out with 9 overs to go. I was quite disappointed that I didn’t get more [laughs]. It’s just one of those things,” he added.

At that time, it was believed 350 is the highest score in any form of limited overs matches in the world. However, it was later learnt that in 2013, an Australian batsman Ashley Gray had smashed 358 not out in a 40-over match for Royal Household Cricket Club against Tambler Valley Ramblers. His team went onto score 454 for 1 in 40 overs.

Livingstone 350 runs scorecard — Scorecard of the match [Photo credits: Nantwich CC Twitter page]

But it is believed that the margin of victory for Livingstone’s club team is the highest ever in limited overs cricket around the world.

In reply to his team’s 579, the opposing team Caldy was all out for just 79! Hence, Livingstone’s club team won the match by a whopping 500 runs!

In case somebody is aware of any instance where a team won a limited overs match by more than 500 runs, do mention it in the comments.

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He played 1 test but has ZERO tests to his name

When Indian crowd was in no MOOD to see India win

When Jayasuriya-Afridi opened batting together for a noble cause

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Sri Lanka’s Sanath Jayasuriya and Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi were two of the most destructive batsmen in the mid to late 1990s era. Both were at the peak of their form at the same time.

Jayasuriya broke the record for fastest 100 in ODIs [one-day internationals] in 48 balls against Pakistan in 1996 in Singapore. Afridi, on the other hand, broke that record against the Sri Lanka in the same year when he scored 100 off just 37 balls in Nairobi.

I remember having discussions in school at that time on what would happen if Jayasuriya and Afridi were in the same team and they opened the batting together. I would regularly note down my World XI team and would include both the players in it.

The dream of watching Jayasuriya and Afridi in the same team came true all of a sudden when a match between India and Rest of the World [ROW] was planned.

The match was organized on 30 December 1997 by Sathya Sai Baba at his model village in Puttaparthi. A stadium was specially created for this match in a short time. It’s perhaps the only cricket stadium that has big statues of various Gods like Hanuman, Shankar, Jesus and Buddha on the boundaries.

The purpose behind the match was to promote unity among the various nations of the world through spirituality. The stadium offered a perfect setting to achieve the goal. More so with school students taking out a rally with the flags of every country in the world.

The dignitaries who attended the match included the then Indian Prime Minister IK Gujral, former Indian cricketers Sunil Gavaskar and EAS Prasanna, former Pakistani cricketers Zaheer Abbas and Hanif Mohammad and former West Indian players Clive Lloyd and Alvin Kallicharran. Syed Kirmani, another former Indian cricketer, was the commentator.

The dignitaries seated (Photo source: Radiosai.org)

India was captained by Sachin Tendulkar and World XI by Arjuna Ranatunga. The latter consisted mostly of Sri Lankan and Pakistani players. The Indians came up with a full strength side despite it being an unofficial match. Apart from Tendulkar, they had the likes of Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, Ajay Jadeja, Venkatesh Prasad, Sunil Joshi etc.

India won the toss and opted to bat in the 45-over contest and made a big score of 289 for 4. Tendulkar was the star of the innings as he scored 88 not out, followed by Jadeja (77) and Dravid (62). I have a slight memory of few aggressive shots by Tendulkar and Dravid.

Then came the moment I was waiting for as Jayasuriya and Afridi came out to open. They started off decently but their opening partnership didn’t yield much as Afridi was dismissed soon. But Jayasuriya scored a quick 45, followed by Arjuna Ranatunga’s 67.

However, no other batsman showed any form as the World XI was bowled out for just 165 in just 26.2 overs. Prasad, Joshi and Sairaj Bahutule had bowling figures of 4-37, 3-24 and 3-16 respectively. India comfortably won by a heavy margin of 124 runs.

For complete details of the match, click HERE.

After defeating Jayasuriya and company — Indian team with the Unity Cup (Photo source: Radiosai.org)

Unfortunately, no video footage of this match is available anywhere on the internet. In fact, even a proper scorecard of the match isn’t available anywhere except a part of it here HERE.

Hopefully, someone might remember this match and try to find out any video after going through the article. The match was telecast by Doordarshan. They surely would have it in the archives.

Although it wasn’t a close contest by any means, at least the view of the beautiful stadium should be worth revisiting this match.

Also read:

Forgotten Cricket Moments: The real Lagaan match at Brabourne Stadium

He played 1 test but has ZERO tests to his name

After 51 for 7, Pakistan fought back in this unofficial semi-final: Flashback

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Sharjah was known for producing some interesting and unpredictable cricket matches in the 1980s and 1990s. The Pakistan v/s Zimbabwe match in the league stage of the 1997 Singer-Akai Cup turned out to be one such saga with unexpected twists.

It was the last league match of the series and was more like a semi-final. Sri Lanka had reached the final and it was left to this match to decide whether Pakistan would join them or Zimbabwe.

Pakistan won the toss and opted to bat. They had a very strong team and this made them the favorites. But the Zimbabwean team of the 1990s had the ability to scare anyone on their day.

This is exactly what the African nation did with the ball. Pakistan kept losing wickets right from the start. We soon realized that this isn’t just another bad start from which teams generally recover.

In less than 20 overs, Pakistan was reduced to 51 for 7! The trio of Eddo Brandes, Heath Streak and Everton Matambanadzo was all over Pakistan and it looked as if they would be bundled out before reaching 100, considering all their frontline batsmen were out.

I clearly remember being shocked and amused as a school boy watching the match on TV.

Pakistan keeper Moin Khan — Moin Khan [Photo source: Indian Express]

Although the big names had collapsed, Pakistan still had Moin Khan out there. The gutsy wicketkeeper-batsmen had bailed out his team from trouble on numerous occasions in the past. He did it again for his team, despite the disadvantage of having only the tail for company.

Their star off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq put his hand up and gave a solid support to Khan. The scorecard might indicate that he played a test innings by scoring 20 off 81 balls but in the context of the match, the innings was priceless.

Khan succeeded in rescuing his team with a brilliant 61 off 97 balls. The fact that he could hit just one four and one six was proof of how hard he had to work for his runs. The pair of Khan and Saqlain added 77 runs for the eight wicket and Pakistan had something to bowl to by finishing at 151 for 9.

But despite the fightback, the score was very low and there were no demons in the wicket. Zimbabweans still had the upper hand.

However, there were more unexpected events in store. Pakistan’s strong bowling attack lead by Waqar Younis kept striking regularly at the start. His team mate and leg-spinner Mushtaq Ahmed rose to the occasion and picked up 4 wickets. Apart from playing a gutsy innings, Saqlain picked up a couple of wickets too.

In the end, Zimbabwe was all out for a paltry 119 in 40.1 overs.

At the halfway stage, it looked like Zimbabwe would create another upset after their win against Sri Lanka earlier in the series. But that wasn’t to be courtesy one of the biggest fightbacks in ODI history.

In the end, the match became like a replay of the earlier league game between both the teams. Pakistan were all out for 187 and Zimbabwe were bundled out for 95 after being 39 for no loss at one stage.

This match also brought back memories of India being 17 for 5 against the same team in the 1983 World Cup match and then going onto win due to skipper Kapil Dev’s incredible innings of 175 not out.

Unfortunately, there is no video available of this encounter on YouTube.

India’s emphatic win achieved another LARGER good

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It is said that cricket is like life. And life can be strange. Very strange, at times. And funny too. What better example than the stories of the two 19s? On 19 December 2020, exactly a month ago, Indian fans felt their lowest when their team was bundled out for just 36 in the first test at Adelaide against Australia.

This was India’s lowest score ever in the history of the game. One would, naturally, write a team off from here on and expect them to lose 4-0. I too felt in case India even draws one of the remaining three matches, it will be like an achievement.

But exactly a month later today, on 19 January 2021, we are celebrating India’s 2-1 series victory after the emphatic win in the fourth test at the Gabba, Brisbane.

Like life, cricket is indeed funny.

It would have been a remarkable victory for India even if they had played their full-strength side in the next three matches. But instead in the last two matches they had to go with an India A or a second string team and still triumphed against the mighty Aussies on their home turf and that too after the disastrous 36 all out.

For example, Mohammed Siraj made his debut in the 2nd test of the series and he was the leading pacer in the fourth one!

Winning with such an inexperienced side makes this one of India’s best test series victories ever if not the best. It has been said that this is an even greater achievement than the 2001 home series against Australia; famous for VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid’s heroics.

Team India taking a flag march at the Gabba — Photo source: Sachin Tendulkar’s Facebook page

But apart from clinching an almost impossible victory, this win has achieved another greater good for the game of cricket.

Many of us would have heard countless number of people say that test matches are boring. It’s a five-day game with no over restrictions and players play slow. Hence, people, especially the younger generation, prefer limited overs cricket, especially T20s; more so after the arrival of the IPL (Indian Premier League).

Limited overs cricket is considered more interesting since the match can swing any ways. There are nail-biting moments with the many close finishes. Throughout the match something or the other keeps happening in the middle to keep the entertainment factor alive.

But this test series has proven that the aforementioned factors can also occur in test cricket. This can be seen from the number of times our heartbeats were increased during the course of the series. In limited overs cricket, fours and sixes are cheered. But the third and fourth test showed that even dot balls can produce excitement.

You would lose counts of the number of dot balls that were cheered in the third test when Ravichandran Ashwin and Hanuma Vihari were batting to save the match for India.

People, who generally avoid test cricket, must have also understood that it takes a lot more skill for both batsmen and bowlers to excel in this format.

It is called ‘test cricket’ for a reason. It is a test of your skills.

This series has endorsed the five-day version of the game not just in India and Australia but also world over like never before. Let’s hope enough people noticed this around the world.

Cricket administrators have been thinking since the last few years about reducing test matches to four-day games. I guess such ideas will be put on the backburner now.

Also read:

He played 1 test but has ZERO tests to his credit

After just 1 run in first 6 innings, Marvan Atapattu made a historic comeback

India’s injury woes bring back horrific memories of 1976 West Indies tour

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Team India is on a high right now after they managed to pull off a heroic draw in the third test match against Australia in Sydney earlier this week. The ‘no result’ is considered as victory by cricket experts and Indian cricket fans around the world.

Under normal circumstances, this should encourage India to go into the fourth test, which starts on 15 January, with mammoth confidence. However, these are not normal circumstances that the team is facing currently.

More than a handful of Indian players are facing serious injuries. These include – Ravindra Jadeja, Hanuma Vihari, Jaspreet Bumrah, KL Rahul, Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav. These six players are ruled out of the match and there are other players too who are not fit.

It is not often that you see so many players from a squad ruled out of a match because of injuries. This situation brings back some horrific memories of India’s tour to the West Indies in 1976, although under different circumstances.

I had heard Syed Kirmani, who played that match, recall the incident in an old TV quiz show about cricket on the now defunct channel Home TV in the late 1990s.

India vs West Indies — Photo source: Crictracker.com

It was the last test of the four match series. With both the teams winning one match each, it looked like there was an exciting contest in store. More so because in the last match, India chased down the record-breaking total of 406 by losing just 4 wickets. But the last match was anything but exciting for the Indian team.

India batted first and declared their innings at 306 for 6. Practically they were 9 down with Brijesh Patel, Anshuman Gaekwad and Gundappa Vishwanath injured. It is said that India’s captain Bishen Singh Bedi declared despite having 1 wicket in hand because he didn’t want him and another tailender Bhagwat Chandrasekhar to get injured facing the Windies quickies.

In reply, West Indies were all out at 391 with a good lead.

But there was a larger nightmare in store for India. In the second innings, the team had to declare their innings at 97 for 5!

India was forced to declare simply because five of their 11 players were injured and not fit to play! Along with the three players in the first innings, Bedi and Chandrasekhar also got injured in the course of the match and couldn’t bat.

As per the Indian players , these many injuries weren’t a mere misfortune but were deliberate tactics of the West Indies’ bowlers to injure the batsmen with nasty bouncers and, even, beamers. Sunil Gavaskar has gone on record to slam the opposition bowlers and even the crowd for cheering whenever an Indian player got hurt and asking for more!

On top of that, there were no helmets in that era!

Declaration at such a low total meant that India only had a 12-run lead in the second innings. Hence, the WI were left with a target of only 13 runs, which they achieved without losing a wicket.

But that’s not all as far as the sorry condition of Indian players is concerned. India’s substitute player Surinder Amarnath was rushed to the hospital during the match for an appendix operation.

Out of the 17-men squad, six were not fit to play. This meant that everyone from the squad was required to field during some stage of the game.

India equals 40-year-old record after Sydney draw

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Less than a month ago, the Indian cricket team was down in the dumps like never before after they shockingly got all out on 36 in the first test against Australia in the Border-Gawaskar Trophy. It was their lowest total ever in the history!

On that fateful day on 19 December 2020, who would have thought that this same team would win the second test match and draw the third one heroically? The turnaround that this Indian side has gone through in the last two matches has been legendary.

They have shown this is unlike any Indian team of the past and a force to reckon with even without their best batsman and captain Virat Kohli and with injured players like Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin.

The third test match at the Sydney Cricket Ground, which ended today, is a draw on paper but it’s as good as winning the match for the tourists. It can be a nightmare to bat on the fifth day pitch while chasing a mammoth total of over 400 runs against a formidable bowling attack.

When India were three down after they lost Ajinkya Rahane earlier in the day, it seemed they would succumb soon. But Rishabh Pant had other plans. He tried doing the impossible by going for the chase and almost succeeded.

Later on, we got to see a different ball game altogether when Hanuma Vihari and Ravichandran Ashwin did everything possible to snatch away victory from Australia.

The two of them, along with Cheteshwar Pujara and Pant earlier, displayed a masterclass on showing grit, determination, character and never-say-die attitude. Not to mention, Vihari was injured while Jadeja, despite a severe injury, was all ready to bat if needed.

While saving the test match, the Indian team brought the good old days of test cricket alive. It is very rare these days for test matches to go on till full five days. There are even fewer instances of teams fighting for a draw. India not only did that but achieved it against all odds.

India batted for as many as 131 overs. This is the fourth highest number of overs they have batted in their test history to draw a match. They have equaled its 1979 record of batting for these many overs to save a match against Pakistan in Delhi. [See the table below]

India record — Source: Screenshot from Sony LIV

The fact that India last such long overs to save a match more than 40 years ago speaks volumes of this team’s achievement today. As pointed before, India did it without Kohli and with few players injured.

Before the test series, India had won the T20 series and didn’t do bad in the one-day series, thereby showing their adaptability in all formats of the game even in difficult overseas conditions.

He played 1 test but has ZERO tests to his name

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Being a cricket crazy country, India is filled with youngsters wanting to play for the national team. It is a dream that comes true for a very minute percentage of people, considering our huge population. Connor Williams from Baroda was once among those tiny percentages whose dream of playing test cricket for India came true.

However, he has 0 tests against his name despite playing one test match for India.

The backstory to Williams’ debut lies in the controversy in the second test at Port Elizabeth during India’s 2001-02 tour to South Africa. Four Indian players – Virendra Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, Shiv Sunder Das and Deep Dasgupta – were booked by match referee Mike Denness for ‘excessive appealing.’ They faced a ban for one test match.

Captain Sourav Ganguly was banned for one test match and two one-day internationals for allegedly not being able to control the behavior of his team members. More shockingly, Sachin Tendulkar was banned for one test match for alleged ball tampering.

This not only infuriated the cricket fans back home but also the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India). Under the leadership of Jagmohan Dalmiya, the BCCI demanded that Denness shouldn’t continue as the match referee in the next test at Centurion.

Cricket South Africa (CSA) sided with the BCCI and ensured Denness doesn’t even get to enter the stadium. What was worse for the controversial referee was that he couldn’t explain his stand at a press conference.

It was during this press conference that former Indian cricketer and commentator Ravi Shastri came up with his famous remark – “If Mike Denness cannot answer questions, why is he here? We know what he looks like.” [Read all about the controversy HERE]

It was in the 3rd test match of the series that Connor Williams made his test debut as an opener. He got the chance because Sehwag had to be dropped after facing one match ban. The debutant scored only 5 in the first innings but showed his class in the second with a gutsy 42, which contained some handsome boundaries.

Rare footage of Connor Williams batting in his only test

However, in the entire controversy, the ICC (International Cricket Council), sided with Denness and deemed the third test at Centurion as unofficial. The three test series got shortened to only two tests. South Africa won the series as they had won the first one and the second one, where the controversy erupted, turned into a draw.

Unfortunately, Williams could never play another test for India. He was selected in the next test series against England at home in 2002, but wasn’t selected in the playing eleven.

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

Williams is a part of strange turn of events where he played a test match for India and scored runs. But the match doesn’t exist in any record books [India lost that match by an innings and 73 runs] and hence, his international career stands at nil.

He could have become India’s 240^th test player. But it was Sanjay Bangar who grabbed that number in the series against England where he made his debut.

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He was selected for 1983 WC, but had to wait till ‘99 to play for India

After just 1 run in first 6 innings, Marvan Atapattu made a historic comeback

This is no 90s team, this is Naya Hindustan…

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We will hear the phrase ‘historic win’ regularly for the next few days, at least till India plays the third test match in the series against Australia in 2021. Ajinkya Rahane and his men have displayed an example of determination in the Boxing Day [second] test. And this is not just because we beat Australia in Australia in a test match for just the eight time.

After being shockingly all-out for their lowest score ever of 36 runs in the second innings of the first test, India was down in the dumps [anther blow in 2020]. Plus, captain Virat Kohli, the star batsman who top-scored in the match, had to leave because of personal commitments.

To win the next match convincingly under such circumstances is nothing short of historic.

There were all kind of discussions going on before the start of this match on social media. People had assumed that India will lose the series 4-0. It was also said that even if India manages to draw one match, it will be quite an achievement. However, Rahane had other plans.

India-Australia Melbourne 2020 — Photo source: Manoj Tiwary (@tiwarymanoj) on Twitter

He lead from the front with the bat, by scoring a match-winning century in the first innings, and showed excellent captaincy skills while India was on field in both the innings. His bowling changes and field placements showed that he only believed in going for the kill despite what happened in the first test. And his bowlers rose to the occasion.

The ghost of 36 all out is well past now!

But not all is hunky dory and perfect for team India. We shouldn’t forget the numerous catches Australia dropped in the first innings. Things might have been different if they had held onto each one of them. One also can’t overlook how the team struggles to get the opposition tail out, which was the case here too.

Having said that, the team spirit and character strength shown in this match is unlike the Indian team of the bygone days. After losing the first two ODIs and getting 36 all out in the first match, there were talks about team India being back to the ways of the 1990s. The nightmare of India being 66 all out against South Africa in 1996 had resurfaced. But the Melbourne win has proved otherwise.

This is no 90s team. This is Naya Hindustan [New India]…

Also read:

When Swami Vivekananda took 7 wickets against the British club

When Indian supporters were in no MOOD to see India win

Who’ll motivate India like Sachin-Azhar did in 1997 in S Africa?

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Exactly 24 years ago in the winter of 1996, I was horrified to see India getting all-out for just 66 at Durban against South Africa in the second innings of the Boxing Day test match. It was India’s first overseas tour that I followed and it couldn’t have been worse.

It was also the first time I saw any side getting all out well before reaching 100. As it happened with the Indian team, it shook me more. I was sure it can’t get worse than this and I won’t see a lower score than this from India in my lifetime.

But I was proved horribly wrong 24 years later by the current Indian side which was bowled out for just 36 against Australia at Adelaide in the first test; their lowest total ever! It still appears unreal.

Highlights of India’s second innings at Adelaide

As the only time I saw India get all-out under 100 [in a test match] was in 1996, my mind keeps going back to that Durban test and the rest of the series.

That team’s morale was down in the dumps after that match. The mental baggage of that game was carried forward in the second test at Cape Town that started in the new year on 2 January 1997.

South Africa batted first and put behind a mammoth total of 529 for 7 declared. India displayed déjà vu of the first test after being 58 for 5 at one stage. It seemed India was set to repeat what happened in Durban.

But then came a partnership that brought a turnout not just on the scorecard but also in the Indian camp. From that score onwards, Sachin Tendulkar and Mohammed Azharuddin started counter-attacking in ways that we didn’t see in test matches then.

The two experienced blokes started hammering every bowler of the opposition and built a huge partnership of 222 runs. Azhar scored 115 off just 100 balls with 19 fours and a six. Tendulkar, on the other hand, made 169 with 26 fours.

He was the last man to get out when Adam Bacher pulled off one of the most spectacular catches of all time at deep square leg. The batsman was visibly stunned and stood his ground for some time, unable to believe his eyes.

India eventually lost that match. However, that partnership between Tendulkar and Azhar brought about a psychological change in the side. It put across a message that we can bat freely and fearlessly even against South Africa in South Africa, which was tough in those days.

Sachin-Azhar partnership at Cape Town in 1997

The effect of this was seen in the third test at Johannesburg when the team looked much more determined. India batted first and posted a good score of 410, helped by Rahul Dravid’s impressive 148.

In reply, South Africa were all out for 321. After getting a healthy lead, India batted decently in the second innings and set South Africa a target of 356 runs. India looked like winning the match after reducing the Proteas to 228 for 8. Unfortunately, rain and bad light ensured that the match turned out to be a draw; a match India should have won.

Also see: When Javagal Srinath was on a hat-trick thrice against South Africa

The major difference between the Durban test and the recent first test against Australia is that in the former we were never in position to dominate. In fact, we were 100 all out in the first innings and that had almost sealed the match for South Africa.

However, despite India being in a dominating position on day two in the recent test, the current blow is a bigger one. Getting all out on a score as low as 36 can be detrimental to the morale of any team.

Twenty-four years ago, Sachin and Azhar removed that barrier for India.

Who will do that this time around?

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When Swami Vivekananda took 7 wickets against the British club

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