Category Archives: Cricket

When Swami Vivekananda took 7 WICKETS against the British club

Born as Narendranath Datta, Swami Vivekananda is known as the monk who inculcated strength and determination in the youth of India through his powerful words and deeds. He was instrumental in spreading Indian spirituality and changing the image of India in the west, largely through his speech at the Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893.

Vivekananda received enlightenment from his beloved spiritual guru Ramakrishna Paramhansa and his wife Sri Sarada Devi. He is also credited to have started Ramakrishna Mission and Ramakrishna Math after his guru. He came to known as Swami Vivekananda after becoming a monk.

But despite Vivekananda being a monk and a spiritual guru, he gave high importance to physical activities like sports. He himself was actively involved in sports right from his school days. Along with football, a popular sport in West Bengal, he also played cricket.

It is one of Vivekananda’s heroics in cricket that is highlighted in this article. Something not many would know and would come as an exciting surprise.

Kolkata’s world renowned stadium Eden Gardens was built in the 19^th century and was one of the few epicentres of cricket in India back then. Among the many cricket enthusiasts who played cricket there also includes Swami Vivekananda, who was the young Narendranath Datta back then.

Author and former cricketer Raju Mukherji in his book Eden Gardens: Legend & Romance has written that Datta, in his 20s, played cricket at the stadium in the mid-1880s for Town Club, one of the earliest local clubs in Kolkata back then.

The Calcutta Cricket Club (CCC, which later went onto become Calcutta Cricket and Football Club) team was a formidable side back then. It largely contained British cricketers since it was formed by the British.

It was during a match against CCC that Datta took as many as 7 wickets in an innings.

Mukherjee has credited the April 2004 edition of the Bengali magazine Udbodhan for this startling piece of information.

Vivekananda has a large number of followers around the world. But this trivia is expected to amaze almost all of them as they wouldn’t be knowing it.

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

There are also other unconfirmed reports stating that the CCC side was bowled out for just 20 runs because of Datta’s exploits and that the match took place 136 years ago. The reports also mention that it was coach Hema Chandra Ghosh’s words that encouraged the young Datta to give his best.

Vivekananda’s exploits on the field don’t come as a surprise though. He was an ambassador of sports even after he became a monk. One of his famous sayings goes like, “You will be nearer to God more through football than through the study of the Gita.”

What he meant was that merely following spirituality through reading is useless unless you give importance to physical fitness, which, in turn, helps in developing your mind. On various occasions, Swami Vivekananda has also spoken about treating your body as a temple.

Also read:

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

Forgotten spells: When Srinath was on a hattrick THRICE in one innings

When Indian crowd was in no MOOD to see India win

5 Replies

Interruptions during cricket matches or any sport can be irritating. It gets worse when such interruptions bring a premature end to a game. As far as cricket is concerned, the most common spoilsport has been rain.

But the worst stoppage the game of cricket has seen is angry crowd behavior.

The mention of such disruptions instantly brings to our mind the India-Sri Lanka 1996 World Cup semi-final. The violence carried out by the crowd in Kolkata forced the match officials to end the game abruptly and declare Sri Lanka as the winners [India was anyways about to lose the match].

In the same year in the India v/s Australia match in the Titan Cup, the crowd in Bangalore went berserk when Mohammad Azharuddin was wrongly given out LBW. They finally settled down only after Azhar himself went to that part of the stand to request them to not indulge in such behavior.

But the worst crowd behavior in India came in 2002. Although it was the most inexplicable reaction by the crowd, it hardly finds a place in public memory.

India was playing a 7-match ODI series against the touring West Indies and were two down after the first two matches. The third match was in Rajkot and India was eager to open their account in the series in order to have a chance of winning the tournament.

Virendra Sehwag vs West Indies — Virender Sehwag (File photo)

West Indies batted first and scored 300 for 5, helped by Ramnaresh Sarwan’s 84, Shivnarine Chanderpaul’s 74 and Chris Gayle’s 72. India came out all guns blazing in reply. Skipper Saurav Ganguly and Virendra Sehwag had a 196 run opening partnership in which the latter scored 110!

When Sehwag is in such form, people would drop everything to watch him bat, irrespective of which cricketing country you belong to. But for some truly weird reason, the crowd at Rajkot started indulging in violent behavior by throwing stones and other items on the field, threatening the safety of the West Indies players.

Also read: Forgotten spells – When Srinath was on a hattrick THRICE in one innings

The security personnel tried their best to cool things down. But they were not enough in the face of the unruly crowd, which ensured that the match was halted thrice because of their antics.

Such behavior is somewhat understandable [but not justified by any means] if India is losing the match, like it happened in the 1996 semi-final. But why would anyone even think of showing such behavior when the home team is going great guns and with someone like Sehwag in full flow?

Finally, the match officials had to prematurely stop the game and award the match to India through the Duckworth-Lewis method. India were at a comfortable position at 200 for 1 in 27.1 overs with Sehwag not out on 114 off just 82 balls and VVS Laxman yet to open his account.

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

The decision turned out to be controversial. The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) complained to the International Cricket Council (ICC) against the decision of the Match Refree Mike Procter to use the D/L method to decide the winner. As per WICB, the match should have ended in ‘no result’ since it wasn’t halted by any force of nature.

When the 1996 WC semi-final was prematurely stopped, Sri Lanka were declared winners by default and not through D/L method.

Whether it was right to declare India the winners is debatable. But there is certainly no doubt that the people who came to see the match in Rajkot were lucky that there was no social media then and hence, the news of their behavior didn’t spread far and wide.

Highlights of the match:

Can we get BETTER Cricket highlights please?

Srinath’s Titan Cup performance is proof that stats don’t show the real picture

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Javagal Srinath has been one of the best fast bowlers to have played for India. The pacer was always ready to give his all whenever the team needed, irrespective of the conditions and the format. He is the second highest wicket taker for India in one-day internationals (ODIs) with 315 wickets.

But the bowler had an unusually unbelievable record in the Titan Cup in 1996. For those who are too young, the Titan Cup was a triangular series played between India, South Africa and Australia in India. Surprisingly, Australia failed to win a single match in the entire series, where each team played each other thrice. So, India and South Africa reached the finals.

The proteas were in terrific form all through the league matches; winning all of them comfortably. However, SA somehow couldn’t chase India’s total of 220 in the final and lost the title to the hosts.

But something unusual about the Titan Cup popped up into my memory recently. It’s about Javagal Srinath’s performance with the ball. You would be stunned to know how many wickets he took in the entire tournament.

As strange as it may sound, the bowler could pick up only 1 wicket in the entire series in which India played a total of six matches, including the final. He played all six matches and opened the bowling in all of them.

Generally, one would attribute bad performance for such a record. But that was not the case with Srinath. I remember the pacer bowling with dedication in every match of the series. In fact, this info about him picking just 1 wicket is hardly known because he never faced any criticism for it. Rightly so because he bowled well in the series.

In most of the matches, he bowled economically and didn’t make it easy for the batsmen. This helped bowlers from the other end pick up wickets. But instances of putting pressure never get a mention in scorecards.

The one wicket Javagal Srinath took was in India’s second last match against Australia in Mohali. It was an important one of Michael Slater, who was out leg before wicket. The match was an unofficial semi-final for both the teams.

Also read: Forgotten innings: Lance Klusener’s 99 w/s Sri Lanka in the final

We have heard a lot of cricket experts or commentators say that statistics don’t show you the real picture. Javagal Srinath’s performance in the Titan Cup is a shining example of it. There are days when even the greatest of spells don’t yield results. This is where it gives a feeling that luck also plays a role to some extent in the sport.

But despite this, it would be wrong to say that Javagal Srinath had a quiet tournament. He made up for it with the bat. He was the hero when India was struggling to chase a modest score of 215 against Australia in a league match and were 8 down. Srinath saw India home with some fine support from his Karnataka team-mate Anil Kumble.

Back then, it was an era of pinch-hitters and Srinath was India’s most favored one for that role. In the league match against South Africa at Rajkot, Srinath top scored with 53 runs [his highest score] after coming one down as a pinch-hitter. Not many would have expected him to be India’s highest scorer in any match.

While writing this, another major example of stats not being the ultimate truth comes to my mind. Rohit Sharma scored a mammoth 264 against Sri Lanka in Kolkata in 2014. Nine years earlier to that, Sachin Tendulkar scored 98 against Pakistan in the 2003 World Cup.

The score of 264 is way more than 98. Yet, Tendulkar’s innings is held in much higher regards than Sharma’s.

I am sure there are many more such examples.

Additional reading:

One of Wasim Akram’s biggest achievements is forgotten

Forgotten spells: When Srinath rattled South African batting order singlehandedly

14-year-old Marian Gherasim becomes the youngest T20 int. player

Forgotten innings: Lance Klusener’s 99 v/s Sri Lanka

2 Replies

South Africa’s Lance Klusener was one of the most exciting all-rounders to have played the game. Those who witnessed his start and rise in the 1990s would mostly agree that he deserved to play many more matches for the Proteas.

Although he was a good pace bowler, Klusener was mostly known as a batsman who can smash just about anyone when he is in form. This is more so since some of his best ODI (one-day international) innings came under pressure situations. It would come as a surprise to many that he batted at number 11 when he started his first-class career as a bowler.

Klusener became a star in no time after his debut in 1996. But his popularity increased after his antics with the bat in the 1999 World Cup, despite South Africa not lifting the cup.

Who can ever forget his histrionics in the semi-final of the WC against Australia where he almost took his side to their first World Cup Final ever? Even after more than 20 years, the result of the match continues to hurt me, although I am not a South African.

But maybe because his 1999 WC heroics are so popular that one of his best ODI innings is forgotten. It came in the final of Golden Jubilee Cup in Lahore in 1997. The series was organized in as part of the celebration of Pakistan’s 50 years of Independence and was also known as Pakistan’s Independence Cup.

It was a quadrangular series between Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa and West Indies. It came as a surprise to me to not see India being a part of a ODI series taking place in Asia.

Sri Lanka and South Africa reached the final played on 8 November at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium as both the teams won three and two matches respectively in the league stage. Pakistan won one while West Indies lost all the three matches in the series.

Sri Lankans were a much bigger threat in that era but they could score only 209 for 7 in their 50 overs with not a single batsman going past the score of 32. South Africans were in great form in that series and it felt they would cruise to the target. But that wasn’t to be.

The Proteas were in a spot of concern when they were 71 for 3 [the idea of sending Pat Symcox as a pinch-hitter didn’t work] and 109 for 4. But Klusener, who came in at number 3, kept the innings alive for the South Africans when wickets were falling at the other hand. The other batsmen were getting starts but they weren’t able to capitalize on it.

Klusener batted one-down in the series to get some quick runs. It wasn’t different in the final as well. The left-hander started hitting boundaries as soon as he arrived. But when the team kept losing wickets, he changed his role and controlled his aggression to see his side home.

To see a hitter like him showing maturity and responsibility is what makes this knock a highly memorable one for me.

Also read: Forgotten Innings: Nayan Mongia’s historic feat v/s Australia

It is unfortunate for any player to get out at 99. I was disappointed when he was caught and bowled by Sanjeeva D’Silva on that score. But I remember him telling Ian Chappel in the post-match presentation that he was glad to see his side home in the final.

The video of his speech is not available. In fact, there’s only one 11-minute poor quality video of that match shared on YouTube (seen above). But it’s good enough to revisit, what in my opinion, is one of the best ODI innings by a South African.

Looking back at the Klusener of that era today, I can only imagine how destructive he would have been in the T20 version of the game today.

Additional reading:

One of Wasim Akram’s biggest achievements is forgotten

Forgotten Spells: Srinath’s match-winning 6 for 21 v/s South Africa

One of Wasim Akram’s biggest achievements is forgotten

8 Replies

Contrary to today’s times, the 1990s saw a battery of fast bowlers around the world that would trouble some of the best batsmen of that era and played for a long duration. The list of such bowlers would be incomplete without the mention of Pakistan’s great Wasim Akram.

Although there were the likes of Glenn McGrath, Counrtney Walsh, Curtly Ambrose, Allan Donald, Kapil Dev and Javagal Srinath, my personal favorite was always Akram. More than his pace, it was his skill of moving the ball on any surface that used to fascinate me. Who can forget his two wickets in two balls in the 1992 World Cup Final?

In 104 test matches, Akram took as many as 414 wickets at an average of just 23.62. He took a staggering 502 wickets in ODIs (one-day internationals) with a similar average of 23.52.

The bowler had plenty of memorable moments on the field in his career spanning around 17 years. But unfortunately one of his greatest achievements [if not the greatest] is forgotten. In fact, I haven’t heard about it in various cricket discussions I have had in my life, both offline and online.

Akram was one of the rare bowlers to take as many as four hat-tricks in his career. Two each in tests and ODIs. The only person above him is Sri Lanka’s Lasith Malinga who has taken five [all in white ball cricket].

(See the list of all test hat-tricks HERE)

This article is about his test hat-tricks which are highly significant. Akram took his first test hat-trick versus Sri Lanka in 1999 at his home ground in Lahore when he dismissed Romesh Kaluwitharana, Niroshan Bandaratilleke and Pramodaya Wickramasinghe.

In the same year against the same team at Dhaka, Akram got another hat-trick when he sent Avishka Gunawardene, Chaminda Vaas and Mahela Jawavardene back to the pavilion in a matter of three balls.

Now, this is where it gets interesting. The two hat-tricks Akram took were in two consecutive test matches. Hence, he is the only bowler in the history of world cricket to take two hat-tricks in two matches back-to-back.

Watch both the hat-tricks in the video above

All of you who are reading must have had hundreds of cricket discussions in your life. How many times have you people discussed about this feat by Akram? This would be interesting to know.

As far as hat-tricks are concerned, the only bowler to have had a bigger achievement than Akram was Australia’s Jimmy Matthews. He took two hat-tricks in two innings of the same match against South Africa way back in 1912.

The two matches in which Akram took two hat-tricks were a part of the first Asian Test Championship. The Lahore tie was the league match while the final happened in Dhaka. The other team in the series was India, which couldn’t reach the finals.

Also read: Forgotten Cricket Moments: The real Lagaan match at Brabourne Stadium

Despite the first of its kind triangular test tournament, the Asian Test Championship isn’t remembered as a memorable series. The second Asian Test Championship of 2001 [played between Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh] is even less remembered with India not taking part in it.

Maybe because of the low key nature of the tournaments, Akram’s incredible feat has been forgotten over the years.

Additional reading:

Forgotten spells: When Srinath was on a hattrick THRICE in one innings

Forgotten innings: Nayan Mongia’s historic feat vs Australia

Forgotten spells: When Srinath singlehandedly rattled South Africa

5 Replies

Indian cricket can’t boast of many fast bowlers who bowled really quick and played for a long duration. Javagal Srinath was an undisputed leader of India’s pace bowling for years. Cricket fans who started following the game in the 1990s have fond memories of him.

But somehow his best spell in test cricket hasn’t been discussed much and it seems as if it has been forgotten.

Srinath started his career in the early 1990s and made a mark in India’s tours to Australia and New Zealand during that period. He changed his bowling action a bit early in his career, making it not as high arm as it was earlier. But that didn’t affect his quality of bowling. He soon became India’s strike bowler.

One of Srinath’s impressive bowling spells during his initial years

Srinath was someone who enjoyed hitting the deck and using the bounce to full effect. Most of his deliveries came inside the right-handers which weren’t easy to handle. At times he used to fox the batsmen with balls that left the right-handers.

This particular feat of his came in the 1996-97 season. India was all set to play a three test series against South Africa. This was right after the Titan Cup which India won by defeating SA in the final. The first test was at Ahmedabad.

It was a low scoring match where batsmen had to work hard. India batted first and scored only 223 with not a single batsman reaching 50. It looked as if SA would be bundled out on a score much lower but Fanie de Villiers had other plans as he scored a fighting 67 to take South Africa to 244.

India fared worse in the second innings and were 124 for 7 at one stage. But the debutant VVS Laxman and Anil Kumble showed some fight and helped the team reach 190.

This was the first proper test series I followed as a child. I wasn’t pleased with this ‘new player’ Laxman in the first innings. In that age I was quick to judge and said he has no future. But he made me eat my words in the second innings when he scored 51 in extreme pressure and I was glad.

South Africa were given a target of 170. As the Indian players went on to the field, not many would have thought that Srinath was all set to deliver the most defining moment of his career. Being a fourth-day pitch in India, it seemed the spinners will take the bulk of the wickets if India has to win.

But Srinath delivered from the word go. In the first over itself, he reduced SA to 0 for 2 when he got Andrew Hudson and Daryll Cullinan off successive balls. I remember going mad with excitement as those were my initial days in test cricket and I had never seen a side being 0 for 2. [As I write this, I remember England were 0 for 2 this week against Australia]

Srinath returned for his second spell when the opposition was 96 for 4. He reduced them to 96 for 6 as he again got two wickets [Dave Richardson and Jonty Rhodes] off two balls.

There was more to come though. In his third spell, he bowled Allan Donald and Paul Adams off successive deliveries to finish with tremendous figures of 6 wickets for just 21 runs. [See the whole scorecard HERE]

It is too rare to see a bowler being on a hattrick thrice in one innings. In other words, whenever Srinath got a wicket in this innings, he got another one in the next ball itself.

Forgotten innings: Nayan Mongia’s historic feat vs Australia

The rare feat coupled by the fact that he singlehandedly won the match for India makes me wonder why this effort isn’t spoken about much. In fact, I have never read posts about this spell in any of the cricket groups on Facebook and I wonder why.

Luckily, there is this little video below which has captured all his wickets in the innings.

Srinath’s career too has fared an almost similar fate in terms of remembrance. He hardly gets a mention in a discussion on the best Indian players. When he played his last test match in 2002, he was the second highest wicket taking fast bowler with Kapil Dev being the first.

Additional reading:

When Australia played against Australia in this World Series

Dhoni could have scored more 100s but…

Yuvraj Singh’s 3 heroic TEST innings that have been forgotten: See videos

Forgotten innings: Nayan Mongia’s historic feat vs Australia

3 Replies

Perhaps Nayan Mongia might not feature in the list of best Indian wicketkeeper-batsmen when we have the likes of Budhi Kunderan, Syed Kirmani, Farokh Engineer, Mahendra Singh Dhoni etc. But for those who grew up watching cricket in the mid-1990s, Mongia’s name was synonymous with the word ‘wicketkeeper’.

The cricketer from Baroda played continuously for team India in both test matches and one-day internationals in this period and proved to be good enough. It was impossible to miss his presence whenever India was bowling. His constant chatter with the bowlers and his trademark expression ‘Aai ga!’ ensured he was always in the game.

Indians have just witnessed the entire career of the legend MS Dhoni. Hence, in front of him, Nayan Mongia, the batsman, won’t appear much impressive. But the chirpy cricketer did have one major achievement with the bat.

Unfortunately, his biggest feat as a batsman is something cricket fans seem to have forgotten. In all these years, I don’t remember that innings being discussed online and offline by anyone.

It came in the only test between India and Australia in Delhi in October 1996. This test was the start of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Apart from Mongia’s innings, another reason why this match is special for me is because this was the first time I properly followed a test match ever.

It was a good test for India as they easily defeated Australia by seven wickets. Mongia was India’s test opener in those days. He was considered competent but I don’t think anybody could have expected him to score as many as 152 runs.

Short highlights of the match

Mongia showed his patience as he batted for 366 balls and 497 minutes. He applied himself and got his eye in. He showed respect to good deliveries and in between took risks by playing few lofted shots. It was a high quality innings which played a major role in India winning the match.

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

Shane Warne was out injured during that Australia tour of India [which continued with the Titan Cup after this match]. But the Aussie line-up still had the likes of Glenn McGrath and Paul Reiffel; the latter was moving the ball at will. Hence, it wasn’t an easy bowling attack by any means.

As hardly anyone remembers this innings, it is obvious that the relevance of this knock is also unknown. Mongia got his name included in India’s batting records. At that time, he was just the fourth Indian wicketkeeper to score a test hundred after Budhi Kunderan, Farokh Engineer and Syed Kirmani.

Read the list of centuries by wicketkeepers HERE

Highlights of Mongia’s match-winning partnership with Sourav Ganguly

And Mongia’s score of 152 was just the second highest by an Indian wicketkeeper after Kunderan’s 192 versus England in 1964. Likewise, he also became just the second Indian wicketkeeper to reach the score of 150 in tests.

Maybe because this knock hasn’t been as popular as it should be, there is no video on YouTube with the complete highlights of Mongia’s innings.

Additional reading:

When Australia played against Australia in this World Series

Dhoni could have scored more 100s but…

Yuvraj Singh’s 3 heroic TEST innings that have been forgotten: See videos

Dhoni could have scored more 100s but…

3 Replies

India and the cricketing world is overwhelmed with emotions right now as former Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has announced retirement from international cricket. And why not? He was not only one of the greatest players to have played for India but also one of the finest in the world.

Dhoni achieved such greatness also because of him being a terrific captain of team India. As we all know, he is the only captain to have won the 20-over World Cup, 50-over World Cup and ICC Champions Trophy, along with various other series victories.

But the one quality in Dhoni which we rarely find in other captains is his selfless attitude as far as one-day internationals are concerned. He considered the team above his personal interests in ways we hardly see in other players and that deserves tremendous applause.

Let’s go back to the period when Dhoni was relatively new in the Indian team in 2005. It was in one of his earliest series itself that he made his announcement through a powerful 148 against Pakistan in Vishakhapatnam. In the same year, he smashed 183 not out against Sri Lanka in Jaipur, which remains his highest score.

In both the innings, he batted at number 3. There were times when he opened the innings or batted in the top four and had scores of anywhere between 70 to 90 under his name. In other words, Dhoni had made a name for himself as a quality top-order batsman.

Soon after winning the 2007 T20 World Cup, his first stint as a captain, he was also made the captain of the ODI side. Being the captain, nothing could have stopped him from continuing to bat in the top four and score many more runs for himself.

However, after being made the captain of the ODI side, Dhoni realized that the team has enough batsmen to bat in the top four or five. Sachin Tendulkar and Virendra Sehwag were fixed openers and there was Gautam Gambhir too who had to be played in the top three. Plus, there were the likes of Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina.

So, Dhoni humbly accepted his role as the number seven batsman. You don’t need to be an expert in cricket to know that someone batting at 5-down doesn’t get too many opportunities to score centuries. He could have scored many more hundreds but he chose to keep team India ahead of his personal interests without even mentioning this anywhere.

Records also tell us that that Dhoni has scored just one century each while batting at number 6 and 7. The second one came against Pakistan in 2012 only because the top order collapsed at 29 for 5, so he got ample overs to bat. [You can check HERE]

Although Dhoni never made a show of his selflessness, there’s one symbolic moment where it was for everyone to see. He was the winning captain of the 2011 World Cup Final against Sri Lanka. Plus, it was his innings of 91 not out that helped India lift the cup. The 6 he hit to see India home is one of the iconic moments in India’s sports history.

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

However, as soon as the World Cup was presented to him, he gave it away to his team-members to enjoy. He is nowhere near the trophy in the below picture of the team celebrating the 2011 WC victory. He chose to stand in a corner and cheer.