Free Hits and Expensive Misses

When the going gets tough, the tough get going. Over the last two decades in the world of cricket, the period I have followed with passion, a lot has happened both on and off the field. Here we will concentrate on the on-field happenings; in batting, bowling and fielding that have helped turn a match of high significance (in both directions). There would have been a lot of pressure in these situations no doubt. But, that is what international sport is all about. Isn’t it?

FREE HITS

Here we look at a phase of a game that turned the match. It could be a special innings, or a wonderful over.

Inzamam-Ul-Haq :  Benson & Hedges World Cup , 1^st Semi Final, Auckland, 21 March 1992

Walking in at 140 for 4 against New Zealand; with Pakistan chasing a daunting target of 262 runs, and needing a further 123 runs from 15 overs , a very young and relatively unknown Inzamam-ul-haq played a blitzkrieg knock of 60 runs in just 37 balls to propel his team into the finals. Pakistan would eventually go on to win the World Cup. What a sensational knock it was!

Sachin Tendulkar : Hero Cup, 1993 - 1st semi final, Kolkata, 24 November 1993

Surprisingly, it is his bowling exploits we are looking at first! South Africa needed 6 runs from 1 over with 3 wickets left. Who was going to bowl the all important over for India ? Prabhakar, Kapil Dev and Srinath each had 2 overs left but did not come forward to  bowl. Enter a 20 year old Sachin Tendulkar. He had not bowled a single ball  in the match before, but was courageous enough to grab the ball from his captain and deliver the last 6 balls. And what an over it was !  He conceded just 3 runs, and India won.

Johan Van Der Wath and a boundary from the most unexpected player! : 5^th ODI, Johannesburg,  12 March 2006

With the five match series level at 2-2, Australia batted first and scored a mammoth 434 for 4 in 50 overs. South Africa in reply were cruising thanks to a brilliant 175 from Gibbs and an awesome 90 from Smith. But, when a cluster of wickets fell in the middle, in came Johan Vander Wath in the 43^rd over, played a whirlwind innings of 35 runs in 18 balls before he departed in the 47^th over; and helped South Africa get back on track and regain their lost momentum. Then came two boundaries from the bat of Roger Telemachus, one of which was an audacious sweep shot of Nathan Bracken! South Africa would eventually go on to win the match by 1 wicket and with 1 ball to spare. This is the greatest one day international to have ever been played in the minds of most cricket lovers.

Robin Uthappa : 6^th ODI, Kennington Oval, London,  5 September 2007

India were trailing England 2-3 and this was a must win game for them to keep the series alive. Sachin Tendulkar (94 off 81 balls) and Sourav Ganguly (53 off 60 balls) laid a solid foundation for India with a 150 run opening stand, while chasing a target of 316 set by England. India lost its way in the middle and in came Robin Uthappa with the team needing a further 83 runs to win in 58 balls. The target then became 42 runs in 4 overs and then 10 runs were needed of the last over. With wickets falling at the other end, Uthappa needed to keep strike and keep striking balls to the fence. And he did . With two amazing boundaries in the last over, he sealed the match for his country and India leveled the series at 3-3 going into the final ODI at Lord’s.  

Sachin Tendulkar : Sharjah, 22 April 1998

This match was crucial for India to make it to the finals. They were tied on points with New Zealand and had to achieve a superior run rate to qualify for the finals. Australia batted first and made 284 for 7. India’s target was revised mid way, in fact it got tougher for them, because of a sand storm! India did not win the match, but beat the run rate required and qualified for the finals thanks to a brilliant innings from the master himself. He made 143 in 131 balls and propelled India into the finals single handedly. India would go on to win the finals two days later(this day also happened to be Sachin’s birthday), thanks to another Sachin Tendulkar masterpiece. His 25^th birthday could not have been better!     

EXPENSIVE MISSES

Here we look at certain instances on the field, which turned the game totally in the opponents favor and of course, cost the match.

Herschelle  Gibbs : ICC World Cup , Super Sixes, 13 June 1999

This was a do or die match for Australia. South Africa batted first and made 271 thanks to a steady century from Gibbs. Who would have thought that the hero of the first innings would be the villain in the second ? Australia were staring down the barrel at 48 for 3 in the twelfth over. In came the “ICEMAN”, Stephen Rodger Waugh ! He added 126 useful runs, and fast, with “Punter” Ponting and kept Australia in the game. Then something happened.  S.R. Waugh, batting on 56, lobbed a dolly to mid wicket to one of the safest hands in world cricket. Gibbs would have taken that catch even in his sleep! But he put it down, while trying to prematurely celebrate. Waugh went on to make 120* in 110 balls and Australia won the game and advanced to the Semi finals. These two teams would meet again in the Semi-finals, and that was where, the real effect of the drop was felt !

Lance Klusener and Allan Donald : ICC World Cup - 2^nd  semi final, 17 June 1999

South Africa won the toss and chose to field. And what a wise decision it proved to be! Australia struggled their way to 213 all out thanks mainly to a great spell of bowling by Shaun Pollock who got 5 for 36. The chase began with South Africa off to a steady start. Then came the wrecker in chief, Shane Warne; whom every South African batsman finds difficult to read. From 48 for 0, they were suddenly 61 for 4! Kallis and Rhodes began the repair job but fell at crucial times. In walked Lance Klusener in the 45^th over with South Africa at 175 for 6. He immediately got going, but as luck would have it for South Africa ( as usual in big games), wickets kept tumbling at the other end. South Africa needed 9 runs from the last over with just one wicket left; Damien Fleming was going to bowl it. Klusener was batting with Donald, and thankfully for South Africa , Klusener was on strike. He hit the first two deliveries to the boundary like tracer bullets! They needed just 1 more run and had four deliveries to do it in.  A dot ball was bowled and the tension mounted. Donald was backing up too far and a run out chance went a begging. Klusener hit the next one down the wicket and started to run. Donald wouldn’t move! He got run out and with it came the first tie in world cup history! Australia went through to the finals on account of finishing higher in the super 6 table (Remember the Gibbs’ dropped chance? And the loss to Zimbabwe in the league stages cost them carrying another 2 points into the super 6; miscalculations galore! ) It was heart break for South Africa; again!

The South Africans again! Wrong information this time!  : Kingsmead, Durban, 3 March 2003

Third time unlucky! One just cannot explain this phenomenon. Sydney 1992 to Birmingham 1999 to Durban 2003. Anyway, let us get to the match situation. South Africa needed to be 230 at the end of the 45^th over (Duckworth/Lewis method), having lost 6 wickets. Mark Boucher hit a crucial six and thinking the job had been done, did not attempt a single off the last ball of the 45^th over. And what a disaster it turned out to be! They had misread the Duckworth/Lewis chart. They thought 229 would be sufficient for a victory, while it was enough only for a tie! And South Africa had to exit the World Cup in yet another bizarre fashion. They just seem to be making a habit of this. Is it their fault? Not on all occasions, but as far as this one is concerned, they just cannot blame anyone but themselves.

Ian Healy : Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados, 30 march 1999

Lara was batting brilliantly, but he was soon running out of partners. Ambrose joined him with 60 runs still to get and the series was level at 1-1. Ambrose gave him good company with just seven runs to get and only Courtney Walsh left after this pair (all of us know of his batting exploits), Lara guided a ball to Healy; who grassed it. And with it went the match! What an expensive miss it turned out to be. Shane Warne was generous enough to drop him while on 101 already (it was a sharp chance no doubt, but with players like Lara, you just have to take your half chances). You don’t drop a player of Lara’s caliber twice in a match and get away with it anyway, do you?

Abdul Razzaq : ICC World Cup 2003, SuperSport Park, Centurion, 1 March 2003

Any match played between India and Pakistan is a high voltage encounter. There were two things that electrified this particular match even further. These two sides had not played each other since June 2000 and this was a World Cup match. Pakistan batted first and made 273 for 7 in their allotted quota of 50 overs; Saeed Anwar getting 101 of them. India began their chase as though they had a flight to catch soon. Sachin and Sehwag were going great guns. India then lost Sehwag and Ganguly to successive deliveries. Sachin was still blazing away, and in the excitement, he tried hitting Wasim Akram over the top of mid off where Abdul Razzaq was fielding. He did not get the required elevation, but fortunately for him, Razzaq was not fielding on the edge of the circle, and so it got a bit high for him, and he put it down. Sachin was on 32 when this happened. He went on to make a scintillating 98 in 75 balls and India won the match comfortably. They have not lost a single match to Pakistan in the World Cup till date!

It is situations like these which make the game of cricket so wonderful to keep watching. This is never going to be an exhaustive list. The more these kinds of instances, the more pleasurable the game would be for watching.

Cheers,

Aswath