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Kiwis never tasted so great
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Since Tiger Pataudi’s men returned victorious from New Zealand in 1968, winning in the Kiwiland had almost become a forgotten art. It took four decades to finally rediscover it when Dhoni’s boys won the Hamilton Test and with it the series 1-0. Sachin Tendulkar’s majestic 160 and Harbhajan Singh’s brilliant effort of 6-63 decisively broke the Kiwis’ back. The hosts came out firing in the Napier encounter but with Gautam Gambhir’s monumental 10-hour batting exhibition (137) India escaped to draw. India again muscled their way in the final Test with Gambhir’s imperious 167 but Wellington’s weather came to hosts’ rescue.
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Cricket’s darkest moment
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On March 3, the game suddenly found itself in the middle of a war zone. The terrorists, for the first time, had turned their guns at cricketers. Ironically, it was at the Liberty Square near Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium where the Sri Lankan team had their dreadfully-close encounter with death. A group of 12 terrorists had emptied their assault rifles at the convoy, injuring six players and killing eight people. Cricket had come face to face with the most inglorious certainty of the contemporary world — terrorism. Hopefully, it’s the last time.
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Incredible IPL
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It will go down as perhaps the biggest risk taken by the Indian cricket board, taking a domestic tournament, IPL, way beyond the boundary — South Africa. But what emerged after five weeks of frenetic cricket action was truly monumental — the IPL became the sixth biggest sporting brand in the world. And it only added to the IPL’s magic when Deccan Chargers, who featured at the bottom of the last edition, walked away with the trophy in a thrilling 6-run win in the final against Royal Challengers.
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The Miracle Worker
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Shaken and stirred by the terror attack in Lahore, Pakistan cricket needed something magical for its revival. What transpired at Lord’s on June 21 was nothing short of it. Short on match practice but high on natural talent, Younus’s brave-hearts spilled their guts out in the middle and won the edge-of-the-seat final against Sri Lanka. Pakistan, which was going through turbulent times, deservingly got something to celebrate. The images of Abdul Razzaq — a great comeback story — snaring three wickets and Shahid Afridi scoring the winning runs in the final will remain etched in the memory for a long time.
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On a high
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This was one of the most enduring images of the last Ashes series. On his last lap, with his knees beginning to revolt, Andrew Flintoff produced extraordinary spells of pace bowling and finished with his career’s final fifer, 5 for 92, to help England register a fine victory at Lord’s. Later at the Oval, the hosts, in another great exhibition of team effort, pinned Australia down to take the series and the coveted terracotta trophy 2-1.
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Aussie, Aussie, Aussie…
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When the questions were being raised at the very survival of the 50-over ODI format, the ICC came up with a leaner and meaner edition of Champions Trophy in South Africa. A roaring success with players and spectators, the tournament settled the argument in ODI’s favour. And so did Australia. By winning the second consecutive tournament at Centurion on Oct 5, the Aussies once again established themselves as the undisputed superpower.
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One for the master!
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World’s highest wicket-taker, Muttiah Muralitharan (792 Test wickets) considers him the greatest cricketer. “It’s not because of the records he has created over the years … I admire the way he took all that pressure for 20 years and yet delivered on most occasions.” Even after two decades of international cricket, the batting virtuoso shows no sign of slowing down. Instead, his records are only swelling in size — almost 13,000 Test runs, more than 17,000 ODI runs and over 30,000 runs in international cricket. Let’s just thank our stars for having lived in the times of Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar.
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Hands of God
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Apart from being a classy batsman, Rahul Dravid (188 catches) has emerged as a wonderful departure from the conventions of Indian cricket — one of the finest slippers of all times. On April 5, he dived to his wrong side to pick up a spectacular low catch to dismiss Tim McIntosh in the Wellington Test. A moment later he kissed the ball, acknowledging the immensity of the occasion — it was his 182nd catch — a world record. After Mark Waugh (181 catches), no slipper made catching look such an effortless and graceful affair.
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A ‘Gambhir’ performer
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The ovation at the dressing-room from the likes of Sehwag, Laxman, Dhoni and Yuvraj said it all. His defiant knock of 137, carved out over 10 hours, in Napier is now a part of folklore. What sets him apart is his indefatigable spirit and ravenous hunger for runs. In the five Tests this year, Gambhir has scored 727 runs, including four centuries at an average of 90.87. That’s truly Bradmanesque! The ICC Test Cricketer of the Year Award only corroborated the efforts of Gautam ‘Prolific’ Gambhir. You name the format, he has the runs.
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Hail the new world order!
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The dream India conceived 18 months ago wonderfully translated into a reality on that historic morning of December 6, 2009 when Dhoni’s men scaled the summit of Test cricket by crushing Sri Lanka in Mumbai. Critics may say it’s a statistical aberration, courtesy the ICC’s ranking systems, which can rival the Duckworth-Lewis system in its ambiguity, but there is no denying that this team has emerged as a dominant force in world cricket.
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End of Raj
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If there ever was a one-man gurukul on history of Indian cricket, it has to be Raj Singh Dungarpur — a raconteur extraordinaire. And a few could match his passion and vision for the game. Indian cricket never unfolded before anyone the way it did before him for almost four decades. From Peter May, his favourite cricketer, to Sachin Tendulkar, whom he introduced to international cricket at 16, he knew them all and all of them knew him well. Quite fittingly, on September 12, when he lost his prolonged battle with Alzheimer, the flags at Lord’s were at half mast.
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Umpires c technology b ICC
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The reintroduction of Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS) generated some heat and dust, but the umpiring fraternity realized the need of the modern times and reluctantly agreed to make room for the ever-so-intrusive technology. How will the system affect the health of the game and more importantly umpires? Well, we need to check with umpire Mark Benson on that.
The system was conceived and designed to make the game more fair and free from doubtful decisions. But has it delivered? Well, the jury is still out.
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David the Goliath
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If the world cricket had its own version of Laurel and Hardy, nobody would contest who’d qualify as Hardy. And yet David Shepherd would make that occasional discount to his girth and gravity by hopping in his inimitable style every time the scoreboard read Nelson or its multiples, sending the entire stadium in raptures. He was favourite with players and spectators as much for his hopping as his professionalism and accuracy in decisions. On Oct 27, the game lost one of its finest and most revered umpires, when Shepherd succumbed to cancer.
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Terminator
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Mahatma Gandhi would have disowned Virender Sehwag for the violence that he perpetrates with his willow. Even Muttiah Muralitharan was made to look club-class during that imperious knock of 293. Probably, the Lankan bowlers will check into a rehab centre once they return home. On missing the third triple century, Sehwag counter-punched, “Not many batsmen get to score two Test triple centuries and follow that with a 293. I do not think I have anything to be disappointed about.” That’s Sehwag for you — perhaps the most devastating batsman in contemporary cricket.
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Taylor made for Wisden
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As a student, she traded in numbers at the Oxford University’s faculty of mathematics. Later, she chose to trade in runs and it never stopped flowing from her bat. Claire Taylor stunned the world with a monstrous 156 at Lord’s against India in ’06 — the highest ODI score, which eclipsed Viv Richards’s 138 in ’79 World Cup.
She began 2009 scoring a century and two 50s in the victorious England’s World Cup campaign and deservingly picked up Player of the Tournament award. Take a bow to first woman cricketer to have featured in Wisden’s Five Cricketers of the Year.
