Memories Of Greatest Cricketers - - #8 Shane Warne

[sivank]

Great recap Sivan. But one or two doubts. Venkat was definitely in the team to Pakistan but didn't get to play any Tests, right? In fact on the first day of the third Test, the press reports said that Venkat would be playing but it was not be.

Was there Live telecast for that series? We (at Madurai or for that matter rest of Tamil Nadu) didn't have TV coverage. I am damn sure that 1982-83 series was telecast because on a trip to Madras, I had seen the live relay from my friend's hostel. But 1978? Since we had to follow thro' radio, I didn't do it ball by ball. Moreover it came during our semester exams and in between Deepavali (Oct 30th in that year -1978) also intervened and that didn't allow us to concentrate ball by ball.

Nerd,

I mentioned about reverse swing that Imran used to gain upper hand in 1982 -83 series and I had the bottle top in my mind when I wrote this. But one person contradicted me saying it was indipper. As for as my limited knowledge goes, reverse swing is an inswinger or indipper that is bowled with a outswinger action just like googly. Correct me if I am wrong. Imran's admission of doing it at Sussex in 1981, substanciates my theory for 1982-83.

Regards

Hi Murali,

Venky was in the team but was not given a chance to play a Test. As you mentioned Prasanna was omitted for the last test and naturally there were talks that venkat would take his place. As we saw the team announcement to our utter sorrow Ghavri was included instead of Venkat. Even though Venkat got to play all the 3 one day matches it was a pity he was side lined for the Tests.

I am very much sure that we had live Telecast in Madras. The match started at 10.30 a.m. due to the 1/2 hour difference between India and Pakistan. By that time we would have had our food and get ready for the match. Being a 12 year old, I was under the impression that the match was telecasted all over the country. We had a dynora (was it spelled like that) TV and the whole gang was at our house to watch. Sometimes when it was too much for my mother we used to watch it in a friends house

[Murali Srinivas]

Thanks Sivan, you should be right.

About the third test in that series when Sunny scored a century in each innings, there was this incident of he getting caught behind for nought but since the umpire was a bit hesitant and Sunny having a grouse that he was wrongly given out when he was on 97 in the previous test stayed put in his crease and went on to complete a century. Sunny himself disclosed it after some years. But in Pakistan, where Javed in his entire career was given out lbw only on two occasions, these umpiring blunders were a part and parcel of their package.

Regards

[P_R]

But in Pakistan, where Javed in his entire career was given out lbw only on two occasions

Enjoying the posts Mr.MuraLi and sivan

[Murali Srinivas]

The 1989 tour of Pakistan by India was quite a sensational one. We had not visited them for 5 years and after the 1987 series, this was going to be the return series. Though they had lost the World Cup in 1987, the Nehru Centenary Cup (reasons for BCCI to host a tournament) in 1989 saw them lift the cup in the finals against WI. Imran was in the forefront in the entire tournament and in spite of losing to WI and England, Pak came back strongly. I remember the India - Pak match on the Deepavali day of 1989. Went to "Vetri Vizha" for the morning show came back and watched India (under Srikanth) put up a very good fight (a century stand for the opening wicket) only to lose its way in the middle and the match. Went for "Mappilai" evening show. In the finals when it appeared that WI would win the match, Imran came in and batted so well and was there till the wining run was hit in the last over. If my memory serves me right, he not only lifted the cup in Calcutta but also bagged the Man of the Match award. In hindsight, we can conclude it was curtain raiser for 1992 World Cup.

So when India started its tour, everybody expected a thrashing. Srikanth was again the Captain and the only happening news was about a small boy. Aged 16 years and 205 days, one boy answering to the name of Sachin Tendulkar made his debut on Nov 15th of 1989 at Karachi. Pitted against him were Imran and the two Ws along with Abdul Qadir. The two Ws unleashed bouncers at the young boy and even made him spill blood. Imran as a captain failed to reign in his bowlers but the boy after getting first aid came back and played. The rest is history.

Coming to the series, India drew it. Imran could not recreate the same magic and ended up with less than 15 wickets for the entire series. It is still remembered for Sanjay Manjereker's double century at Lahore, Azhar's century at Faisalabad, Sachin's two half centuries, Manoj Prabakar's 6 wicket haul in one innings, Shoaib Mohamed's doule century, Sachin's go at Qadir in a one day match etc. It was remarkable that India could come out unscathed in Tests though they lost the one day matches in close margins. There was one match which was abandoned when crowd invaded the pitch because Pak had been reduced to 28 for 3. Any captain not losing a series against Pak at Pak is bound to keep his captaincy. But Srikanth found himself replaced by Azhar and dropped for the NewZealand tour. That's Indian Cricket for you.

Regards

[Murali Srinivas]

1992 World Cup

It had many firsts to its credit.

South Africa played its first World Cup.

Round robin League was followed for the first time, in the sense that every team played every other team. That means the strength of each team could be judged.

Coloured clothing was used for the first time.

Day Night matches were played for the first time in WC under floodlights.

Pinch hitting was put to use for the first time and the term coined, with Martin Crowe taking the credit.

Spinner opened the bowling. Off Spinner Deepak Patel of NewZealand (again thanks to M.Crowe) got the honours.

When the tournament started there was not even a hint that Pak would win. The only celebrity who predicted a Pak win was our Sunil Gavaskar and he was felicitated in a function held in Pakistan after the Cup was won.

Since it was a round robin league, every team had to play 8 matches and initially it looked Pak would be eliminated. They lost their opening match to WI by 10 wickets. The WI, now under Richie Richardson chased a score of 220 odd without wicket loss. Lara had to retire hurt after he nearly scored a century. Though Pak beat Zimbawae, they came totally unstruck against England and were shot out for 74. Imran did not play this match and Javed led in his absence. But for tail enders swinging their bat, Pak would have been still worse. Engalnd in their reply were 24 for 1, when rain interupted and play was washed out. There was no rest day provision and Pakistan who was staring at certain defeat escaped with 1 point.

Then came the crucial match. India vs Pak [March 4th,1992] at Sydney. The sub continent rivals were facing each other for the first time in a World Cup. India won the toss and elected to bat. Imran was back for this match and he opened up with Wasim and Aquib. Both were breathing fire and Aquib was simply unplayable. Srikanth was all at sea [I have never seen Srikanth "thadavify" so badly before]. His agony ended soon. Azhar came in at no 3 and he Ajay Jadeja steadied the innings before Azhar fell. Vinod Kambli who was specially flown in came next. [India were touring Australia and the team stayed back there. Kambli joined the team]. Kambli was good though he consumed more balls [By today's standard, the no of balls would be huge]. Jadeja's fall brought the two buddies together and at one stage it looked it would be a smooth affair when Kambli in trying to give a charge to Mustaq Ahamed fell. With Sanjay Manjerekar falling immediately, India was again pushed back. But Kapil gave good support to Sachin and we could cross 200. We finished at 216 with Sachin unbeaten on 54. For people who were following the game, it is still a mystery why play was stopped after 49 overs. We had a doubt whether it would be enough?

Pak innings was rocked back by Kapil and Manoj Prabakar. With Inzy falling to Kapil, Prabakar accounted for Zahid Faisal [This is one guy who was spoken highly by Imran but who failed to live up to the hype] and Pak were 2 down for less than 20. Now aamir Sohail and Javed slowly started to bring them out of trouble. Javed was not his usual self but he fished, missed, scratched around. Readers who had seen the live relay would remember one thing. Javed was complaining of back pain and was using runner. There was one moment when Venkatapathy Raju was bowling and Javed in trying to cut him missed it and wk Kiran More went up and down in glee claiming for a catch but that was disallowed. Javed on seeing this started jumping like a fox, making fun of More and that started a war of words and even the calm Azhar had a heated exchange with Javed. The partnership was almost worth 100 runs when Azhar ran in a change that turned the course of the match. Ball was handed over to Sachin and Aamir sohail in trying hit against the spin on the leg side scooped up and Srikanth at cover completed a low catch. Salim Malik who came in started with a flourish and hit two boundaries. Manoj was brought back and his ball moving away caught the thin edge and for the first time I saw a Pakistani batsman walking back without waiting for the umpire.

Imran came in and by this time the noose was getting tightened. He couldn't open his account and in desperation and confusion (because of the runner) saw V.Raju rearranging the stumps, while he could not reach the crease in time. Wasim the other danger man stepped out to Raju to miss it completely and More did the rest. Te next over saw Srinath breaching the defence of Javed and it was but over. Moin Khan and Mustaq tried to delay the inevitable but Pak was all out for 173 and we won by 43 runs.

The next match for Pak was with South Africa. SA batting first scored around 210 and odd. Pakistan in its reply started well and after the openers fell, Inzy and Imran did a good job and Pak were cruising at one stage. Readers would remember one photo which was a photgrapher's dream picture. Inzy hit the ball hard and ran but Jhonty Rhodes sprung from nowhere and stopped the ball and while he was still airborne, threw down the stumps to run out Inzy. That photo is still a collector's dream and got published everywhere. Rain interuptions made the targets to get revised but SA romped home. With just one victory and three defeats and one near defeat, Pakistan was staring at elimination with just 3 points against its name at the end of 5 matches.

That was when Imran the leader emerged.

Regards

[Murali Srinivas]

The next match was against Australia. Pakistan batted first. Aamir Sohail scored a half century and Javed contributed but Pak could not go beyond 225, I remember. Imran by that time (for the entire World Cup) was using Wasim and Aquib as opening bowlers (Waqar was not there) and he himself was coming at one change. This was paying rich dividends. With Aquib taking care of openers, Musthaq Ahamed accounting for middle order, Wasim to demolish the tail, Imran could chip in with crucial wickets. Here in spite of Marsh, Jones and Mark Waugh trying hard, Pak could beat them and they got a breathing space.

Next match for them was against Srilanka. SL batted first and ran up a acore of around 220 [that was the norm of all the matches during that time]. This was one match, I remember Imran walking in at one down and though the no of runs scored was not great, it was leading from the front and taking the cue from their captain, the team performed and Pak won that match. Now with 2 consecutive victories and 4 points, Pak were at 7 and with one more match to go, they now sensed a real chance of sneaking into the semis.

But the biggest hurdle was the last match that was against NZ. NZ till that time had won all their matches. With Martin Crowe in great form, Mark Greatbatch clicking as a pinch hitter and Deepak Patel suffocating the batsmen in the initial overs, NZ was coasting. So Pak, everybody thought has a tough job in their hands. But when the match was played NZ was so pathetic in their batting and were shot out for less than 175. Rameez Raja came good after a very long time and Pak won comfortably finishing with 9 points. Tongues were wagging that NZ did lose the match with an ulterior motive of staying back and playing the SF in NZ itself instead of going to Aus, as they have already qualified for the semis.

If that was true, they dug their own grave because the same teams clashed in the SF. NZ was in great form and the last match loss was an aberration, people thought. The match also started to unfold in the same manner. Crowe played a great innings in spite of using a runner and NZ made 262, which was surely a winning total. But again Imran came in at no 3 and Javed gave him good company. But the real revealation was Inzy. He played a hurricane innings and his 60 came of just 48 balls or so that simply tilted the match in Pak's favour. The fact that Crowe was not there in the field [Jeff Crowe was deputing] also was a big set back for NZ and Pak scramped home in the 49 th over itself with Moin Khan hitting the winning run. NZ tipped to be the winner found itself out of the tournament.

The Final was between Pak and England. In the other SF, England had scored a technical victory with rain interfering and when SA was asked to hit 22 runs in one ball, it was not going to happen any way. England came to the finals.

The Final was played on March 25th of 1992 (surprisingly not a Sunday). Pakistan won the toss and the loss of two early wickets didn't deter Imran. He again came at No:3 and he, Javed, Inzy and Wasim played as if possessed. They ran up a score of 249. England wanted a good opening partnership and lot depended on Gooch and Botham. But when Botham was dismissed for a nought by Wasim and Alec Stewart left immediately. Soon Gooch was gone and England were in dire straits. Lamb and Fairbrother then started building up a partnership but when Lamb and Lewis fell in succession, the fight was over. Fairbrother was the only person who fought and with the help of Defraites, Pringle and Illingworth tried to prolong the end but Imran was not to be denied his due. Ironically it was Imran who took the last wicket of Illingworth and well the victory celebrations were wild and beyond description. England a third time finalist had to end up as the eternal bridegroom in waiting.

Was Imran or Pakistan lucky? Definitely yes. But as the saying goes, fortune favours the brave and he took chances and made good strategic decisions. His team backed him to the hilt. He showed that age is not a restriction for performers like him. While other teams grew up and succeded because of their infrastructure and system, Imran and his team won in spite of their system. That was Imran's greatest quality, IMO.

Regards

[P_R]

Nice post Mr.MuraLi

The Final was played on March 25th of 1992 (surprisingly not a Sunday)

Yeah. I remember having to bunk school for this.

One nitpick....

The fact that Crowe was not there in the field [Jeff Crowe was deputing]

The deputy was our very own John Wright. Jeff Crowe did not play in the 92 World Cup at all.

John Wright was struggling to place fielders to Inzamam and Miandad. Imran's innings was on the slower side. Inzamam had to compensate for that. One of the most enjoyable innings I remember watching.

[omega]

The 1989 tour of Pakistan by India was quite a sensational one. It was remarkable that India could come out unscathed in Tests though they lost the one day matches in close margins. There was one match which was abandoned when crowd invaded the pitch because Pak had been reduced to 28 for 3. Any captain not losing a series against Pak at Pak is bound to keep his captaincy. But Srikanth found himself replaced by Azhar and dropped for the NewZealand tour. That's Indian Cricket for you.
Regards

I remember this series too. I think Azhar had 6 catches in one of the Tests @ slips ( in one innings).

About the one day game that got abandoned, it was sensational swing bowling by Pabhakar. His banana inswingers were too hard for the top order (I thought they lost atleast 4 wkts before play was disrupted, not sure though). To top it off, when the the crowd was indeed brought under control, Imran Khan agreed for a reduced match to be played all over again (ithukku per thaan shrewdnesso which offcourse was not accepted by Srikanth, hence abandoned).

[P_R]

Shall we move over to the next one ?

[littlemaster1982]