Wednesday, November 6th, 2024

Unlucky bowler, dropped catches of three batsmen, all three made the top score in the test


New Delhi. Apart from hard work in every sport, it is also important to have luck on your side in difficult times. There are many examples in cricket when a great batsman’s catch was missed on a small score and he/she took advantage of it and managed to score a huge score. There are also some cases when before the introduction of DRS system in cricket, a batsman despite being out, was able to escape by getting the ‘kindness’ of the umpire and later scored a century or a double century. In such cases, the umpire could not realize that the batsman was out and his/her decision went against the bowler’s appeal. There are some cricketers who got a lot of luck in their initial series and taking advantage of it, they became big players of the future.

On the contrary, there are some cricketers who did not get such luck. Karun Nair, the second batsman to score a triple century in Tests from India apart from Virender Sehwag, is a great example of this, who was dropped from Team India just three Tests after achieving this big feat in December 2016 and is still waiting for his/her ‘return’. Fast bowler Ishant Sharma can also be included in this list. In some Test matches, he/she bowled brilliantly and beat the batsman ‘outside the off stump’ a lot but unfortunately could not take a wicket. Everyone will remember his/her tremendous spell against Ricky Ponting in the Perth Test of 2008. In this spell, Ponting was escaping getting out on almost every ball of his/her. Later it was Ishant who took the wicket of this Australian batsman.

Another sad coincidence is associated with Ishant, popularly known as ‘Lambu’. On three occasions in Test cricket, he/she dropped the catch of a famous batsman of the opposition team while bowling and all three times the batsman took advantage of this and scored a huge score. This ‘life-saving’ proved very costly for Team India and Ishant. Ishant dropped the catches of Australia’s Michael Clarke, New Zealand’s Brendon McCullum and England’s Alastair Cook. Out of these, two batsmen scored triple centuries and one scored 294 runs. This was the highest score of these three batsmen in Test cricket.

0 in one innings of a Test and a century in the other, this coincidence has happened 3 times with two batsmen, both are left-handers

Let’s take a look at these special incidents related to these three tests.

India Vs England, Birmingham Test 2011
In the Birmingham Test, Ishant dropped the catch of Alistair Cook and this England batsman was successful in making his/her highest score of 294 runs in Test cricket. In reply to India’s score of 224 in the first innings, England declared the first innings at a score of 710 runs for 7 wickets with the help of Cook’s 294 and Eoin Morgan’s 104 runs. Ishant dropped the catch of Cook at the beginning of the English innings. However, Team India’s fielding was very poor in this entire match and some other catches were also dropped by the fielders. England won the Test by an innings margin.

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India Vs Australia, Sydney Test 2012
In the Sydney Test of 2012, when Ishant dropped the catch of Michael Clarke on his/her own bowling, the Australian batsman was on a score of 182. Clarke played a defensive shot which came straight to Ishant’s right but the bowler was a little late in reacting to the follow-through and the opportunity slipped away. When the catch was dropped, Australia’s score was 370 runs for 4 wickets. Captain Clarke later played an innings of 329 runs not out. With the help of his/her triple century, Ricky Ponting’s 134 and Michael Hussey’s unbeaten 150 runs, Australia declared the first innings at 659 runs for 4 wickets and won the match by an innings margin. Australian captain Clarke was declared ‘Man of the Match’.

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India Vs New Zealand, Wellington Test 2014
Similarly, Ishant missed the catch of New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum in the Wellington Test. In a way, this missed catch was like India losing the match. In this 2014 Test, the Kiwi team was all out on just 192 runs (Ishant Sharma 6/51) in the first innings on the first day. In response, Team India scored 430 runs and took a crucial lead of 138 runs. In the second innings too, New Zealand lost 5 wickets at 94 runs at one point and India’s victory seemed like a formality. Wicketkeeper batsman McCullum and BJ Watling were at the crease. When McCullum was on a personal score of 36, Ishant missed catching his/her catch. On the 55th ball of the innings and the second ball of Ishant’s 15th over, McCullum played the stroke early and the ball bounced towards the bowler’s right hand but he/she could not catch it. This lifeline proved to be very costly for Team India. If Ishant had caught this catch, the Kiwi team’s score would have been 130 runs for 6 wickets. Later, Indian wicketkeeper Dhoni also missed another catch of McCullum at the score of 293. But Dhoni was lucky that he/she was able to catch this batsman on Zaheer’s ball a few balls later. McCullum played an innings of 302 runs in the match. With the help of his/her triple century and centuries of Boulting (124) and James Neesham (137*), the Kiwi team was able to draw this test.

tag: Indian cricketer, Ishant Sharma, Team India, Test cricket

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