10 cricketers known for their one-off brilliant moments
Every cricket player who represents his country wants to make a name for himself. He steps onto the field with a burning desire - to leave an indelible impact on the game and win over fans and admirers.
Over the years, the game of cricket has produced innumerable superstars - from Sir Don Bradman to Sachin Tendulkar with the bat and Joel Garner to Wasim Akram with the ball. The list continues to grow and modern-day cricketers like Virat Kohli, Steve Smith and James Anderson also look set to end their careers as some of the finest in the present era.
Not everyone can reach the top though. Behind every Tendulkar and Anderson, there are numerous tales of those who showed promise but could not make it big on the international arena.
Cricketers synonymous with one unforgettable act
In this feature, we profile cricketers who did not taste a lot of success in international cricket, but have produced some moments of brilliance that secured their place in cricketing folklore.
#1 Joginder Sharma
Joginder Sharma, a gentle medium-pacer from Haryana, played only four ODIs and four T20Is for India. But he bowled one of the most significant deliveries in the history of Indian cricket. He was the man who claimed the last wicket of Misbah-ul-Haq in the pulsating 2007 T20 World Cup final against Pakistan in Johannesburg.
The scalp of Misbah set off wild celebrations all over India and made Joginder an overnight hero. As irony would have it, he never played for India again, finishing his international career with five wickets in eight matches across T20Is and ODIs combined.
Joginder was in the news again last year, but for totally different reasons. He was on COVID-19 duty, serving as a deputy superintendent of police in Hisar district of Haryana.
#2 Balwinder Sandhu
He could be termed India’s first one-off hero in the World Cup. A right-arm medium pacer from Mumbai, Balwinder Sandhu gave India the big breakthrough in the 1983 World Cup final against the West Indies at Lord’s.
The former pacer bowled the legendary Gordon Greenidge, who shouldered arms to a delivery that came in sharply. The wicket gave India belief that they could upset the mighty Windies and Kapil Dev’s men eventually went on to be crowned champions of cricket.
Sandhu’s ball to dismiss Greenidge in the 1983 World Cup final has gone on to achieve iconic status in the history of Indian cricket. His international career, though, lasted less than two years. He played eight Tests and 22 ODIs, claiming a total of 26 international wickets. A forgotten fact is that he also scored two fifties in Test cricket.
#3 Hrishikesh Kanitkar
For Indian cricket fans who grew up in the 90s, the name Hrishikesh Kanitkar will always ring a bell. The deciding final (third of best-of-three) of the 1998 Independence Cup in Dhaka was on a knife-edge. Kanitkar, however, held his nerve and hit a boundary off Saqlain Mushtaq to lift India to victory, in fading light.
Kanitkar remained unbeaten on 11 off 12 as India chased down 315 with one ball to spare in a pulsating cricket match. The fact that the win came against Pakistan, India’s fiercest rival on the cricket field, made the young left-hander an even bigger hero.
The fame was short-lived though. Kanitkar struggled to reproduce similar moments of magic and ended his international career with two Tests and 34 ODIs to his name.
#4 Asif Mujtaba
Former Pakistan left-hander Asif Mujtaba played 25 Tests and 66 ODIs spread over a decade. But despite repeated opportunities and some obvious talent, he failed to make it big in international cricket.
Mujtaba’s name will forever be associated with the last-ball six he hit off Australia’s Steve Waugh in an ODI in Hobart in December 1992. The Pakistan cricketer hammered Waugh for 16 in the over and the six clobbered over midwicket saw Pakistan tie the nerve-wracking encounter.
Mujtaba was named Man of the Match for his unbeaten 56 off 51 balls. Disappointingly, he ended his international career with an average of 24.42 in Test matches and 26.04 in ODIs.