5 fierce bowling spells that tormented batsmen

Irfan Pathan was deadly when he got his hat-trick against Pakistan in 2006Cricket is a game of bat and ball but sometimes, the batting seems to grab more attention. While none of us can ever forget Brian Lara’s score of 400 in a test match against England, not too many of us can exactly visualise the moment when Shane Warne got to 700 wickets. The fans over the years have rejoiced more with batting miracles than by bowling spectacles.A good, fiery bowling spell has more than once changed the course of a game. While some of them have fetched wickets, others have threatened the batsman with almost unplayable deliveries. Pitch-perfect yorkers, deadly bouncers or express pace has wrecked havoc on the wicket, displaying some of the most entralling cricket.Here is a look at five such scary bowling spells that will be long cherished:

#1 Wahab Riaz rattling Shane Watson

It is true that the World Cup brings out the best cricket ever. Wahab Riaz gave us ample proof of that during Pakistan and Australia’s third quarter-final match in the 2015 World Cup.

Pakistan had their usual batting collapse, being bowled out for 213. Defending a small total, Riaz was on fire. What the world witnessed was a pumped-up Pakistan fast bowler mercilessly bullying an Australian batsman. 

Riaz’s fiery bowling had gotten him the key wickets of David Warner and Michael Clarke, after which he set his target on Shane Watson. He would have got his wicket as well if Mohammad Irfan had not dropped it. 

The first ball to Watson would have flattened the batsman's grille. He dipped beneath it but for Wahab, ducking was tantamount to submission. He got in Watson's face, claps at him sarcastically. The next ball is at 150kph and Watson would not dare to touch it. The next over is even more intense where Wahab is almost an inferno, raining down bouncers at Watson, who kept adopting evasive measures.

Pakistan had lost that match but those 30 minutes of Riaz’s spell is what we will remember of that match. On the scoreboard, Wahab's figures read 9-0-54-2 and Watson would thank his stars to come out of that unhurt.