5 instances when cricketers silenced their critics
They were told that their days were over. They were dropped from the team and shown the door. The critics wrote them off and fans started giving up on them. But they did not give up.Slump in form may have been the reason for being dropped, but these cricketers toiled day and night to emerge as winners. Finally, when they made a comeback, ther averages were through the roof, highlighting how much the setback had meant for them.Here is a look at five examples, when cricketers gave strong performances to silence their critics.
#1 Sourav Ganguly
One of the most successful Indian captains of all time, Sourav Ganguly made a comeback to Test cricket in style in 2006, with his unbeaten 51 in Johannesburg, after being dropped almost a year before, to steer India to their maiden win in South Africa. He then went on to score his first double hundred and also became the second-highest run-getter in Tests in 2007, before hanging up his gloves.
The stylish left-hander was dropped from the ODI team in November 2005 and in early 2006, he was dropped unceremoniousy from the Test team, following the widely publicised Chappell-Ganguly spat. Slump in form and unimaginative captaincy led to his exclusion and critics wrote that he was past his prime.
The Prince of Calcutta proved the world wrong. In 2005, when he was dropped, Ganguly had scored 249 runs in seven matches, averaging at 24.90 with one solitary century in tests.
In his comeback year in 2006-2007, he had scored 1106 runs in 10 matches averaging at 61.44 with four test centuries in his kitty.
If that’s not a fairy tale comeback, then what is?