5 batting performances which took everyone by surprise

There have been a lot of instances in world cricket where we have seen the unexpected happen. Minnows have gone on and defeated world class sides, and mediocre players have suddenly shown exceptional talent out of nowhere. There are also numerous examples of great players, much to everyone’s surprise, starting off their career with a few dull, forgettable innings before finally establishing themselves at the highest level.Marvan Atapattu, for example, scored just 1 run from his first three Tests and was consequently dropped for a period of two years after each of those failures. He went back to first class cricket each time and piled on the runs, thereby granting him further opportunities to establish himself at the Test level which he, to his credit, took full advantage of. Here are five batting performances which surprised the cricketing public:

#1 Jason Gillespie (201* vs Bangladesh, Australia in Bangladesh, 2006)

You are playing against Australia at home. You lose the first Test despite notching up a total of 427 in the first innings. You are, then, bowled out for 197 on the first day of the 2nd Test after winning the toss and batting first. And to top it all, a night watchman who had averaged below 10 before the said game scores a double hundred against you. It doesn’t get much worse and more humiliating than this.

After having a nice day with the ball with figures of 3/11 from 5 overs, Gillespie came in at No.3 as night watchman on the fall of Matthew Hayden’s wicket, and saw the day through with 5 runs to his name. The next day, which saw only 35 overs of play owing to interruptions by rain, was again survived by Gillespie who looked to be getting more comfortable at the wicket by the minute.

He remained unbeaten along with Ponting at the end of the day with the score reading 197/2. Day 3 saw some 50 overs, and the lone wicket to fall was Ponting’s. Gillespie continued batting and reached his hundred just before tea, while his partner Hussey got to his the next day even as Bangladesh looked clueless about how to send the Gillespie back to the pavilion. The runs kept piling up as the Aussies eclipsed the 400 run-mark, followed by Gillespie reaching 150 and Australia making 500.

And, all of a sudden, Gillespie had reached the magical 200 mark. It was as if nothing could go wrong for the men from Down Under. In regards to Gillespie’s effort, it was not one of those hasty, out of the blue knocks that a tailender scores every once in a while. It was a rather classy, well-planned textbook double hundred, which saw him take his time to get his eye in before freeing his arms once he got a hang of the wicket and the conditions. Gillespie hit 26 fours and 2 sixes in an innings that lasted 425 balls, spanning over four days and 9 hours. 

Bangladesh, who are usually used to setbacks when facing quality sides (or any side for that matter), could have perhaps digested a hundred from a Ponting or Hayden, but they couldn’t have been ready for something like this. They never succeeded in getting him out, with his innings coming to an end only after Ponting’s declaration the moment he got his double hundred. Up against the task of covering a deficit of 384 if they wanted to make Australia bat again, Bangladesh fell way short and were all out for 304. Gillespie was rightly awarded the Man-Of-The-Match as well as the series.