Cricket is a game of uncertainties, you do not know what will happen next. Sometimes a team is doing wonderfully during the innings, but suddenly it so happens that a few bad overs by bowlers and the game changes, and suddenly in few minutes bowling sides finds that batting side has taken control and the match which was under their control is now slipping from their hands. In other cases, the batting side is doing very well but suddenly a bowler comes and takes few wickets, and again the complexion of the game changes, now it has become in the favour of the fielding side.
But what happens a player performs so well in the match but still ends up on the losing side, that means even after his superlative effort his team loses. That is when player feel so bad that his feeling can not be described in few words.
First let us consider some top performances by the batsmen in Test Matches, which were in losing cause
TRAGIC HEROES-THE BEST BATTING EFFORTS IN A LOSING CAUSE
#1. Ricky Ponting (Aus) 242 runs– Australia v India at Adelaide 2003. The match was played between Dec 12 & Dec 16 2003. Australia won the toss and elected to bat.
Hayden and Langer opened the innings, and in the 6th over bowled by Ashish Nehra, Hayden was caught by Wicket Keeper Parthiv Patel for 12 with team score at 25. Ponting joined Langer and with the sensible batting took the score to 135, when Langer was caught by Sehwag off Kumble. All other batsmen gave valuable support to Ponting before he was 8th out at the score of 556, with an individual score of 242, was caught by Dravid off Kumble. At the same score, last 2 wickets also fell. From India, Anil Kumble took 5/154.
In reply, India were 85 for 4, with Chopra, Sehwag, Tendulkar and Ganguly back in the pavilion. Laxman joined Dravid, and they slowly started building the innings, and at the close of 2nd day, India was still at 180/4. Dravid & Laxman continued, where they have left last evening and both of them completed their centuries, first to go was Laxman who was caught by wk Gilchrist off Bichel for 148, with score at 388. At the end of the 3rd day, Indians were 477/7 with Dravid still batting at 199. On the 4th day Dravid was the last man out at 233, and India finished at 523, still, 33 runs short. Bichel took 4/118.
Aus started their 2nd innings badly and soon were 18/2, Their innings did not progress well as Indians were taking wickets at regular intervals, and son they were all out for 196. This time Agarkar doing the damage with 6/41.
Now India needed 230 for victory and at the end of the 4th day, they were 37/0. On the last day, by the time total reached 78 both the openers were back, Dravid & Tendulkar took the score to 149 when Tendulkar fell, Ganguly stayed for a while with Dravid, it was again Laxman & Dravid steadied the inning, in the end with the loss of 6 wickets India crossed the winning run, with Dravid 72 not out.
So in this match, Dravid’s effort gave India victory, but Ponting’s great inning of 242 ended on the losing side.
#2 Brian Lara (WI) 226 runs- Australia v West Indies, Adelaide 2005, played between Nov 25-29.
WI won the toss and elected to bat. WI was losing wickets at regular intervals but Lara was holding his end and scoring freely, by the time his wicket fell WI was 381/8 with Lara scoring 226. WI finished at 405. Aus replied very strongly with their opening pair adding up 97 then Langer & Ponting added 114 for 2nd wicket. Then Langer was out 99, after this Hussey & Bodge added 110 for the 4th wicket. In the end, Aus scored 428 with Hussy not out on 133.
In the second innings, WI could manage only 204 with the contribution of 62 from Sarwan and 64 from Bravo. It was Shane Warne’s spin bowling that destroyed WI, he took 6/80. Aus needed only 182 for victory which they achieved by losing only 3 wickets, with Hayden scoring 87.
So Brian Lara scored a double century still ended on the losing side. He was declared man of the match, but that was no consolation for him.
#3 Mathew Hayden (Aus) 203 runs- Australia v India at Chennai, played between Mar 18-22, 2001.
Aus won the toss and elected to bat.
They were 67/2 with Slater (4) and Langer (35) were back in Pavilion. Mark Waugh joined Hayden and they took the score to 217 when Waugh fell to Harbhajan, caught Dravid for 70. Captain Steve Waugh joined Hayden and by the close of day 1, Aus were 326/3 with Hayden on 147 & S Waugh on 43. After S Waugh fell at 340, Aus collapsed for 391 all out with Hayden 203. Harbhajan took 7/133.
India replied very strongly with opening pair Ramesh & SS Das aading123 run for 1st wicket when Ramesh was out for 61, Laxman came to crease and they took the score 211, when Das was out for 84, at 237 Laxman departed, next to go was Ganguly(22) at 284. Now Dravid joined Tendulkar & they batted very strongly and at 453 Dravid(81) fell. India made a total of 501 with Sachin Tendulkar scoring 126. India got the lead of 110 runs.
Aus in their 2nd innings could score only 264 runs, with Mark Waugh 57, Steve Waugh 47, and Slater 48, and again it was Harbhajan Singh who did the damage when he took 8/84. His match figure was 15/217.
India needed 155 for victory and pitch was deteriorating and batting was bound to be difficult for India. India lost the wickets at regular intervals. Their biggest partnership was 58 runs for 2nd wicket. The only worthwhile contribution came from Laxman (66 runs).In the end, it was wk Dighe (22 not out) and Harbhajan took India to winning post and India won the match by 2 wickets.
So Hayden after scoring double century ended on the losing side. He along with Harbhajan were jointly declared Man of The Match.
#4 Virendra Sehwag(Ind) 195 runs- Ind v Aus Melbourne 2003, played between Dec 26-30, 2003.
Ind won the toss and elected to bat. They opened with Sehwag & Chopra and started very well and added 141 as openers when Chopra fell for 48. Dravid joined Sehwag who was in great touch, and they took the score to 278 in 73 overs when Dravid fell for 49. Sehwag fell at 311 after scoring 195. After that Indian team folded for 366.
Australian team replied very strongly with Hayden and Ponting, after Langer fell cheaply for 14. Both of them batted freely and no Indian bowler could trouble them, and they took the score to 264 when Hayden fell 136. Ponting continued and with a small partnership with other batsmen, he went on and on and when he fell Aus were 555/9 and soon were all out for 558, so they got a lead of 192 runs. Anil Kumble took 6/176
India started very badly with both the openers back and India 19/2. At the score of 39 Ganguly got injured and went back and Tendulkar & Dravid took the score to 126 when Tendulkar got out for 44. Laxman did not last long and soon India was 160/4. Ganguly came back and joined Dravid and they took the score to 253 when Dravid fell for 92. India was all out for 286 with Ganguly scoring 73.
Aus needed only 95 for victory and they score 97 for the loss of only 1 wicket and won the match by 9 wickets.
Ricky Ponting was Man of the match.
In the same series a few days back Ricky Ponting’s double century was in vain, and this time Sehwag’s 195 ended up on the losing side.
#5 Hershelle Gibbs(SA) 183 runs –South Africa v England at oval 2003. Match played between Sep 4-8, 2003.
SA batted first and opened with Smith & Gibbs. They lost their first wicket at 63 and then Gary Kirsten joined Gibbs, and in the next 54 overs, they took the score to 290, when Kirsten was out for 90. Now Kallis joined Gibbs and they took the score past 300 and at 345 Gibbs was out for 183. After that, there was a good contribution of 66 from Shaun Pollock and SA finished on 484.
Eng replied very strongly, although they were 78/2 at one stage, thanks to Trescothik and G Thorpe their 3rd wicket fell at 346 when Thorpe was out for 124. After that Flintoff contributed 95 and with Trescothick scoring 219, Eng declared at 604/9 with a lead of 120 runs.
In their 2nd innings SA could manage only 229 with Pollock 43, Kallis 35, were the main contributor.
England needed 110 for victory which they achieved with the loss of one wicket, with Trescothick scoring 69 not out.
So here Gibbs inning of 183 ended on the losing side.
Next part of this blog on next weekend.
Waiting for your comments and views.
Anil Malik
Mumbai, India
23rd July 2021