In today’s weekend blog, I am back on Cricket.
In cricket, there is one term called “NERVOUS NINETIES”, meaning that whenever a batsman crosses the score of 90 runs, he becomes very cautious to complete his century. So many times during his nervousness, he loses his wicket. Many world-class batsmen have become victims of the nervous nineties.
This has happened in both Tests and ODI matches. In T20 matches, many centuries are not scored, and hence instances of nervous nineties rarely occur, and the second reason is that in T20 matches, there is no time for batsmen to become nervous, as it is a very fast game with limited time for batting for each batsman.
( Abbreviations used-Matches-M, Innings-I Runs-R, Centuries -100s, and out in nineties-90s)
Batsmen who got out in nervous nineties in ODI matches.
1 Sachin Tendulkar: M-463, R-18426, 100s- 49, 90s-18
2 Nathan Astle: M-223, R-7090, 100s-16, 90s-9
3 Ken Wiiliamson– M 173, R-7235, 100s-15, 90s-9
4 Grant Flower: M-221, R-6571, 100s-6, 90s-9
5 Arvind da Silva: M-308, R-9284, 100ss-11, 90s-9
6 Jaques Kallis: M-328, R-11,579, 100s-17, 90s-8
7 Shikhar Dhawan: M-167, R-6793, 100s-17, 90s-7
8 Virat Kohli: M-302, R-14,181, 100s-51, 90s-7
9 Mohd. Azharuddin: M-334, R-9378, 100s-7, 90s-7
10 Martin Coe: M-143, R-4704, 100s-4, 90s-6
11 Dean Jones: M-164, R-6068, 100s-7, 90s-6
12 Richie Richardson: M-224, R-6248, 100s-5, 90s-6
13 Michael Clark: M-245, R-7981, 100s-8, 90s-6
14 Virendra Sehwag: M-251, R-8273, 100s-15, 90s-6
15 Adam Gilchrist: M-287, R-9619,100s-16, 90s-6
16 MS Dhoni: M350, R-10,773, 100s-10, 90s-6
17 AB de Villiers: M-228, R-9577, 100s-25, 90s-6
18 Saurav Ganguly: M-311, R-11,363, 100s-22, 90s-6
19 Rickie Ponting: M-375, R-13,704, 100s-30, 90s-6
20 Kumar Sangakara: M-404, R-14,234, 100s-25, 90s-6
Batsmen who got out in nervous nineties in Test matches
1 Steve Waugh: M-168, I-260, R-10,927, 100s-32, 90s-10
2 Rahul Dravid: M-164, I-286, R-13,288, 100s-36, 90s-10
3 Sachin Tendulkar: M-200, I-329, R-15,921, 100s-51, 90s-10
4 Michael Slater: M74, I-131, R-5312, 100s-14, 90s-9
5 Arvind Kallicharan: M-66, I-109, r-4399, 100s-12, 90s-8
6 AB de Villiers: M-114, I-191- R-8765, 100s-22, 90s-8
7 Inzamam ul Haq: M -120, I-200, R-8830, 100s-25, 90s-8
8 Rishabh Pant: M-44, I-77, R-3200, 100s-8, 90s-7
9 Mathew Hayden: M-103, I-184, R-8625, 100s-30, 90s-7
10 Alistair Cook: M-161, I-291, R-12,472, 100s-33, 90s-7
11 Rohan Kanhai: M-79, I-137, R-6227, 100s-15, 90s-6
12 HH Gibbs: M-90, I-154, R-6167, 100s-14, 90s-6
13 Gordon Greenidge: M-108, I-185, r-7558, 100s-19, 90s-6
14 Stefan Fleming: M-111, I-189, R-7172, 100s-9, 90s-6
15 Geoffery Boycott: M-108, I-193, r-8114, 100s-22, 90s-6
Friends, Sachin Tendulkar is only player whose name appears in both the lists. Imagine what would have been Sachin Tendulkar’s tally of centuries if he had not became the victim of nervous 90s, it would have been 128.
Waiting for your feedback on this blog.
Anil Malik
Mumbai, India
19th September 2025