1. SANATH JAYASURIYA ENDS MANOJ PRABHAKAR’S CAREER
The World Cup 1996 was highly anticipated to be India’s chance to reach the pinnacle again post the 1983 triumph. But, with India being slotted along with Sri Lanka, Australia and West Indies in Group A, going was tough in the group stages. After victories against Kenya and West indies and a narrow loss against mighty Aussies, a confident India elected to bat first in the encounter against Sri Lanka, the dark horse of the tournament.
Riding on Sachin’s fabulous 137 and Azhar’s wristy stroke filled 72, India went on to compile 271/3 in their stipulated 50 overs, a match winning score those days.
In reply, Sri Lanka was off to a rollicking start, with Jayasuriya and Kaluwitharana hitting shots all over the park with disdain. Jayasuriya was particularly in his imperious best, hitting his favorite square cuts and pulls at will.
He was absolutely brutal on Manoj Prabhakar, senior India paceman. Such was the ruthlessness of the attack that Azhar was forced to cut short his first spell to 2 overs only. In the return spell too Sri Lanka scored 20 odd off his 2 overs. His final figures read 47/0 in 4 overs.
In the process, the platform was already set for a massive Sri Lankan win. With Ranatunga and Tillakaratne completing the formalities, Sri Lanka went to script a memorable win. The match is also remembered as the last one in the illustrious career of Prabhakar. Such ignominious was the assault on the allrounder that he could never really stake a claim in the Indian Team again.
ODI matches played before the knock: 129
ODI matches played after the knock: 0
2. SEHWAG PULLS DOWN CURTAINS ON SAQLAIN’S CAREER
Pakistan-India series of 2004 was highly anticipated as Pakistan was hosting India for the first time in 15 years. It was important from the diplomatic angle too, as massive efforts were on to foment better relations between the arch rivals.
India had won the ODI series 3-2 and were firm favorites to win the Test series too. The face-off in the longer version kicked off in Multan. India won the toss and elected to bat first.
Indians were off to a sterling start, with Sehwag belting all the bowlers, sparing none. He was particularly merciless on Saqlain, the wily off-spinner. Sehwag went to score a mammoth 309, the first triple century by an Indian in Tests. In the process he also ensured Saqlain was forced to record the worst figures in his Test career. His final figures read 43-4-204-1.
Indians were successful in bowling out Pakistan cheaply in both the innings, thereby scripting a historic win against the old foes. Sehwag was aptly announced as the Man of the Match. Ironically it turned out to be the last Test match of Saqlain, an ill-deserved end to an illustrious career.
Test matches played before the knock: 48
Test matches played after the knock:0
3. BRENDON MCCULLUM COMPOSES AJANTA MENDIS’ SWANSONG
The New Zealand-Sri Lanka ODI series of 2015 was a highly one sided match-up. Sri Lanka was well past it halcyon days and Kiwis were always an indomitable one-day side at home. Hence expectations were limited even from hard core Sinhalese fans.
In the first ODI at Christchurch, Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat first. But living up to expectations, Lankans were never allowed to score freely.
Sri Lanka’s batting lineup fell like a pack of cards at the hands of the Kiwi pace attack. With the tail wagging for the Emerald Islanders, Sri Lanka were able to post a respectable 188 in 47 overs.
In reply, New Zealand openers never lifted the foot off the game. Lankan bowlers were left panting with 100 runs coming off the first 10 overs. The attack on Ajanta Mendis was particularly mind blowing. McCullum and Guptill piled on a massive 49 runs off 5 overs of the mystery spinner.
Kiwis breezed through the innings with no hiccups. The target of 188 was reached in just 21 overs. Matt Henry was aptly named the Man of the Match.
The match is also remembered as the last one of Ajantha Mendis. His career lost steam post the McCullum attack at Christchurch. He never donned the Lankan colours again.
ODI matches played before the knock: 86
ODI matches played after the knock:0
4. LARA PUTS BRAKES ON BUDDING CAREER OF RJ PETERSON
In December 2003, West indies toured South Africa, with the hopes of healing the wounds inflicted in the previous series. But with a batting line up largely dependent on Lara for the reversal in fortunes and a relatively inexperienced batting line up, chances of a Caribbean victory over Proteas was highly unlikely.
Batting first on a belter, South Africa compiled 561 in the first essay, largely thanks to the tons from Smith and Kallis. In reply, West Indies too had a solid start with Darren Ganga compiling a carefully made fifty. The contest took a real turn when Robin Peterson was introduced into the attack, which resulted in Lara turning on his absolute beast mode.
Lara gave vent to his complete wrath in Peterson’s 6th over and scored 28 runs. The bowler was never able to completely recover from the blitzkrieg by Lara and he ended up with figures of 13-2-76-0.
Though Lara scored a double ton, South Africa was able to blow away West Indies’ hopes of a victory pretty effortlessly. In the end, Proteas won the match by 189 runs. The match also put brakes on the prospects of Peterson grooming into the next best spinner for South Africa after Adams. Peterson hardly played 10 Tests post that over a decade, and his start-stop career never took off.
Test matches played before the knock: 4 (Over 7 Months)
Test matches played after the knock:10 (Over 14 years)
5. GAYLE DEMOLISHES P PARAMESWARAN’S LOFTY DREAMS
The fourth edition of the Indian Premier League was unique for many reasons- increase in the number of teams, overall increase in the number of matches and new rules for player transfers. There was another shocking record made during the tournament- a batsman scoring 37 runs off a single over.
In the 50th match of the tournament, Kochi Tuskers won the toss against RCB and elected to bat first. But things didn’t go according to the plan and they could only cobble up 125 in the stipulated 20 overs. There were only 4 two digit scores in the entire innings.
In reply, Royal Challengers were off to a flying start, with openers, Gayle and Dilshan firing on all cylinders. The real drama unraveled as early as the 3rd over itself, with the lanky Kerala seamer, Parameswaran getting introduced into the attack. Gayle never lifted the foot off the accelerator and that over read - 6, 6(nb), 4, 4, 6, 6, 4 - a whopping 37 runs in an over.
RCB was able to blow away the Tuskers total in mere 13 overs, largely due to the early pyrotechnics from Dilshan and Gayle.
The latter scored 44 off 16 deliveries. Parameswaran, then a highly promising paceman, was never really able to recover from the ruthless assault by Gayle.
His IPL dreams were literally nipped in the bud, with no major takers for him in the ensuing editions. Even in first class circuit, his performance took a dip and he faded into oblivion by 2015.
