Today is March 30 that has its own special place in the history of the cricket as on this day 3 cricket legends Garry Sobers, Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar has left ineffaceable prints in the game over due course of time. Sobers has made his Test debut on the same date, while Lara scored a shimmering 153-not out in Barbados in 1999. On the other hand, Sachin’s 85 was crucial in India’s semi-final win vs arch-rivals Pakistan in the 2011 World Cup on the same date.
MS Dhoni’s India beat Shahid Afridi’s Pakistan
In the year 1954 i.e. 66 years ago, the greatest all-rounder, Sir Garfield Sobers, made his Test debut on this day at the age of 17 against England in Jamaica. He came out to bat at No.9 in the match. At the end of the match, he returned with bowling figures of 4 for 75 with innings of 14 and 26 in the 2 innings. Almost exactly 2 decades later, Sobers bid goodbye to the game with more than 8000 Test runs and 235 wickets.
In the year 1999, West Indian great Brian Lara surprised the world with a counter-attacking knock of 153 not out against Australia in Barbados. At one point in the test match, West Indies had been 105 for 5 in the 2nd innings, chasing the target of 308, however, Brian Lara’s knock helped the hosts to pull off an improbable 1-wicket victory firmly putting the left-hander in a league of all-time cricket greats. Lara played the knock at the time when no batsman from either side could even cross 40 in the 2nd innings of both the teams.
In the 2011 world cup, India played with a winning streak of 5-0 and maintained a 100 percent wining rate against Pakistan as well by defeating them by 29 runs in the semi-final clash at the Punjab Cricket Association IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali on March 30, 2011.
Sachin Tendulkar, who went into the match chasing his 100th international hundred, was given 4 lives by Pakistani fielders as he led India’s charge with a stroke-filled 85. However, India faced a batting collapse in the end, but Suresh Raina’s cameo of 36 runs took India’s total to 260. While balling, all the five Indian bowlers (Zaheer, Ashish Nehra, Munaf Patel, Harbhajan Singh, and Yuvraj Singh) took two wickets each to bundle out Pakistan for 231, handing the Indian side a win by 29 runs.
The MS Dhoni-led side eventually went on to lift its second 50-over title by defeating Sri Lanka in the finals.
Leave a Reply