Trust India to breathe life into any series (we really are sporting in our mindset) - the India vs West Indies cricket series seemed all but settled (oh - you are not aware that it is being played? I don't blame you- there are other games afoot in men's cricket. Read those here and here) when we Indian's decided to breathe some life into this series. After 3 matches, where we won 2, one was washed out on account of rain, we entered the 4th match and chased (something most teams today think they are good at). There was only 190 to get...in 50 overs! Teams have done that in 20! And yet, India lost by 11 runs! The interesting part is that it took us 49.4 overs to get all out.
Anyway, my post today is not about how bad the Indian team played, or how well Holder bowled (in my limited opinion, he is the best thing to happen to WI cricket in a long long time. He may not be a superstar, but he is 100% committed to the cause). Rather, I thought of compiling some such near misses - memorable 'snatching defeat from the jaws of victory in cricket :
1. South Africa versus Australia, 1999 WC semi-final : For a generation of fans, the South Africa versus Australia semi-final in 1999 is possibly the most heart-aching of matches. Rather than read the score-card, read the report here . A match that Lance Klusner all but won for SA, was lost due to it being tied! Australia went through because they had beaten SA in the Super Six stage.
2. South Africa versus India, 1993 Hero Cup semi final : Wonder what it is about SA losing semi-finals (they started the trend in the 1992 World Cup when fate and the rains denied them a possible Semi final victory). With 196 to win and 4 to score off the last over, there was no way SA could lose (it shouldn't have come down to that in the first place). Then Tendulkar bowled....and India won by 2 runs!!
3. NewZeland versus India , 1990 Rothmans Cup : Not much available about this match. Except that NewZeland were 148/3 chasing 222 and were playing at home. It was perfectly gettable, except that Kapil Dev and Manoj Prabhakar prevailed!
4. SL versus India, 2009 : I guess this is around the time that ODIs started getting ridiculous! India hit 414 which seemed a more than enough total. SL reached 316/1 in 36 overs - 100 to get in 14 overs was surely ridiculously simple from there. Nopes. They lost by 3 runs!
5. West Indies versus SA, 2005 : At last, a game where SA managed not to lose! Chasing 283, WI were in the game - Gayle hit a century and got out when 27 were needed in 24 balls, with Bravo still playing. It came down to 2 needed in 4 balls with 3 wickets left! WI lost all three and lost by 1 run with 1 ball to spare!
More such games you can think of, where a side that looked like winning suddenly lost (and preferably those that do not involve SA losing)? Would be great to know.
Anyway, my post today is not about how bad the Indian team played, or how well Holder bowled (in my limited opinion, he is the best thing to happen to WI cricket in a long long time. He may not be a superstar, but he is 100% committed to the cause). Rather, I thought of compiling some such near misses - memorable 'snatching defeat from the jaws of victory in cricket :
1. South Africa versus Australia, 1999 WC semi-final : For a generation of fans, the South Africa versus Australia semi-final in 1999 is possibly the most heart-aching of matches. Rather than read the score-card, read the report here . A match that Lance Klusner all but won for SA, was lost due to it being tied! Australia went through because they had beaten SA in the Super Six stage.
2. South Africa versus India, 1993 Hero Cup semi final : Wonder what it is about SA losing semi-finals (they started the trend in the 1992 World Cup when fate and the rains denied them a possible Semi final victory). With 196 to win and 4 to score off the last over, there was no way SA could lose (it shouldn't have come down to that in the first place). Then Tendulkar bowled....and India won by 2 runs!!
3. NewZeland versus India , 1990 Rothmans Cup : Not much available about this match. Except that NewZeland were 148/3 chasing 222 and were playing at home. It was perfectly gettable, except that Kapil Dev and Manoj Prabhakar prevailed!
4. SL versus India, 2009 : I guess this is around the time that ODIs started getting ridiculous! India hit 414 which seemed a more than enough total. SL reached 316/1 in 36 overs - 100 to get in 14 overs was surely ridiculously simple from there. Nopes. They lost by 3 runs!
5. West Indies versus SA, 2005 : At last, a game where SA managed not to lose! Chasing 283, WI were in the game - Gayle hit a century and got out when 27 were needed in 24 balls, with Bravo still playing. It came down to 2 needed in 4 balls with 3 wickets left! WI lost all three and lost by 1 run with 1 ball to spare!
More such games you can think of, where a side that looked like winning suddenly lost (and preferably those that do not involve SA losing)? Would be great to know.
