Best Comebacks in the Cricket History: When it comes to the game of Cricket, making a comeback from those nervy situations isn’t a child’s play at all. You Need Nerves of steel and a heart of Iron to bring your team right up there from those “Almost Done and Dusted” Situations.
While being a cricket fan, we have witnessed these moments a number of times so going into the same context, let’s take a look at the 5 biggest Comebacks in the Cricket History.
The Fairy tale Innings of Kapil Dev against Zimbabwe ( 1983 World cup)
Match: India vs Zimbabwe
Not many around in the Cricket Fraternity has counted Indian team to do something special in the World cup 1983 and their match against the Zimbabwean team was nothing to be expected about either. Although India was a better team amongst the both, the bigger hopes were laid on them and while everyone saw Indian team struggling down to 17 runs for the loss of 5 wickets, the remaining match was looking more like a formality for the Indian fans.
That’s when the World saw one of the best all-rounders in the game’s history Kapil dev playing one of the best ever knocks in a Cricket world cup and making Indian score that Victory out of nowhere. Kapil dev scored a mighty 175 runs while hitting down almost every Zimbabwean bowler including the likes of Duncan Fletcher and added those crucial 126 with Wicket keeper Syed Kirmani for the 9th wicket.
Royals chase against the Chargers in IPL 2008
Match: Rajasthan Royals vs Deccan Chargers
The Inaugural season of the Indian Premier League saw some of the most exciting matches but there was still that one match which brought out some of the nail-biting finishes on the Cricket pitch. The Deccan chargers team led by Aussies powerhouse Andrew Symonds’s century led the team to score a big total of 214 in their allotted 20 overs.
Rajasthan Royals were struggling after losing their four crucial wickets in a span of nine balls and even though one of their ace players Yusuf Pathan played a blistering knock of 61 out of 28 deliveries, the team did struggle all the way down to the last over when they were left to score with 20 runs of the last over.
That’s when the Captain charisma Shane Warne came into bat as the last hope and quite surprisingly, smacked Andrew Symonds for two fours and two sixes in the last over to make his team clinch an Unbelievable victory.
The Magic from the Comeback King Michael Bevan
Match: Australia vs West Indies
All those Cricket fans who have followed cricket from the 90s must be aware of that one name, Michael Bevan. Bevan was that one player who has been often named synonymous to the Word “Impossible” and same can be seen possible by looking at a number of his inning during his career.
It was one of the ODI matches in 1996 at the famous Sydney cricket ground when Australia did a commendable job by limiting down the West Indian team to a paltry total of 172 runs.
Everyone thought that Aussies would do the better of Windies team at their home ground and it would turn out to be a mere cakewalk. Instead, it was the ultimate showdown by the might Windies pace attack of Courtney Walsh and Curtly Ambrose, which made the home team struggling at 74 runs for the loss of 7 wickets.
In came the Inevitable Bevan and while everyone expected him to do something for his team at this hour, none did expect that he will create magical innings out of nothing. Bevan single-handedly took the game out of Windies grip and even while playing along with the last man Glen McGrath, he secured a memorable victory for his team with a score of 78 runs.
The match got it registered into the history books being one of the biggest comeback wins and the innings played by Bevan made him the Undisputed ODI sensation.
West Indies vs Australia ( Test series 2003)
West Indies by this time turned into a “Not so powerful” amongst the rest of the World cricketing powers and looking at the same tag, no one expected them to put up a show against the mighty Aussies who have made them lose the last 3 test matches on the Windies tour.
Therefore, while being put forward with a Target of 418 runs in the fourth innings, the match seems almost over for the Calypso kings in real terms. Just as we say “ Crazy things happen in the World of Cricket”, Things went worst after their captain and only big hope Brian Lara got retired on a score of 60 runs.
The lower order of the Windies team didn’t give up and while making small partnerships in tandem, they kept on with their effort to chase down the mammoth score. It was all down to the last few wickets and Omari banks and Vasbert drakes finally did the “Unimaginable “ for the team by leading their team cross the winning mark with 3 wickets in hand. The World record for the Biggest run chase was now been broken and West indies did better of the last record made by India 27 years back against their team only.
The Record chase in the ODI Cricket history (Jo’ Burg 2003)
Match: Australia vs South Africa
Cricket world has witnessed some of the biggest wonders on the Cricket pitch but never ever has a cricket ground witnessed over 860 runs in a One day match. Such was the excitement when two of the greatest rivals Australia and South Africa met each other in the ultimate showdown of the series decider.
Ricky Ponting won the toss and while he elected to bat first, he went on to rattle every South African bowler down the park with his blistering knock. Eventually, Australia was been able to post a world record total of 434 runs with the loss of 4 wickets.
No one and absolutely no one did count South Africa to be in the game and while they lost their Opening batsman Boeta Dippenaar for just 1 run but it was some of the best innings played by Herschelle Gibbs along with some crucial partnerships with AB Devilliers and Graeme smith, South African team did come up with something challenging.
It was then down to Mark Boucher after the fall of Gibbs and other big names and he didn’t disappoint while making his team create the history for chasing the “Almost Impossible “ total in the Cricket history for the first time.
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