Published: Jan 02, 2017, 05:46 PM (IST)
Edited: Jan 02, 2017, 06:17 PM (IST)
While the cricket world revels in a young gun bursting onto the scene and making a strong impression, those who return from injuries and even oblivion are also welcomed with open hearts, more so if they make a stupefying return. The biggest comeback story of the year 2016 has to be of that young Pakistani bowler, who defied all the odds, served a five-year ban, spent time behind bars locked up, but still decided to make a life and career out of cricket. Mohammed Aamer’s re-entry was yet another addition in the category of victory-of-good-over evil stories, but there are a few more men who proved their mettle yet again.
Comebacks do not pertain only to men who go through long injury layoffs and return post recovery. They get even more interesting, when out of nowhere a champion of the past makes debut in a new role, throwing the world into awe and tizzy as to what lies next. Recall what Anil Kumble has done with the Indian team. Can you imagine any other coach getting any better results? How about Mickey Arthur whose coaching credentials suffered severe blows during his infamous stint with Australia? Let us go through this list and recollect several big names who came back to international cricket again:
Mohammad Aamer: Aamer’s return was the most viral news of the year. The wily left-arm fast bowler, who lost five years of international cricket due to a mistake which cannot be put entirely on him, returned to cricket during Pakistan’s tour of England. There could not have been a better venue of his return than at Lord’s, and Aamer finishing the Test, cleaning up the last English batsman was the perfect end to what was a fascinating comeback journey.
Gautam Gambhir: If selection matters in Indian cricket go by the public sentiment, then Sachin Tendulkar would still be active, Yuvraj Singh will be playing across formats and Gautam Gambhir, if not as captain, would remain an ‘indispensible’ part of the team. The change in selection panel marked the return of Gambhir during India’s first home series versus New Zealand. Gambhir was recalled despite having spoiled his previous opportunity in England of fixating a place for him in the side, and the story was no different. He fought hard for a second-innings fifty, but poor show against England saw him being chucked out once again.
Parthiv Patel: Having spent eight long years away from Test side, Parthiv returned as a matured player with deep understanding and complete assurance of his game. He has been an aggressor up in the order — something we saw in the second innings at Mohali when he wasted no time in India’s modest chase, hammering England for 67 not out. Though he missed a few chances behind the wickets, there were many glitches from both India and England. Notably, there were a few sharp catches and stumpings as well.
Parthiv played the final three Tests of England series. Therefore, it is safe to say he has created a lot of headache for the selection panel who have so far maintained Wriddhiman Saha as their first-choice wicketkeeper.
Glenn Maxwell: He remained in a love-hate relationship with the Australian selectors. He played 12 ODIs and scored 228 — out of these 169 came in 4 matches against India. Despite rich experience of T20 cricket in India, he managed 109 runs in 4 matches of ICC World T20 2016. Banished from the ODI side for delivering ordinary numbers, Maxwell beat the daylights out of the Sri Lankan bowling attack in the first of the two T20Is on his comeback, hammering a 65-ball 145. He fired in the second T20I as well, sealing a two-match series all by himself. But, Australian selectors had already named the side to play in South Africa, eventually him being left out.
Mohammed Shami: India’s four-Test sojourn in the Caribbean marked the return of one of their favourite bowlers, and Shami did not disappoint. Shami returned after long and frustrating injury layoffs and enjoyed one of his most successful stints in international circuit since the 2015 Cricket World Cup. Shami ran through opposition batsmen with deftness, reducing the length of the strides while his paced-up run-up helped him generate extra pace as well as accuracy. He enjoyed successful outings against West Indies, New Zealand and halfway through the England series.
Pat Cummins: At 23, Cummins once again returned to the national side, claiming to not have either cut his pace down or have gone through any radical change to his bowling. Cummins bagged 8 wickets in 3 ODIs versus New Zealand at home, but perhaps, the biggest victory for the Australian quick was to have gone through the series having not suffered any other setback.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar: He remained a member of the Indian side for the tour of Sri Lanka and home series against South Africa, but got his chance only in the West Indies tour. He returned in the playing XI during the third Test at Gros Islet, making his comeback memorable with 5 for 33 off his 23.4 overs. He missed the first Test against New Zealand when India returned home, but his spell of 15-2-48-5 swung the match all of a sudden in India’s favour, at Kolkata.
Mitchell Starc: Starc suffered an ankle injury during home Test series in late 2015 against New Zealand, followed by a surgery and a lengthy injury lay-off. He returned to the national side several months later on their tour of Sri Lanka, and stood tall amid the rubble that was Australia. Australia were whitewashed 0-3 by Sri Lanka, but Starc’s 24 wickets helped him create a new record of most wickets by an Australian in a three-Test affair.
Later in the tour, Starc broke the 19-year old world record of becoming the quickest to 100 ODI wickets. He took 52 matches to get to the 100-wickets mark.
Anil Kumble: He pipped red-hot favourite Ravi Shastri for the coaching job of the Indian cricket team, and made a terrific start. Kumble began his coaching tenure of one year (as per the contract) on the West Indies tour and remained unbeaten till the end of 2016. He began with a 2-0 win in West Indies, carried on against New Zealand with a 3-0 hammering and ended the year with a 4-0 annihilation over England.
Mickey Arthur: For someone to have taken severe blows on reputation, Arthur’s comeback with Pakistan was no less than exemplary. Arthur began his Pakistan stint with a victory at Lord’s, marking a terrific start with the most unpredictable team that too at the home of cricket. By the end of the four-Test series that Pakistan drew 2-2, Arthur witnessed unprecedented highs and embarrassing lows. Nevertheless, his good work with former employer Australia almost delivered Pakistan a historic victory in Brisbane when his side fell mere 39 runs short of 490. Imagine what if Arthur’s Pakistan had delivered that blow to Australia.
Gareth Batty: Alastair Cook holds the record of most consecutive Test appearances for England. In fact, he is second in the all-time list of most consecutive appearances with 138 Tests, only behind Allan Border’s 158. How are these related to the 39-year-old Gareth Batty? Well, it is actually quite amusing to know. Batty made his Test debut back in 2003, three years before Cook came onto the scene. But he did not play any Test for England until Cook had already created the record of most consecutive appearances for his country. How often do you see that?
Mustafizur Rahman: The Bangladeshi sensation had a memorable 2016. He became one of the very few cricketers from his country to win an IPL contract and played a vital role in Sunrisers Hyderabad’s win. However, Mustafizur could not inspire Bangladesh to do any better in the Asia Cup T20 2016 or even in the ICC World T20. Rahman was away from ODI cricket due to a shoulder injury he suffered in December 2015, making his comeback only on Bangladesh’s tour of New Zealand towards the end of 2016.
Neil Broom: His remarkable comeback happened right at the end of the year. Facing a fallible Bangladesh side, Broom featured in the New Zealand side 6 years after he played his last game. After an ordinary outing in the first game on December 29, Broom hammered a match-winning 105 not out at Nelson to revive a struggling Kiwis’ innings. In the next game, on December 31, Broom was among runs once again as he scored 97 to help New Zealand take their ODI series 3-0.
Ryan Campbell: The former Australian cricketer who played 2 ODIs in 2002 and 91 First-Class matches for Western Australia, Campbell recorded one of the longest gaps in international cricket between appearances. However, in his case, Campbell appeared for Hong Kong, having announced First-Class retirement in Australia in January 2006. Campbell could play for Hong Kong since he had a Chinese grandmother. He was selected for their qualification round in the ICC World T20 2016 in India. At 44, Campbell played his first international match after a gap of 14 years.
