Published: Jan 03, 2017, 12:28 PM (IST)
Edited: Jan 03, 2017, 12:36 PM (IST)
Obsession with data — often at an unhealthy level — keeps me hooked to live telecasts and scorecards throughout the year. Being in journalism comes with the additional challenge of being unbiased, which forces one to be devoid of emotions as much as possible while covering cricket throughout the year. Of course, it helps that I do not get to see Jesse Ryder in action anymore, for the Ryders of the world are born to make people lose their sense of judgement. But then, there are those champagne moments that are typically not recorded on the scorecards, or will not contribute to the greatness of cricketers. They are insignificant to the match, and will probably survive merely as anecdotes that will be passed on from one generation to the next.
How to choose them? Pakistan’s celebrations at Lord’s have been documented too vividly to merit a place here, as has been Darren Sammy’s speech. We have seen Virat Kohli trying to pacify Ravichandran Ashwin when the latter ran into a near-heated argument with James Anderson; or the lonely figure Ben Stokes, dejected, on his haunches; or Alastair Cook and Joe Root consoling Sabbir Rahman after Bangladesh’s narrow defeat.
We know all of them. I chose to list a few we might have ignored over the year, and if we have not, we are likely to forget.
1. The other brother
I remember that dreaded day when a call from office woke me up at an unearthly hour. There had to be an emergency; perhaps there was some ‘breaking news’, something massive, enormous…
Of course it was enormous, for Martin Crowe had passed away.
The day was spent in numbness, trying to pen down obituaries that could barely capture the impact the man had on me or cricket. There was no respite, for India were playing UAE in the Asia Cup that night.The players lined up, flanked by the match officials: silence would be observed in memory of the champion
Then it hit me: the match referee was Jeff Crowe.
He had not returned. Umpires typically had reserves, but not referees. Crowe had stayed back. Nobody would have complained if he had opted to leave, but he had stayed back.
Crowe, who had lost his younger brother earlier in the day, stood there. Years of experience would have told him that the television cameras were focused on him. But he stood, his face devoid of any expression…
Suddenly the outcome of the match, the performances, everything became irrelevant: what bigger battle was there to be fought
Three days later he officiated in the final as well.
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2. Universe Boss
West Indies lost a solitary match in the World T20, en route their title. Afghanistan had pulled off a shocker. They first recovered from 56 for 5 to 123 for 7 thanks to a cameo from Najibullah Zadran. Then they kept tightening the noose on the West Indians (Amir Hamza had astonishing figures of 4-0-9-1), restricting them to 117 for 8.
It was an upset, but upsets are not uncommon in the shortest format; Ireland had gone down to Oman earlier in the tournament. The Afghan celebration was led by the enormous Mohammad Shahzad — till a man from the pavilion joined the party.
Chris Gayle was not a part of the match, but you really could not keep him out of action, especially if there were celebrations. A year back, just after West Indies were eliminated from World Cup 2015, Gayle and Sulieman Benn had released a song on Instagram on the lines of “oops, we did it again!”
Gayle joined in the celebrations, dancing with Shahzad to the tunes of Dwayne Bravo’s Champion, with the Afghanistan cricketers like there was no tomorrow. The two hugged, and when the winners huddled together for a photograph of the historic moment, they made sure Gayle stood at the centre
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3. Utter disdain
We all remember the incident. Shakib Al Hasan hit Moeen Ali on the pad thrice in the space of six balls on either side of lunch. Shakib appealed thrice. Kumar Dharmasena ruled Moeen out thrice. Moeen reviewed thrice. And Moeen escaped thrice.
Moeen, then 17, went on to make 68.
He was back again in the second innings, trying to stretch England’s lead. He reached 14 before Shakib pitched one outside off. Moeen swept, the ball took the edge, hit the pad, then the glove, and lobbed in the air; Mushfiqur Rahim sprang himself forward to pull off a spectacular catch.
The incident took significantly less time than it took me to type. But wait, Chittagong were not celebrating… yet: would Dharmasena raise his finger?
But they were celebrating already, for Moeen had started to walk already. If that hat-trick of reviews had not affected Dharmasena, the utterly dismissive attitude towards his decisions certainly did.
Of the 16 times Dharmasena was challenged in that Test, 8 had to be overturned.
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4. The prodigious son returns
After an excellent start to his career, it did not look like Haseeb Hameed would miss Test cricket in near future. Unfortunately, Umesh Yadav broke his thumb with a snorter in the third Test at Mohali. Though Hameed came back score a defiant 59 not out in the second innings, he was ruled out of the rest of the series. He returned home for a surgery.
However, Hameed’s series was far from over. When the fourth Test went underway at Mumbai, Hameed was there in the stands with his family, cheering for England. It is not every day that you come across a teenager that committed.
Or perhaps his devotion came from the fact that age has not crept into him. Yet.
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5. The helpless laughter
Sydney Thunder Women needed 88 from 62 balls when Harmanpreet Kaur walked out to join Stafanie Taylor. She lost Stafanie, and Erin Osborne followed soon; Harmanpreet led the charge along with Naomi Stalenberg, but it was not enough in the end. They fell short by 6 runs, Harmanpreet finishing on an unbeaten 47 from 28 balls.
But why single out an unsuccessful chase? Thunder needed 28 from 7 balls when Gemma Triscari ran into to bowl her last ball of the match. The ball was slow and outside off, but cricket has seen worse deliveries.
A four would have been impressive, but Harmanpreet went down on one knee. Not only was the cover-drive clean and hit with force, she also made sure that she hit it in the air. She backed herself to clear the fence. She pulled it off.
It was a shot so incredible that it sent North Sydney Oval into ruptures, but Gemma herself was the most astounded of all. She looked helpless, but she was also impressed and stunned.
The outcome was something you do not get to see every day from a bowler having just conceded a six: Gemma broke into a stunned, awestruck yet helpless laughter.
Unfortunately, Harmanpreet’s fans back in India — the ones without smart-phones and high-speed internet — never got to see the incident on television.
