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On this day, Richie Benaud, Surinder Amarnath, Wasim Akram and Mark Waugh made their debuts
On this day, in the history of cricket, four great players of the game played their first international match for their respective teams and later went on to become legends.
25 January 2016 • 5:03 PM
(From left) Richie Benaud, Surinder Amarnath, Wasim Akram and Mark Waugh
On this day, in the history of cricket, four great players of the game played their first international match for their respective teams and later went on to become legends. Imagine if all of them were playing in the same team, then what would have been the impact on the game.
Richie Benaud: He was the first debutant among all four of them and played his first Test for Australia in 1952 at Sydney against West Indies. He didn’t have much to do except taking his maiden wicket. Later, he became one of the best all-rounders for his team and also led them for a considerable amount of time. He played 63 Tests in which he scored 2,201 runs and took 248 wickets. After cricket, his commentary changed the way cricket was covered. He died last year and is remembered as a great player and an even better commentator of the game.
Surinder Amarnath: He got a brilliant start to his career in his debut match against New Zealand by scoring a belligerent century at Auckland in 1976. India won that match by eight wickets. Later he was ignored by selectors but was one of the classy left-handers in the Indian side in those times. He was the son of Lala Amarnath and elder brother of Mohinder Amarnath, who was the part of 1983 World Cup winning team.
Wasim Akram: He is probably the best left-arm swing bowler in the game of cricket. Picked by Javed Miandad, Akram did not even have bowling boots prior to his debut tour to New Zealand in 1985. He failed to score run there but took two for 105 in his first Test and in the second match at Dunedin, Akram made his mark with 10 wickets. In his career spanning 17 years, he took 414 Test wickets at 23.62.
Mark Waugh: The junior Waugh from the family made his debut in 1991, after five years of his elder brother Steve Waugh’s debut. His first Test came against England at Adelaide by replacing his brother Steve and scored a brilliant century. His career didn’t last as long as Steve’s, but he was considered to be a better batsman than his brother.