Watch: Mohammad Azharuddin playing the helicopter shot, which was later made famous by MS Dhoni, in a Test match against South Africa in 1996 at Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
Subscribe to the Wisden Cricket YouTube channel for post-match awards, player interviews, analysis and much more.
Digging out a yorker with the powerful helicopter shot was trademarked by Dhoni in his peak ODI years. The former Indian skipper and powerful middle-order batsman has unleashed it quite a few times, making the rare shot quite popular among cricket fans.
A recent clip on Twitter, however, shows Dhoni wasn’t the first to play it, with another former Indian captain, Mohammad Azharuddin, digging out a yorker from Lance Klusener with the helicopter shot. It was one of five fours that Azharuddin smashed off successive deliveries against Klusener in that over.
Azharuddin completed his hundred off 74 balls, then the joint fourth-quickest in Test history. South Africa, however, won the Test match by a whopping 329 runs.
Watch the video here:
Classic Azhar pic.twitter.com/DeRJjfQlzl
— Stone Cold (@StoneCo06301258) May 15, 2021