Rinku Singh and Suryakumar Yadav bowled for the first time in their T20I careers, in the last two overs of the third T20I against Sri Lanka. Between them, they conceded eight and claimed four wickets, and India won the game in the Super Over. However, they were far from being the first unexpected bowling stars for India in limited-overs cricket.
Azharuddin’s spells in the 1987 World Cup
Mohammad Azharuddin used to bowl handy medium-pace in his early days. One of his finest spells (9-0-26-2) against Australia at Sydney in 1986 went in vain, but he came to his own at the 1987 World Cup. The 3-19 against Australia probably came once the match was as good as over, but he also broke big stands in both matches against New Zealand.
Srikkanth against New Zealand 1988/89
Quizzers will tell you that Kris Srikkanth was the first Indian to take two ODI five-fors... and he got them in the same series, against New Zealand, in the space of five days, as captain. Introduced as the seventh bowler, he got 5-27 at Visakhapatnam, while as the sixth bowler, he got 5-32 at Indore. Of his 25 ODI wickets from 146 games, 11 came in three matches in that series.
The many spells of Tendulkar
A medium-pacer in his early days, Sachin Tendulkar’s first great spell (4-34 at Sharjah in 1991/92) helped bowl out the West Indies for 141 to set up India’s first win against them while chasing. Six weeks later, on a difficult Perth pitch, India were bowled out for 126 and had the West Indies at 121-9, but all four fast bowlers had bowled out. At this point, Azharuddin chose Tendulkar over Ravi Shastri: Tendulkar took the last wicket to tie the game.
Perhaps Tendulkar’s most famous spell came in the 1993 Hero Cup semi-final, against South Africa. This time, he defended six in the last over. Three days later, he clean bowled Brian Lara in final and finished with 7-1-24-1. The list is long, but two entries against Australia in 1998, are worth mentioning. At Kochi, Australia needed 107 in 112 balls with seven wickets in hand when Tendulkar (5-31) helped India pull off a 41-run win. And in the inaugural Champions Trophy, he followed 141 with 4-38.
Ganguly’s series, 1997
Ganguly could do no wrong in the 1997 Sahara Cup against Pakistan in Toronto. There were six games (including one that was abandoned midway) in all: in five of these, he took exactly two wickets each; in the other, a career-best 5-16. In all, he had 15 wickets at 10.67. There have been others with 15 wickets in a bilateral series, but none of them had made more than 62 runs. Ganguly made 222, at 55.50.
Jadeja decides to bowl, 1999
Perhaps the one that came the closest to the SKY brainwave, for this one, too, involved a captain. England were on course for a win at a 1999 Coca-Cola Cup game at Sharjah. With four overs left, stand-in captain Ajay Jadeja shocked everyone by deciding to bowl. Jadeja had never bowled in Test cricket. In ODIs, he had bowled only eight balls in the last year and a half, and had not taken a wicket in two and a half years. But here, he finished with 1-0-3-3 to seal the match.
The Forgotten Dravid Experiment, 2000
Ganguly began his stint as full-time captain by asking Rahul Dravid to bowl nine overs against South Africa at Kochi. Dravid got Gary Kirsten and, four balls later, Lance Klusener to finish with 9-1-43-2 in a total of 301-3, a target India chased with two balls to spare. Curiously, he never bowled after the series.
Sehwag chokes South Africa
Later in his career, Virender Sehwag would even take a Test match five-wicket haul against Australia, but his first big moment as a bowler came in the 2002 Champions Trophy semi-final. Even after Herschelle Gibbs retired with a cramp, South Africa needed a mere 62 in 54 balls with seven men standing. Enter Sehwag. His first four overs cost four, three, three, and five, and accounted for Mark Boucher. By the time he came to bowl the last over, South Africa needed 21. They got only 10 and lost both Jacques Kallis and Lance Klusener as Sehwag finished with 5-0-25-3.
Yuvraj throttles England
Like Tendulkar and Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh had several bowling contributions. The finest of these arguably came against England at Indore in 2008/09, where he had already hit 118 in 122 balls to lift India from 29-3 to 292-9. At 102-1 in 23 overs, England had the chase in control –until they found it difficult to score against Yuvraj and lost wickets in a heap. Yuvraj finished with 4-28 as England crashed to 238.
Bonus entry: Uthappa’s day out
Seldom has cricket thrown up a football-like 3-0 margin, but when it did at the 2007 T20 World Cup against Pakistan, Robin Uthappa produced the finishing touches in the bowl-out. With India 2-0 up, Uthappa bowled military-medium pace with his cap on, took his cap off with a flourish and bowed, first at the umpire, then in random directions.
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