As a cricketer, one of the primary coaching advices that you’ll get is to put a price on your wicket while you are in the middle. You’d be taught to persevere, sweat out, manipulate the gaps and do whatever you could to keep the bowlers at bay. Needless to say, you’d be inclined to adhere to those words as often as you can.
Therefore, by extended logic, it may not be overly optimistic to hope that the ‘finished products’ who represent their country would not throw away their wickets in the big stage. But lo and behold, for I’ve compiled a list of ten dismissals in international cricket in recent years that are so ridiculous that they are actually hilarious.
Pakistan were cruising at 451/5 trailing England by 64 runs when skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq decided to play the joker and attempt the unforeseen. As he left the crease for the pavilion, the TV cameras zoomed in on the disgusted face of Coach Bob Woolmer. The events were pretty surreal - Inzamam attempts a lavish sweep off Monty Panesar and misses horribly as the ball ricochets off his pads after he completes a 180 degrees rotation on his right knee. And it doesn’t end there. Inzamam loses his balance entirely and tumbles on his castles, but not before managing a hilarious display of unsuccessful acrobatics. #2 Perks of being short Even the greatest batsman of the modern era, Sachin Tendulkar had had his moment of embarrassment in his otherwise flawless career during an India versus Australia Test match. It was a soft dismissal and a not-too-silly one, yet the involvement of one of the better judges of the cherry is what contributes to its hilarity.
Right-arm pacer Glenn McGrath sprinted in from over the wicket and pitched the ball short. Tendulkar, anticipating chin music, ducked low covering his wicket – a move that spelled his doom, for the delivery kept unexpectedly low and hit his shoulder. The Australians appealed, and the master was adjudged clear LBW.
#3 Ducking at Yorkers In the third ODI of 1990 Rothman’s Cup, New Zealand right-hander John Bracewell found himself at the receiving end of a cheeky dismissal when his leg-stump was destroyed by a slower yorker from Australian Simon O’Donnell after he decided to crouch low. The ball looped high from the bowler’s hands and then dipped low as it moved from the off towards leg before uprooting the stumps. As the bowler mocked him and the spectators joined in, Bracewell had no option but to walk out of the field embarrassed and humiliated.
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