Cricket can sometimes get crazy, and when it does, you are often left wondering – ‘imagine being a part of the team’.
The joy we feel when India wins and the sorrow when it loses, it’s nothing compared to the players’ emotions. Because they are the ones who are living the moment and they are the ones who worked their way through hardships.
Naturally, then, that they are the ones who know the stories that we don’t. Here, we have compiled some of them. Read on to know what happened before and after some of the most notable moments of Indian cricket.
1. Dada swinging his shirt from the Lord’s balcony is an image none of us can erase from our heads. However, not many know that Harbhajan had the same plan. Dravid shares that secret here.
2. That match was of course, Natwest final (2002), which will always be remembered for the heroics of Yuvraj and Kaif.
3. Moving on to another funny incident, shared by none other than our Binga, who is one of the fastest bowlers to have played the game.
4. Australia reminds me of the historic Kolkata Test of 2001, where Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman played a 376-run partnership to win India the match against the Aussies. But do you know, Dravid was ill that before that match?
5. And Laxman, too, was going through immense physical pain?
It’s crazy to think they still went out to play and gave Indian cricket one of its most cherished moments.
6. The Kolkata Test was played way before one of our best opening batsmen came to the fore, though. We are talking about Virender Sehwag.
7. Now let’s go a little back in time. Let’s talk about the 1983 World Cup, that ‘men in blue’ won against any one’s expectations, including their own. Mohinder Amarnath shared that secret years later.
8. So did K Srikkanth, who was all set to go to America with his wife because things at the World Cup were not going to work out, right? Or so he thought.
9. Among things that almost didn’t work out, was Anil Kumble’s 10-wicket-haul against Pakistan. He had scalped 9 wickets and the entire team decided that they’ll let him take the 10th one too.
Except, they forgot to communicate that to S Ramesh, who went for a catch off a Javagal Srinath delivery. Thankfully, he reached the spot late, but Kumble remembers the incident till date.
10. This was during the time India and Pakistan were playing bilateral matches and India was touring the neighbours.
During one of these tours, Sourav Ganguly decided to trick the security personnel to go and eat kebabs. Let’s just say it wasn’t a very well thought out plan.
11. Speaking more of India-Pakistan cricket rivalry, there was a time Imran Khan told Sunil Gavaskar not to take retirement so that the countries could have a great competition.
“Come on, let’s have one last tilt against each other,” he said.
12. I reckon, here, that this article can’t be complete without the ‘behind-the-scene’ of one of the most heartbreaking moments of Indian cricket in recent times: Dhoni’s dismissal in 2019 World Cup semi-final.
13. In sharp contrast, Dhoni promoted himself in the World Cup final 2011. That decision paid off, did it not? As Gary Kirsten puts it:
14. Lastly, this one might be known to every one at this point, but still deserves a place in the list. Yuvraj’s six 6s against England in the maiden T20 World Cup, 2007, and what motivated him to do so.
