In the game of cricket, there are many ways a bowler gets rid of a batsman, sometimes it’s due to the brilliance of bowler, and sometimes due to batsman’s fault. But run-out is one such form of dismissal where players have no one to blame but themselves and the times at which such crucial run out happens can prove to be match-costly, series-costly and sometimes World cup too. Here I’m going to make a list of 7 most heartbreaking run-outs in cricket.
7) Allan Donald vs Australia – This was probably the unluckiest ending of the South Africa World Cup campaign ever. Most of the African players were in their prime during the World Cup, like Allan Donald, Shaun Pollock, Lance Klusener, and South Africa also hardly put a step wrong.
In the second Semi-Final of 1999, World Cup Australia batting first managed to score 213 runs. Shaun Pollock and Allan Donald diminished the Australian batting line up and shared 9 wickets between themselves. South Africa at one stage was tottering at 61-4 and seemed to be at backfoot but Kallis and Rhodes steadied the innings. But only when the target looked very much reachable Australian bowlers get rid of both the batsmen and started striking at regular intervals to keep themselves in the game.
In the final over 9 runs were required to score with just the last wicket remaining. Klusener hit the first couple of balls to the boundaries and it was only a matter of time before South Africa reach the final. But a twist in the tale took place as Klusener miscued a shot and though Lehmann got a clear chance to run Donald out he failed to do it because of missing an easy direct hit chance.
Escaping the run out by the finest of margin did make an impact on Alan Donald mind and he was of the idea that he is not going to run without looking at the ball but this few seconds of being caught in the incident of what happened in the previous ball proved everything for SouthAFrica as Donald forgot to react to his partner’s call kept looking at the ball and ultimately reacted too late, which in the end saw him getting run out by a fair margin and marking a disastrous unexpected ending to South Africa’s World Cup campaign.
6) Hardik Pandya vs Pakistan – 8th June 2017 was probably one of the worst days of Indian cricket history. Every decision of the captain proved to be catastrophic that day. After Pakistan being asked to bat first had put up a huge total of 338, courtesy of Fakhar Zaman’s 114, who was dismissed very early in the innings by Bumrah only to be denied by No Ball. Azhar Ali and Mohammed Hafeez also notched up respective half-centuries.
In reply, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli got dismissed within the first 5 overs, and within the first 23 overs, they were reduced to 72-6 with all the main batsmen back to the pavilion. Then arrived India’s emerging all-rounder Hardik Pandya. With all the main bowlers completing their first spell of bowling, Hardik Pandya started counter-attacking ferociously thrashing every part-timers and spinner.
He was dealing in sixes and of just 32 balls he notched up his half-century. His innings came to an end after a horrible mess-up with Ravindra Jadeja as both of them ended up being on the same side of the wicket. His 76 runs innings of just 43 balls consisted of 6 sixes and 4 fours. After the departure of Pandya, India could only add 6 runs to their total and probably faced the biggest humiliation as they lost the match by 180 runs to their arch-rivals.
5) Suresh Raina vs KXIP – In the Qualifier 2 of IPL 2014, the prediction was there for a high scoring encounter. Batting first Sehwag started in his usual style of batting but unfortunately for CSK, he kept continuing his batting till the 19th over, due to which KXIP had put up a mammoth total of 226 in their 20 overs and CSK knew they somebody in the yellow will have to play a special inning to have any chance of even getting closer to that total.
In reply to that CSK lost their openers who got out without contributing much. Hardly anyone had any idea what was coming next. Raina was probably at the best touch of his cricket career and decided to go for everything to keep the hope alive. He was hitting everything to perfection and in no time he brought up his half-century in the 4th over of the match.
By the end of 6th over CSK already reached the mark of 100 out of which Raina alone scored 87* off just 25 balls and was on his way of breaking the record of the fastest century. But in the first ball of 7th over, a miscommunication between McCullum and Raina lead to a complete blunder. The ever-smiling George Bailey who was fielding at mid-off sprinted and threw the ball in the striker’s end within a couple of seconds which ended one of the best if not best innings played in IPL so far.
4) Virender Sehwag vs Australia in World cup 2003 final – So close yet so far was the case for India in that World Cup. India went through to the finals with only a solo loss against the defending champions. In the finals, the World Champions were not giving even an inch. India started poorly with Zaheer Khan giving away 15 runs in the first over and India never took off from there.
They played as a unit in the tournament and almost everyone stepped up and played their role pretty perfectly when required. In the final, after winning the toss Ganguly had sent the Aussies to bat first and they piled up a huge score of 359 courtesy of a brilliant 140 from Ricky Ponting. Chasing 360 in World Cup final was quite impossible and to make it worse, it was Australian bowling line up that India had to face. SRT’s terrific form was a ray of hope but McGrath got rid of Sachin Tendulkar in just the 5th ball of the 2nd innings. Sachin played a nothing shot to Mcgrath and Indians shut-off their television sets knowing it cant be done now.
From there on Sehwag Ganguly started the counter, but it was for a short period as Lee’s took care of Ganguly’s wicket. From there on it was only Sehwag, as wickets continued to tumbledown from the other side. Despite that Sehwag seemed to be no mood to stop as he continued thrashing every Australian bowler. While batting on 82, he wanted a quick single but a direct hit from Darren Lehman at the non-striker’s end saw Sehwag’s brilliant innings coming to an end. His innings was studded with 10 fours and 3 sixes and was probably the only player that day who could have given a faint chance to India chasing down that target. India ultimately collapsed on 234 runs handing Australia a huge victory by 125 runs in a one-sided World Cup final encounter and giving the heartbreak to Indian fans for their life.
3) Martin Guptill vs England – In the 2019 World Cup final, the New Zealand team and fans probably faced their most heart-wrenching defeat. After New Zealand put up a score of 241 in their 50 overs, England initially stumbled a bit when they were reduced to 86-4 in the 22nd over. But Buttler and Stokes’s partnership managed to revive England with a 110 runs partnership. From there on Stokes’s brilliance with bat ensured that England somehow manages to tie the score. In the super over, Buttler and Stokes came to bat for England and they managed to put 15 runs on the board.
In reply, Neesham started well. After the first ball being given wide, Jofra bowled pretty well but Neesham incurred 13 runs from the bat in the next 5 deliveries. With a couple of runs short of the target, Guptill had to face the last ball of the match. Guptill hit the final ball towards mid-wicket and a double was never on cards. So Guptill even after trying to run at his fastest speed and also a poor throw from Jason Roy couldn’t prevent Guptill from getting run out while coming back for the second. So even after tying the score, England ended up lifting the trophy based on hitting more boundaries in the match, the rule which was criticized so harshly among cricket fraternity that ICC had to change the rule after. The boundary rule though got eradicated later but New Zealand had to accept that disastrous defeat and the Guptill run out would always be a nightmare for the players and fans for sure.
2) Mustafizur Rahman vs India – Neither the Indians nor the Bangladeshis would forget this game ever but for contrasting reasons. On a surprisingly slow Bangalore pitch, India scored 146-7 after batting first. In the 2nd innings, Bangladesh after losing opener Mithun was resurrecting the innings, but India picked up wickets at regular intervals. The situation was swinging like a pendulum in that match, and it finally came down to the last over.
Bangladesh needed 11 runs and had 5 wickets in hand. After Mahmadullah pushed the first ball for a single, a well set Mushfiqur Rahim hit two successive boundaries and did a premature celebration. At that moment it seemed like the match is out of hand for India and they are going to be disqualified but the next two balls saw two unnecessary hoicks from Rahim and Mahmadullah and both miscued meant India got back into the game as both the set batsmen departed. With 2 from the final ball required now, Pandya bowled the last ball wide outside off and the batsman failed to put nay bat on it. Dhoni after gathering the ball sprinted for his life and broke the stumps which saw Mustafizur well short of the crease India won the match by just 1 run.
1) MS Dhoni vs New Zealand – This run out of 2019 World Cup is the latest agony for the Indian fans. Batting first New Zealand had set up a target of 240 for India. With all the batsmen in form, it seemed India would chase the target comfortably. But before the fans could understand anything India lost their top 3 batsmen within first 4 overs.
The top order had been their strongest zone throughout the world cup but all three were in the dugout seeing things from the far end. From 5-3 to 92-6 India showed little resistance and it was too little as Pandya and Pant both played immature shots and failed to take India to a comfortable position.
Indians knew now it is down to one man, Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
But what surprised them was Jadeja who was saving all those lusty blows for the final blow. From there on Dhoni and Jadeja made sure the wicket column doesn’t tick more and with the counterattack of Jadeja from one end and smart and sensible play from Dhoni at one end, India was slowly building on their path to recovery.
With 13 balls left in the innings and 31 to get, Jadeja went for a rash looking shot against Boult and miscued it high up in the air and the cool-head Williamson made no mistake. With 25 runs required off the last 10 deliveries, a slow bouncer completely awestruck Dhoni as he mistimed it but he had his luck as the ball landed in no player region.
Bhivneshwar and Dhoni had an eye-exchange and after a second Dhoni decided to come back for the second. Martin Guptill was rushing hard towards the ball and Dhoni knew he is in danger.
A bullet from Guptill at wicketkeepers end shattered the Dhonis stumps and Indian fans almost had a heart attack seeing what they just witnessed. The replay showed Dhoni was short of a dive and India short of their World cup winning dream.
