Cricketers who made an impactful comeback in a major tournament
Comebacks are one of the biggest prospects of a sports person. A great men wisely said that making a debut is easier than making a comeback since the amount of pressure on the player in the latter is way more than the former. Cricket has seen many legendary comebacks throughout the years and in today’s article we’ll discuss five such comebacks which made an instant impact on the team coming into important tournaments.
The first name in the list is of Javagal Srinath, who answered his country’s call leading up to the memorable 2003 World Cup campaign. After the Windies tour in June 2002, Srinath expressed his desire to hang up his boots as he was snubbed off tbe team consequently to make space for young pacers. He wasn’t going through a purple patch and couldn’t manage a lot of wickets. Ganguly and chief selector Patel asked him to reconsider and the 33-year-old was brought back into the international fold in the final of the 2002 Champions Trophy. His subsequent run of form made it look like he had never been out of the side as he took 18 wickets in a 2-5 series defeat to New Zealand in January 2003 and even captured 16 wickets in the World Cup that followed, and formed the core of the bowling attack as India progressed to the final.
The second name in the list is of Zaheer Khan. In the 2003 WC final, in the Bull Ring of the Wanderers’ Stadium in South Africa, the nervous Zaheer’s first over cost India 15 runs and Australia never looked back from that flying start provided by the left-arm paceman. His career was on a low after India’s shocking exit from the 2007 Cricket World Cup as his talent couldn’t find wings. He was plagues by several injuries too which didn’t allow him to perform consistently but coming into the 2011 Cricket World Cup he brought out the best version of himself and was one of the major unsung heroes in India’s World Cup triumph after 28 years.
The third name in the list is of Grant Elliott. On January 8, when New Zealand announced their side for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, there were a few raised eyebrows as Jimmy Neesham, who had been in the scheme of things for the Kiwis during their build-up to the mega-event, was left out and his replacement was all-rounder Grant Elliott, who would have been 36 during the tournament and had not played a single internationalgame for New Zealand since November 2013. Grant could not have chosen a better stage to demonstrate his role for the Black Caps. It’s games like these which make mortals legends, and his composure definitely took him to the history books. He is remembered as the one who helped the Kiwis break their World Cup semi-final jinx which was a stage, New Zealand failed to go past in six times in the previous 10 attempts.
The fourth name in the list is of Aussie modern day legend, Steven Smith. From that teary eyed admission of a “failure of leadership” after the sandpaper scandal against South Africa, Smith was written off by many fans and pundits across the globe after he was caught in conspiracy for tampering the ball mid-match and was sent off with a cricketing ban of a year. He returned an year later in the Ashes at Edgbaston and made every shot count. His144 in the first innings revived Australia from 122/8, while his second ton helped put the team in a commanding position. By scoring hundreds in both innings of an Ashes Test, Smith did something even Sir Don Bradman couldn’t. He carried this form in the 2019 Cricket World Cup too and was one of the standout batsman for his side.
The fifth and the last name in the list is of Ashish Nehra. The Delhi based pacer is one of the most loved cricketers on and off-field. His presence helps to get the better out of the people around him but this pacer faced a 4 year international absence due to many major setbacks and injury concerns. After the four year gap, Ashish only got a call back into the team when Zaheer Khan, India’s top pacer was injured in 2009. Ashish then went on to play some quality cricket to register his name in the 2011 World Cup-winning squad. His contributions had been immense in India’s 2011 World Cup triumph as he bowled brilliantly well in tandem with Zaheer, inspite of being ruled out of the final owing to a hand fracture. Ashish eventually transformed into a T20 specialist, striking 34 times in 27 twenty20 matches before finally retiring in 2017.
