A batsman may be the biggest asset to a team but a bowler, especially a part-time bowler is arguably the most underrated yet effective part of the Cricketing circuit. Their overs are those particular overs against which batsmen tend to take chances and often end up mistiming the ball. Part-time bowlers not only help to fill the void of those overs which can’t be given to a full-time bowler just to save his crucial overs at the end but also keep the things tightened up in the match as they can save runs with bowling and also score runs with the bat. Today in the article we are gonna speak about how part-timers have changed the course of the game in the history of international cricket.
The first name in the list and the most popular one is the all-time legend, Indian Maestro, Sachin Tendulkar. All this hails back to the Hero cup Semi-final against South Africa where he couldn’t we’ll impress with the bat but the part-time bowler Sachin had other plans. He was handed the last over of the game with South Africa needing just 6 off 6 with two wickets in hand. Sachin got Fanie de Villiers run out on the first ball itself and continued bowling the next five balls as tight as he could against Allan Donald to see India through to a nail-biting victory by merely 2 runs. Against Australia in 1998, again he got out for a cheap score of 8 but he came back stronger with his bowling ending up with figures of 5/32 and the dismissed batsman included big names like Steve Waugh, Michael Bevan, Damien Martyn among others. He took another 5 wicket haul against arch-rivals Pakistan in 2005 including wickets of Inzamam ul Haq, Mohammad Hafeez and a popular stumping dismissal of Shahid Afridi. Later in a Test against Pakistan, on the last bowl of the day, Sachin developed a ripper of a delivery to Moin Khan which went straight through his legs to hit the leg stump and it was termed as a “Magical Delivery” by critics and commentators around the globe.
Next up is another Indian Maestro, Virender Sehwag. In the champions trophy, 2002 semi-final India batting first put up a modest 261 with Sehwag giving India a lightening start with a well made 59. When South Africa came into bat Gibbs and Kallis made India work to stop the boundaries and played amazingly well. Gibbs was already set on 116 and Kallis on 97 when Gibbs was retired hurt. Few overs later Sehwag came to bowl his spell and got the crucial wicket of Kallis. That was the turning point in the game. Sehwag was super economical and prevented the batsman from taking even singles and doubles. He went on to take the wickets of other big names like Mark Boucher and Lance Klusener and broke South Africa’s back. This crucial spell from the part-timer became the difference between the two teams as India clinched the match by 10 runs and Sehwag finished his spell with 3 for 25, a spell to be remembered for a long time in the history of Indian cricket.
Australian legend, Michael Clarke was another part-time bowler who did bowl a few miraculous overs during his career. In the Border-Gavaskar trophy 2004, he was handed the ball when India was cruising towards a huge second-innings lead at 186-4. A huge lead could have easily meant a defeat for the Aussies. As soon as he came to bowl the Indian middle-order got exposed and some amazing deliveries and a few loose shots meant India wear on the backfoot. Clarke was quick amidst the wickets and took the last six wickets for just 9 runs forcing India to a mere score of 205. Although Australia went on to lose the match this was one of the remarkable bowling spells from the part-timer. Another master class spell he produced came again against India in 2008 when India was reeling at 185-7 late on day 5 and even after losing Dhoni, the 7th wicket stand had ensured that India looked well equipped to see the game off. Then came in Clarke who slyly took the game away from India dismissing Harbhajan Singh, Rp Singh, and Ishant Sharma in a space of merely 4 balls ensuring Australia clinch a thriller with few overs to spare.
During the 2015 West Indies Sri Lanka test, Windies opener Kraig Braithwaite became the first opening batsman with such interesting figures of 6-29 in the International Test circuit. Sri Lanka batting first was all out for 200 in reply of which Windies could only manage a 163. Sri Lanka started well in the second innings before the onset of the part-timer Kraige Braithwaite. Before the match, Braithwaite had only one test wicket but luck had other plans for him. He bowled a tight spell and managed to break Lanka’s middle order with a six-wicket scalp for just 29 runs which added to Lanka’s misery as they could only manage 206 and West Indies were set with a target of
243 but rain played spoilsport and the match was abandoned due to it. Although the match gave away no result Braithwaite’s performance impressed Cricketing minds all over the world and soon shot into fame after that spell.
Now let’s move to domestic cricket from the International stage. The IPL fame Nitish Rana displayed his part-timer skills against RCB in 2018. RCB got off to a flyer with Brendan Mccullum scoring a quickfire 43 making a mockery of the KKR bowling line up. He was soon dismissed but that brought in AB de Villiers with a well set Virat Kohli ok the other side. Both of them were batting impressively well and they looked to cross the 215 marks at one point when skipper Dinesh Karthik played a masterstroke and the ball was handed to part-timer Nitish Rana. Rana started him over with a dot when De Villiers mistimed Rana for an easy catch towards Mitchell Johnson and in the next ball, he got the prized wicket of Virat Kohli clean bowled. These two big wickets in consecutive delivered were a loss RCB couldn’t recover from quickly and they soon lost the rest of the middle order like a pack of cards settling for 176 in their quota of 29 overs. Nitish Rana’s brilliant spell of 2/11 and later a quickfire 35 ensured KKR defeated Banglore quite convincingly, by 4 wickets.
West Indian batsman Rostan Chase in another one on the list. In the 2019 England West Indies test series, West Indies batting first scored a modest 289 which felt under par against an inform English team but Kemar Roach had other plans. As soon as the English openers came to the crease Roach was on point since the first ball and the entire English team was all out for just 77. WestIndies came in to bat again and batted brilliantly declaring at 415-6 setting England a huge target of 584. England batsman came in all guns blazing but then started the part-timer, Roustan Chase’s show. He bowled a memorable spell of 21.4 overs and single-handedly ripped apart the English team ending with mind blabbering figures of 8-60. This amazing spell of bowling handed West Indies a 338 run victory over England, the best in their history of international test cricket and Chases bagged the Man of the Match award for his superhuman effort in giving the Windies this prized victory.
Last but not the least, Sourav Ganguly during the 3rd ODI in the 1997 series against arch-rivals Pakistan produced one of the greatest bowling figures for a part-time bowler. India batting first scored failed miserably and managed a mere 182 in their share of 50 overs. The chips were totally in favor of an in form Pakistan team who looked well set to chase the target when the ball was handed to part-timer Sourav Ganguly. Ganguly ran riot through Pakistan’s middle order dismissing the entire backbone of the Pakistani team ensuring none of them enter a double-digit score ending with figures of 5-16. This amazing piece of bowling ensured Pakistan was not able to play their quota of 50 overs and were dismissed for a minimum score of 148 handing India a 34 run victory over their arch-rivals. This spell for the Indian veteran is regarded as one of the most memorable ones in the history of Indian cricket.
All these spells for part-timers prove how important a part-time bowler is to the team and how a couple of wickets or a set of tight overs can change the stream towards you. Such bowlers cannot be counted out at any point in a match and are potential match-winners on their day as they can score with the bat and chip in with wickets later on reducing the pressure on the main strike bowlers. The presence of a part-timer in today’s generation of cricket is appreciated by Cricketing pundits worldwide and their legacy is here to stay.
