Making an international debut is a childhood dream for millions of young kids, struggling and striving for chances at the domestic stage. A Test cap is the dream of every budding cricketer and if a player achieves a milestone on his Test debut, say a century or a 5-wicket haul, it proves to be the icing on the cake as seen recently in the case of Finn Allen . But there have been instances where more than one player’s got to make their debut at the same time. So in this article lets discuss five such instances in international matches and series where maximum number of players made their international debuts.
The first incidence dates back to 1978 in a test match between West Indies and Australia. Playing in Barbados, on 31st March 1978 West Indies took the field with the orthodox 11 players but the surprising things was that 6 out of those 11 players were playing their first international matches. The six debutants were Sylvester Clarke, David Murrey, Basil Shotgun Williams, Alvin Greenidge, Norbert Philip and Shivnarayan. On their debut itself Alvin scored an amazing 56 while his fellow debutant Shivnarayan scored a classy 53. Williams scored a stunning century. Although Australia went on to win the game, this game will always be remembered for the team selection Windies did in the first place.
The second incidence dates back to two months back, which is January 20, 2021. The teams in fray involves Bangladesh and West Indies once again. West Indies handed a debut to as many as six players in the first ODI against Bangladesh at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur. The visitors arrived in the country with a young team, led by Jason Mohammed and were dealt a blow when the talented Hayden Walsh Jr tested positive for Covid-19 on arrival in Bangladesh. For the Windies, Akeal Hosein, Andre McCarthy, Chemar Holder, Joshua Da Silva, Kyle Mayers and Nkrumah Bonner are the six players made their ODI debuts in a single match itself which coincidentally was also Shakib Al Hasan’s first match post his ban was lifted by the ICC.
The third incidence happened in the 1929/30 test series between England and New Zealand. England had to send an inexperienced side for this tour, as their more experienced players were touring the West Indies at the same time. This was also the first international series which was going to be played by West Indies and was also the only time when a country was playing two Test matches simultaneously. England fielded six debutants in the first Test and won the first three matches of that series, while the three other matches ended in draws. The New Zealand cricket team fielded 17 debutants through the series thus taking the total count of debutants in the series to 23.
The fourth incidence happened during the 1996 tour of England. In that series, India handed a debut to six players and they were Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Paras Mhambrey, Vikram Rathour, Venkatesh Prasad and Sunil Joshi. Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid went on to become legends of the game while Vikram Rathour is currently the batting coach of the Indian cricket team. Venkatesh Prasad has been coaching in parts while Sunil Joshi became the chairman of selectors for a brief period. Paras Mhambrey has been the bowling coach of the Under-19 and India A teams. This was a pretty iconic moment in Indian cricket history and brought about a major revolution.
The fifth incidence happened in the recently concluded India vs Australia series’ where 25 years after 1996, the Indian team once again handed five debut caps in a single series ever since Virat Kohli’s departure after the Pink Ball Test in Adelaide. Shubhman Gill and Mohammed Siraj made their debuts in the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne. Mohammad Siraj was included as Mohammed Shami’s tour ended with a fractured hand sustained in Adelaide while Shubman Gill was included only because Prithvi Shaw was out of form.
In Sydney, Navdeep Saini became the third Indian player to debut in the series after Umesh Yadav’s tour ended due to a calf strain. In Brisbane, with the likes of Ravichandran Ashwin, Hanuma Vihari and Ravindra Jadeja all injured, India handed a debut to T Natarajan and Washington Sundar. The story of Washington Sundar is even more remarkable. He was a net bowler added as a back-up due to Ashwin’s injury. However, for a bowler who would have normally struggled to make it to the India A red ball side, Sundar became the 301st player to play for India as Natarajan became the 300th.
