5 cricketers who were born after their legendary teammates made their debut

It’s often heard as a rhetoric that Virat Kohli was a little more than a year old when Sachin Tendulkar made his debut for India in 1989. The instances are plenty, and the numbers are fascinating. But how would it be if Tendulkar were to walk up to a player and say, “You weren’t even born when I first played for India.” We look at specific instances where players weren’t even born when their legendary teammate played his debut match.

#1 Ian Peebles (England)

Peebles (right most) played in 13 test matches for England

Teammate: Sir Jack Hobbs

It’s not every day that one comes across a bowler who can make the legendary Sir Donald Bradman look fallible. Ian Peebles did just that.

A maverick born in early 1908, Peebles built his reputation on his easy-on-the-eyes leg breaks and undetectable googlies – it is said that could bowl the wrong ‘un without an apparent change in action.

Young Peebles began his journey as a Scot in hot pursuit of his cricketing ambitions. And his travel to England seemed to be all in vain for the initial few years till he landed himself a place in the English side that toured South Africa in 1927.

It was on that tour that an extraordinary episode involving Peebles unfolded during a one-day game against Constantia. Seeing his team batting well, the tailender Peebles thought of taking a dip in the waters with some of the locals. Having lost all sense of time, he returned after a while – only to realise that his team’s innings was over and that he had missed his turn to bat. The following morning, Cape Times declared him ‘absent bathing’ on their score sheet.

Ian Peebles blew hot and cold for the next few years, producing ordinary performances at the international level but stunning everyone in first-class games. In 1930, while playing for the Oxford University, Peebles picked up 70 wickets, including that of Jack Hobbs and Herbert Sutcliffe, and made his way back into the country’s team. His subsequent performances earned him the coveted Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1931.

Post retirement, one of the things he did was write on the game he played all his life. His autobiography, Spinner’s Yarn ranks among the best written by a cricketer. In later years, he also published Straight from the Shoulder, one of the earliest and the most authoritative accounts on the problem of chucking that plagued world cricket.

#2 Saqlain Mushtaq (Pakistan)

Mushtaq bagged 208 wickets in 49 test matches for Pakistan

Teammate: Javed Miandad

There are few deliveries left in a spinner’s arsenal that Saqlain Mushtaq didn’t create, or master. This wily pioneer of spin bowling was the quickest to 100 ODI wickets. And when he wasn’t busy picking up wickets in one-day games, he was creating a name for himself in the Counties. Take his two hundred plus Test wickets into consideration, and you’ll have one word to define him - ingenious.

One of the greatest Test matches of all time is remembered by Mushtaq’s heroics. It was Chennai, and the year was 1999. The familiar foes were at the cusp of a win, but Mushtaq ensured that that match would go down in history as one of Pakistan’s finest victories and as one of Sachin Tendulkar’s greatest regrets.

Mushtaq’s value dwindled in the early 2000s. Newer alternatives, lack of precision and a bad habit of bowling no-balls made his place in the side untenable. He got a parting shot at the Indians in 2004, but couldn’t capitalise as his path crossed with that of Virender Sehwag en route a magical 309 in Multan. Mushtaq’s returns of 1/204 made sure his international career wouldn’t get a happy ending.

Saqlain Mushtaq continued to play competitive cricket right till 2008, after which he took to coaching and other consulting roles.

#3 Mohammed Shami (India)

Shami was born almost four months after Sachin made his debut

Teammate: Sachin Tendulkar

A boy from Sahaspur in Uttar Pradesh travels to Kolkata. He doesn’t know the local tongue, leave alone knowing people. His talent is identified, and he is offered a monthly contract of six thousand rupees. He stays in tents, and with fellow players in shared hotel rooms.

Seven years later, he is bowling India to a Test win at the Eden Gardens and helping Sachin Tendulkar end his career on a winning note.

Mohammed Shami’s story has been about fortune favouring the brave. Right from the time he walked into the unknown as a 16-year old, till the time he became India’s second highest wicket-taker in the 2015 World Cup, grit and determination have been a constant in the Shami story. The Bengal speedster burst into the scene in 2013 and hasn’t looked back since – becoming one of India’s most prolific one-day bowlers in recent years.

The odd injury aside, Shami’s spells have been incisive and match-altering. Be it in Australia or in New Zealand, the young fast bowler has taken wickets consistently. With nearly 140 wickets to his name, Shami will be making a comeback from injury and will look to dominate Down Under. It was with a dogged knee that he took the world by storm, early last year while India scripted a fine run in the World Cup, where no one gave them a chance.

#4 Aaqib Javed (Pakistan)

Javed is currently the coach of UAE national cricket team

Teammate: Imran Khan

Making your first-class debut at the age of 12 is in itself no mean task. Picking three wickets while opening the bowling in that debut game requires extraordinary talent.

Talent is something Aaqib Javed was never short of. Despite the fact that he often found himself in the shadows of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis, Aaqib managed to carve a place for himself in the annals of Pakistan cricket.

Aaqib’s 236 international scalps came as a result of his sustained hostility towards batsmen, and his ability to swing the ball, both traditional and reverse. His days in the sun, however, came as a 19-year-old, bowling in the wilderness of Australia as a replacement of Waqar Younis. It was his 2/27 in the finals of the World Cup, alongside Akram’s magic, that resulted in a historic win in Melbourne. Aaqib finished the tournament with 11 wickets at 29.81.

Like many on the other side of the border, Aaqib loved to play India. His love affair with his neighbour saw him pick 54 Indian wickets at a lowly average of twenty-five runs per wicket.

One of the few of that era to have not been tarnished by the malice of match fixing, Aaqib Javed’s final game for Pakistan came at the age of 26. When other bowlers of his age were maturing and learning the tricks of the trade, Aaqib was packing his bags after having played for nearly 10 years.

#5 Bill Voce (England)

Voce (right) played in 27 test matches for England

Teammate: Wilfred Rhodes

Harold Larwood was as fast and nasty a bowler you’d face on a cricket pitch. Synonymous to his name was the name of his bowling partner Bill Voce. Voce and Larwood were the Jeff Thompson and Dennis Lillee of an era that saw English cricket bring into the minds of batsmen, the fear of getting hurt.

Voce will be best remembered for the role he played along with Larwood during the Bodyline Series of 1932/33. The plan to bowl into the rib cages of the free flowing Aussie batters was in fact hatched while the two played for their home side of Nottinghamshire, a season or two preceding the tour. It was Voce’s height and left-arm line that caused the most problems, even though he didn’t have the pace of his bowling mate.

In 1931 and 1932, Voce picked up an aggregate of 259 wickets at an average of below twenty and was declared the Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1933. Post the infamous tour Down Under, Voce’s control over his trade declined and he soon saw himself depend on his batting for a place in the side.

He made sporadic appearances for England for the next 14 years, but never again displayed the sting and menacing pace he had displayed during Bodyline.

Voce played in twenty-seven Tests, scoring 308 runs at an average of 13.39, and taking 98 wickets at an average of 27.88. However, even though he toured Australia three times, he never played for England against Australia in England.