5 instances when great batsmen fought poor form with a big innings

He cracked his maiden double century after averaging 16 in his previous 10 innings.

South African run machine Hashim Amla's poor run of form, which had reached its peak in the series against India late last year, has finally come to an end. And Amla chose the best way possible to do it; by hitting a double century.In the last 10 innings prior to his 201 against England at Cape Town, the bearded genius had scored just 150 runs in 10 Test innings without even a single half-century. However, this was definitely not the first occasion when something like this has happened.The past couple of decades have seen instances where some modern-day batting greats coming out of a bad patch with the help of an epic knock. Here are 5 such instances from the recent history of cricket.

#5 Inzamam-ul-Haq - 200 not out vs Sri Lanka at Dhaka

He cracked his maiden double century after averaging 16 in his previous 10 innings.

Iconic Pakistan batsman Inzamam-ul-Haq remained Pakistan’s go-to man in a crisis situation throughout his career. Even when the burly batsman had troubled times of his own, he knew quite well how to combat his way out of them.

The 1998/99 season saw Inzamam woefully out of form as he struggled at home against Australia and Zimbabwe and also in the 2-Test series in India. He did not play in the Indo-Pak encounter of the Asian Test Championship and flopped in Pakistan’s match against Sri Lanka.

However, Inzamam-ul-Haq had seemingly saved his best for the final as he cracked his maiden double century after having averaged just over 16 in 10 previous innings. His unbeaten 200 off 397 balls helped Pakistan beat Sri Lanka and win the first and only Asian Test Championship.

#4 Ricky Ponting - 209 vs Pakistan at Hobart

ricky ponting
Ponting struck an iconic 209 and led Australia to a clean sweep in the series.

Legendary Australian batsman Ricky Ponting was one of the most prolific run scorers of his time and possessed a great quality of fighting his way out of poor form. On quite a few occasions in his career, Ponting has come up with a big innings during times of struggle with the bat.

One such instance came in a Test against Pakistan at Hobart in the year 2010 when the master batsman scored a memorable double century despite having struggled in a number of innings before that. In the season which began in November 2009, Ponting had scored just 2 half-centuries and averaged just 27 from 9 innings, way below his lofty standards.

The final Test of the 3-Test series against Pakistan changed it all, though, as Ricky Ponting struck an iconic 209 off 354 balls. In the process, he led Australia to an enormous first innings total of 519 which set up the match and a clean sweep in the series for them.

#3 Jacques Kallis - 224 vs Sri Lanka at Cape Town

jacques kallis
Highest run-getter for the Proteas in Tests.

Arguably South Africa’s greatest batsman ever, Jacques Kallis, had a career with more highs than lows. However, whenever the lows came, Kallis showed great character in coming out of them and converting them into highs.

Towards the end of the year 2011, Kallis hit a lean patch as he struggled in home Tests against Australia and later Sri Lanka. In the 2nd Test of the 3-match series against Sri Lanka at Durban, Kallis was dismissed for a pair and averaged just under 15 from 7 innings he played in the season.

However, the great batsman turned the tide in his favour in the 3rd Test at Cape Town as he blasted 224 from 325 balls and led the Proteas to a commanding total of 580 for 4. Jacques Kallis received the Player of the Match award for his monumental effort which managed to drag him out of his slip in form.

#2 Brian Lara - 400 not out vs England at St John\'s, Antigua

brian lara
Lara celebrates after reaching the 400-run mark.

Recording the highest ever individual score in the history of Test cricket was Brian Lara’s way of recovering from poor batting form. Everything was going wrong for Lara both as a skipper and as a batsman during the Wisden Trophy between West Indies and England in 2004.

While West Indies had lost the first 3 Tests of the 4-match series, the legendary southpaw had mustered just 100 runs from 6 innings with a couple of consecutive ducks in the first and second Tests respectively. Come the 4th Test at St John’s and no one had even imagined what was about to happen.

Brian Lara came in to bat on the first day with West Indies at 33 for one. When he finally declared on Day 3 with his team on 751 for 5, Lara had scored the first ever quadruple century in Test cricket and eclipsed Matthew Hayden’s 380 which was the highest individual Test score until that day.

#1 Sachin Tendulkar - 241 not out vs Australia at Sydney

sachin tendulkar
Tendulkar batted freely and showed his brilliance at the SCG.

In what remains one of Sachin Tendulkar’s most hard-working innings, his unbeaten 241 against Australia at Sydney in the 2003/04 Border-Gavaskar Trophy is among the finest examples of a great batsman fighting poor form with an epic innings.

Tendulkar’s form before this knock can be described as disastrous at best. He had struggled to get runs in his first 4 innings of the series and had scored just a solitary half-century in the 2-Test home series against New Zealand prior to that.

However, the master batsman was determined to make amends and showed great resolve to stay at the crease. By the time India declared for a mammoth score of 705 for 7, Sachin Tendulkar had amassed 241 runs in 436 deliveries and in the process, thrown his poor form out of the window.

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Edited by Staff Editor