5 players who used their lucky break to carve a great career

When handed a break at Lords, Dravid cashed in

It is said that “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity”. It’s almost as if the quote was coined for Cricket. Such is the nature of circumstances that govern the sport that without an opportunity, all the skill a cricketer possesses is rendered futile.Padmakar Shivalkar waited 20 years for an international cap but was denied one despite a stellar career that reaped 589 First Class wickets. There were others however, who weren’t as brutally unlucky as him. These were individuals who waited at the cusp - trained and ready – waiting for that elusive stroke of luck to launch themselves upon the grand stage. Here are five, who when presented with an unexpected break, went on to carve out great careers.

#1 Rahul Dravid

When handed a break at Lords, Dravid cashed in

While he surely was gifted, it would be a myth to conclude that the path to glory was easy for Dravid. The “Wall” certainly didn’t take shape overnight. It took five years of consistent big-scoring in domestic cricket for Dravid to earn his coveted India cap.

While it did earn him a spot in the Test team that toured England in 1996, he wasn’t guaranteed a game. Batting in the classical mould, Sanjay Manjrekar was India’s preferred “number-three” and was set to hold fort through the series. But in the first Test at Edgbaston, Manjrekar hurt his ankle in the first innings. He batted at number seven in the second innings but failed to recover in time for the second Test. Enter Dravid.

The soft-spoken Bangalorean was handed a debut in the second Test at Lords - one that was to be Dickie Bird’s last. Dravid accepted the offer with glee and scored a memorable 95 followed by an 84 in the third Test at Nottingham.

Early next year, he would tour South Africa and score a pulsating 148 and 81 in the 1997 Johannesburg Test match to cement his place. He would retire as a legend of the game, with 13,288 Test and 10,889 ODI runs respectively.

#2 Andrew Strauss

Strauss receives his cap from Vaughan

A compact left-hander with strong shoulders and a menacing cut shot, Strauss didn’t quite burst onto the county cricket scene. Instead, his early days with Middlesex were muted. All this changed when Lancashire’s Andrew Flintoff bowled a fiery spell in a 2003 county game and Strauss responded with a resounding hundred.

The performance caught the selector’s eyes. When New Zealand toured England in 2004, Strauss wasn’t quite set for a debut. But he was to be in for a surprise. Leading up to the Lords Test and batting in the nets, skipper Michael Vaughn twisted a knee. Lady luck smiled upon Strauss as he was called upon as a replacement.

The southpaw would go on to score a hundred in the first innings and an 83 in the second. It was a debut so sensational, that Nasser Hussain announced his retirement with immediate effect despite scoring a ton himself in the same Test. That paved the way for the left-hander to carve out a compelling career. He would go on to eventually finish with 100 Test caps, over 11,000 international runs, 24 Test wins and an Ashes triumph as captain in 2009.

#3 Ravi Shastri

Ravi Shastri was called up for a Test debut at 18 years of age

Between 1979 and 1983, Dilip Doshi was Kapil Dev’s preferred choice for left-arm spin in the Indian Test set-up. On the eve of the first Wellington Test in 1981, when Dilip Doshi suffered a foot injury, the touring Indian party was left in the lurch. An SOS was sent back home calling for the brightest left-arm spinner in the country. Answering the call was a tall teenager from Mumbai.

When he sent down a maiden in the first over of his debut Test to the New Zealand skipper Geoff Howarth, Ravi Shastri was just 18 years and 270 days old. Having picked up three wickets in the first innings, he went on to clean up the last three second innings Kiwi wickets with his last four balls to finish with a match haul of 6/63.

The achievement was astounding considering that the tenacious youngster had landed in Wellington just the night preceding the Test match. Shastri would take a step ahead in the third Test at Auckland while registering his first five-for. That effort earned him the man-of-the-match award and he would finish the series on a high with 15 wickets.

A meteoric rise followed by a period of steady consolidation witnessed Shastri mature into a confident spinning all-rounder for India. When Shastri hung up his boots in 1993-94, he had 6,938 international runs with 11 Test tons. 151 test and 129 ODI wickets also indicated the spinning prowess he possessed through his career - one that began with a bang and culminated with Shastri leading Mumbai to the Ranji title.

#4 Alastair Cook

Alastair Cook was handed a debut under bizarre circumstances

By early 2004, Cook was earmarked for big things. He was the captain of the England Under-19 World Cup side and had scored a maiden first-class hundred. The next year, against the visiting Aussies, he would pile up an impressive double-hundred for Essex.

In the same period however, Marcus Trescothick (then the Vice-Captain to Michael Vaughn) and Andrew Strauss were a proven left-handed opening pair for England and were scheduled to open the batting on their tour to India in 2005-06. It seemed inevitable - Cook had the credentials, but he had to get in line and wait his turn.

Things then took an unexpected turn. The English team on the India tour was struck by a string of injuries. Kevin Petersen and Paul Collingwood developed back problems while a stomach bug struck Simon Jones.

If these weren’t significant enough for England, the biggest blow was dealt when Trescothick’s battle with depression surfaced. With a problem that would eventually destroy his international career, Trescothick left the team camp after the tour opener and flew back home. Cook was summoned. The youngster, who was touring with the England-A side in the Caribbean, was flown in at short notice as a replacement. He would thereafter, script for himself an awe-inspiring career.

As a tall and handsome 21-year-old, the left-hander made his Test debut at Nagpur and scored an unbeaten 104 in the second innings. In the years since that debut, he would go to become the youngest Brit to reach 1,500, 2,000, 3,000, 4,000 and 5,000 Test runs. Having won the Ashes at home as skipper in 2013, Cook has currently amassed 9,000 Test runs with 27 hundreds – a splendid record and a still blossoming career at just 30 years of age.

#5 Sunil Gavaskar

Gavaskar scored two fifties on Test debut, but required a touch of good fortune

The Mumbaikar’s prodigious talent was spotted early as he scored heavily in school cricket and was named India's Best Schoolboy Cricketer of the year in 1966. Riding on the back of three hundreds in his maiden domestic season in 1968/69, Gavaskar was picked for the 1970/71 West Indies tour.

He was going to open the batting for India against the famed Caribbean speedsters – the stuff of dreams for someone that loved a challenge. So far, so good! Then, a setback occurred. An infected fingernail, caused due to nail-biting, meant that Gavaskar had to sit out in the first test at Sabina Park and watch Dilip Sardesai score a famous double hundred.

Making his debut in the second Test at Trinidad, Gavaskar received his first lucky break. When batting on 12, Gary Sobers dropped him at slip off Vanburn Holder. The right-handed debutant would go on to score 65 and develop a vital 96 run partnership with Sardesai. High on confidence, Gavaskar scored another fifty in the second innings to guide India to a famous victory.

His stroke of luck was to continue in the series as Sobers was to drop him again. Not one to deny his good fortune, the maestro said, “In one of the Tests against them, I was batting on six when I hit a square cut and the ball was really travelling. Gary Sobers was fielding in the background and the ball hit him in the chest and fell in the ground and I survived. I went on to score a half-century”.

Gavaskar capitalized on his chances and registered a stunning debut series at 21 years of age. When the series ended, he had amassed 774 runs at an average of 154.80. Only Sir Don Bradman had a higher average in a series (201.50 v. South Africa, in 1931-32 and 178.75 v. India, in 1947-48).

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Edited by Staff Editor