5 most glorious team comebacks in cricket

Drama makes everything interesting. A narrative without ups and downs is monotonous. In sports too, success stories become humane and gain depth when they have a saga of struggle and failure stapled to them.

Some of the most memorable moments in cricket have arrived when the teams who were doomed and had no hope left, rose to the top and surprised everyone with their sensational comeback.

Rising from the bottom is easier said than done. Leaders have to bring something creative to the table to rekindle hope in the team. Motivating the men when there is very little to bank on is in itself a monumental task and not everyone is able to achieve this feat.

Here is a collection of five such glorious comebacks in cricket. Relive those incredible moments when teams bounced back from significant lows and brought the world to their feet with their stunning efforts.

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#5. Australia relive the magic - 2013

The game of highs and lows is a statistical inevitability. In cricket too, a team, after staying at the top for a long duration has to step down and that transition is not often smooth. Australia was finding it out the hard way, as their stalwarts retired leaving a big void to fill.

Their replacements failed to recreate the magic and Australia sank to the bottom in 2013. South Africa arrived in Australia in 2012, tormented the hosts and returned home pocketing the Test series. India outclassed them at home in 2013 and during the Ashes of 2013, England dominated Michael Clarke's men without any trouble.

Australia hadn't tasted victory in nine straight Tests when England came for the Ashes of 2013/4 in Australia.

But in the first Test at Brisbane, Australia played the way they played in the 2000's and dominated the visitors. The game set the tone for the entire series and England went home after accepting a white-wash.

The rejuvenation happened at the hands of Mitchell Johnson who had ignited the spark in him and bowled as if a man possessed. He wasn't just fast, he was furious, unstoppable and at the best of his abilities. He ended with 37 wickets and an average of 13.97, the second highest-wicker was Ryan Harris with 22 scalps.

David Warner and Chris Roger brought back normalcy in the top order while Brad Haddin chipped in with effective scores in the lower order. Suddenly Australia had found the magic formula.

In the subsequent tour of South Africa, the winning streak continued. David Warner averaged 90 in the series while the chief tormentor was once again Johnson who grabbed 22 wickets in six innings.

Michele Clarke's team wasn't as great as the previous Australian sides but they were a force to reckon with courtesy a dynamite bowler who blasted the new ball with his fearless batting at the top order and a wicketkeeper who came to rescue the team with his composed and shrewd batting in the lower order.

But the life-support of the team was a left-arm pacer who with his handle-bar mustache looked like a renaissance painter from Italy but bowled like a man who was born only for the act of destroying the batsmen.

#4. Pakistan win the Champions Trophy 2017

From bottom to the top, Pakistan in 2017

They lost the first game by a massive margin against arch-rivals India, faced several injury concerns and were branded as old-fashioned in modern cricket.

But Sarfaraz Khan's Pakistan fought back. They fought back in style and fought back banking on their strengths. Their bowlers choked South Africa and Pakistan won their first game in the tournament.

In a virtual-eliminator against Sri Lanka, luck favored the Pakistanis as Sri Lanka dropped catches at crucial moments, bowled loose deliveries in a tense situation and allowed Pakistan to walk away with the game. Also, crucial was Sarfaraz Ahmed's captain's knock kept things steady during the chaos.

In the semi-finals Pakistan met the favourites, the home team England. Known for their batting might, England was expected to pile up a massive score but they too were tied up by the inspired bowling performances. A thumping victory by eight wickets took the men in green to the finals to lock horns against India, a contest loved by the fans, administrators, organizers, and promoters.

In what panned out as an anticlimax, Fakhar Zaman, the new recruit, hit a century that took Pakistan beyond 300 and then Mohammad Amir's sensational swing bowling routed India's famed top order to seal the result.

A massive win in the finals allowed Pakistan to win an ICC title after an eternity. A team that was stamped as good for nothing produced match-winners at every stage and shocked the world.

#3. England turn the tables in India- 2013

England's Kevin Pietersen unleashed a mammoth innings on the Indian side in 2013

When England arrived in India for a series of four Tests in 2013 neither the present nor the past favoured them. The drubbing at the hands of the visiting South African team earlier the year was very fresh and was still hurting the fans while the whitewash given by Pakistan in UAE was too massive and shameful to be forgotten so easily.

The first Test saw England getting routed by nine wickets. The fact that they trailed by a massive 330 runs in the first innings reflected the sorry state of the visitors.

With two down for 68 runs while replying to India's 327 on a dangerously spinning Mumbai pitch in the second Test, England looked set for another humiliating defeat. And then Kevin Pietersen happened.

With his powerful arms, bold attitude and fearless approach, Pietersen slammed a counter-attacking 186 and England's renaissance happened.The spinners took over the mantle and destroyed India in the second innings to steer England home.

In the third Test, India was given a taste of their own medicine as the spin duo of Swann and Panesar wrecked home team while Cook continued his runathon. A draw in the fourth Test completed England's sensational comeback series victory.

Cook slammed three hundreds in four innings while Swann surpassed India's spinners to become the leading wicket-taker as England turned the tables and became the only team to win a Test series in India after 2006.

#2. England find their mojo in ODIs - 2015

For several decades England embraced ODI cricket with suspicion and wasn't keen on innovating. The rest of the world made several changes in the ODI format but England cricket remained aloof and the results weren't surprising.

England's ODI team was out-dated as it was filled with players who had limited skills of excelling in the ODI format. Then came the 2015 world cup, their biggest disappoint in the limited overs format in the modern era.

New Zealand annihilated them. Australia pulverized them and by the time Bangladesh knocked them out of the tournament, it wasn't a shocking news anymore.

But in the ruins of their abysmal performance, England had found the blueprint of redemption. Eoin Morgan, their skipper found a like-minded friend in Andrew Strauss who had taken the reins of England cricket in his hands in 2015 and the duo brought sweeping changes in the ODI format.

PItches became flat, players were encouraged to take risks and follow their natural game, IPL was accepted and soon England cricket bred players who specialized in the shorter format of the game.

England defeated the visitors, New Zealand and Australia in 2015 courtesy of their aggressive brand of cricket and also routed Pakistan in UAE in the same year.

In the last couple of years, the English team has gone from strength to strength and has become a world power in ODI cricket.

#1.Pakistan at the 1992 World Cup

If anything,it was unbelievable, unpredictable and truly, 'Imranesque'. The story of the 'cornered tigers' of the 1992 World Cup, is arguably the greatest comeback in modern cricket.

Until 11 March 1992, Pakistan's world cup campaign was a massive failure and a national shame. In five matches they had only one victory and that too against Zimbabwe, a minnow. They lost to West Indies by 10 wickets, were humbled by India and Sri Lanka and were routed for a mere 74 runs by England. Fortunately, rain saved them that game.

Two weeks later, the world cup trophy was with Pakistan. Talk about comebacks.

The last three league games were a sudden death for Pakistan and maybe that ignited the fire in them, and they rose to dominate the world. Australia was defeated by 48 runs and Sri Lanka was humbled by four wickets.

But the massive moment came in their last league game when they dominated New Zealand, who had won seven games so far. Wasim Akram unleashed his fury and grabbed four wickets and then Ramiz Raja slammed an unbeaten century to take Pakistan in the semi-finals with an authoritative and convincing win.

In the semi-finals, the world witnessed the emergence of Inzamam-ul-Huq who with his giant physique, treated world class pace bowlers as high-school boys and pulled, flicked, and whipped balls without batting an eye. His blitzkrieg fifty and Miandad's trademark calm innings took Pakistan one step closer to the world-cup and the world realized the transformation this team had gone into.

Like the tournament, the final too had ups and downs. Against England, Imran's solid fifty set the stage while the lower-middle capitalized by adding quick runs. Chasing 250, England at one stage was four down for 141, with the game tilting towards the batting team.

Then came Wasim Akram who had already scored 33 runs off 18 balls and sent back Lamb and Lewis on two consecutive balls. Two wickets in two balls and Akram had paved the way for Pakistan's triumph.

In sensational teamwork lead by a cunning captain, Pakistan defined the term 'comeback' with their efforts and the word, 'cornered tigers' became glamorous.

It was a special win.