7 worst patches for legendary cricketers in Tests

"Form is temporary, class is permanent" is easily one of the most widely used cliches in cricket. However, it does get a little concerning when the best players in the team suffer a dip in form as it often becomes the deciding factor in terms of results.

It is difficult to find a cricketer who has not gone through a bad patch in his career. Even the legends of the game have had times when they looked like a pale shadow of themselves and struggled to do what they do best. However, they managed to emerge from it and finished off with great careers.

Here are some of the worst patches for legendary cricketers:

7. Shane Warne

Iconic Australian leg-spinner Shane Warne is one of the greatest bowlers to have ever played the game. With a tally of 708 wickets in Tests, Warne is the second highest wicket-taker in the longest format of the game behind 800-man Muttiah Muralitharan. After struggling a bit in his first couple of years, the leggie had a relatively smooth journey in his career.

However, just like any other great bowler, Warne did have a few bad patches here and there. Perhaps the most prominent one came about in 1998/99 season when the Aussie great struggled for a brief period of time. The usually prolific bowler could manage just 4 wickets in as many Tests at a poor average of 94.50.

6. Kumar Sangakkara

Kumar Sangakkara was nowhere near his best in the 2003/04 season

Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara is the greatest batting superstar to have emerged from his country and also among the best of all-time. His phenomenal batting feats and incredible consistency put Sangakkara in a league of his own. Sangakkara had a tame start to his career but he was quick to make up for it and never looked back since then.

The sublime left-hander, though, did have phases in his career when he struggled to get runs on the board. In the 2003/04 season, Kumar Sangakkara played 11 innings in 6 Tests where he could manage a mere 277 runs at a low average of 25.18. This included a top score of 71 and just a solitary half-century.

5. Glenn McGrath

Glenn McGrath took just 8 wickets in 4 Tests in 2003

The most successful fast bowler in the history of Test cricket, Glenn McGrath, had an international career which saw him and the Australian team reach dizzy heights of success. In 124 Tests, the lanky pacer claimed as many as 563 wickets and averaged just under 22 with 29 five-wicket hauls to his name.

But despite being one of the most consistent performers in the game, McGrath did go through patches when he did not pick up enough wickets. Back in the year 2003, he played 4 Tests for Australia and could pick up just 8 wickets at an unusually high average of over 35. The surprising fact is that the phase included two Tests against a struggling Bangladesh side.

4. Ricky Ponting

It was not very often that Ricky Ponting struggled to get runs

One of Australia's greatest batsmen and captains, Ricky Ponting, had a glittering career which saw him bring plenty of laurels to the country. Ponting is the second highest run-getter in Test cricket behind Sachin Tendulkar. Post a moderately successful start, the pugnacious Aussie pushed his cricket to another level and became one of the world's best.

There were times in Ponting's career, however, when he could not score runs with his regular fluency. The 2000/01 season saw the stylish right-hander run into one such poor run of form. In 13 innings, Ricky Ponting was able to score only 259 runs at a disastrous average of 23.54 with just a couple of fifties to his name.

3. Brian Lara

Brian Lara failed to get going in the year 1996

Legendary West Indian batsman Brian Lara left an indelible mark on the history of the game by displaying his masterful batting prowess on the cricket field. Lara had some incredible statistics to back up his performance and created many records during his iconic career. One of the records that remains intact is his incredible 400, a first ever in Test cricket.

But the southpaw often proved that he is only human and did have some lean patches in his career. Perhaps the worst of them was in the year 1996 when Lara had a run tally of 226 runs in 9 innings and he averaged an uncharacteristically low 25.11. During this period, the great batsman was able to score just one half-century.

2. Muttiah Muralitharan

Muttiah Muralitharan was quite a shadow of himself towards his last couple of years

Arguably the greatest spinner of all time, Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan is the only bowler to scale the peak of 800 wickets in Test cricket. A legend in every regard, the offie enjoyed a great career which saw him and his team achieve quite a lot of success across formats. Muralitharan did not have a great start but made up for it with heaps of wickets later on.

Such was the Sri Lankan icon's knack for picking up wickets that it is difficult to come across a period when he struggled. However, Muttiah Muralitharan was not really at his best towards the fag end of his career. The year 2009 saw him take just 26 wickets in 8 Tests at a very high average of 45.96 and no five-wicket hauls.

1. Sachin Tendulkar

2006 was perhaps the worst year in Tendulkar’s Test career

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is a name which needs no introduction, particularly in the cricketing world. Arguably the greatest cricketer of all time, Tendulkar holds most major batting records in the history of the game. Apart from that, he has also played the most matches in an international career, too.

The Master Blaster, as Sachin is fondly known, did have times in his career when he appeared to be struggling compared to his lofty standards. Probably the most prominent one among them was in 2006 when he recorded 267 runs in 12 innings and averaged under 25. Sachin Tendulkar's highest score in that year was 63, which was also his only fifty.