5 whirlwind innings by 'slow' batsmen

There are certain players who have been stereotyped as batsmen who cannot take the attack to the opposition, who cannot turn on the heat when it matters the most. Some of these players, usually, legends in their own right, have at times come up with absolute gems and silenced their critics in the best manner humanly possible. Today, we look at 5 such batsmen who took not only the opposition but their own team and even themselves by surprise. Since there is not any specific criteria that renders a player as slow-or fast-scoring, the players chosen in this list are those who are widely renowned and accepted to be players who play on the slower side.

#1 Sunil Gavaskar

103 off 88 balls v New Zealand at Nagpur, 1987, One Day International (ODI)

Innings strike-rate: 117.04

Career strike-rate: 62.26

Though there have been many faster innings, this was chosen ahead of them for a couple of reasons: 117.04 in 1987 is equivalent to at least 140 these days and it remains Gavaskar’s only century in ODIs, coming in an all-important World Cup clash.

The Kiwis, batting first, had scored 221 at Nagpur, clearly a below-par score. However, the twist in the tale was that India needed to score those runs in 42.2 overs, which was 5.25 runs per over: a daunting task indeed.

Says who, though? The man who once carried his bat in a 60-over (ODI) scoring merely 36 had different ideas this time round and struck one of the most memorable centuries of all time. It was then the second-fastest century by an Indian batsman in the World Cup history and to this date remains the 4th fastest. India won the match in 32.1 overs, making a mockery of the total. Stunningly, his knock included 3 sixes, an aberration for a man who has only 26 career sixes in Test Matches.

What makes the innings even special was that Gavaskar was rumoured to be unwell prior to the match. On a lighter note, whether that was a knock on the head cannot be ruled out as yet.

Here is a never-before, never-after video of the Indian batting great, where one can see him tonking the ball to all parts of the ground en-route to his stunning ton.

#2 Mohammad Yousuf

Mohammad Yousuf, stereotyped as a slow, hardworking Pakistan middle-order batsman, was most certainly a lot more than that. Yousuf has more than a solitary super-fast innings to his name, surprising for a player who was later dropped from the side for “playing slow”, among other reasons. With Inzamam-ul-Haq and Younis Khan, he formed one of the most formidable middle orders the country has ever seen, albeit for a short duration. The following innings will provide a glimpse of his calibre:

76* off 34 balls v Zimbabwe at Bulowayo, 2002, One Day International – Inning strike rate: 223.52

100* off 68 balls v/s Zimbabwe at Harare, 2002, One Day International – Inning strike rate: 147.05

Note: These are two back-to-back innings, making his claim even more special.

50 off 29 balls v South Africa at Capetown, 2003, Test Match – Inning strike rate: 172.41

After seeing these innings, those who have not watched Yousuf bat may conclude that he was more of a hitter than a grafter, and you will be forgiven for doing so; such is the impact of these knocks.

After all, Yousuf had an ODI career strike rate of merely 75.10.

That one of these innings – the half-century against South Africa – came in a lost cause deserves a special mention. Pakistan were following on and tottering at 130/3 with a deficit of 200 still to go when Yousuf came in to bat, and he went on to destroy the South African bowling attack albeit for a shorter duration; the impact of those 29 balls, though, still lingers in the heart of every Pakistan cricket fan.

#3 Shivnarine Chanderpaul

100 off 72 balls v Australia at Guyana, 2003, Test Match – Inning strike rate 138.88

Test Career strike-rate: 43.51

Any individual who has followed cricket in the last decade and a half needs no introduction whatsoever to this diminutive, introverted left-hander. Tireless centuries, half centuries, thirties, forties, he has done them all, possessing a ‘crab-like’ stance. If ever Chanders had to get a hundred, it meant countless overs had to be bowled. Drinks after drinks, session after session, he would keep batting on and on.

The aforementioned innings, though, begs to differ. An innings that saw West Indies wobbling at 5/53, with Chanders only on 6 at that time, changed course to head towards respectability in drastic and fun-filled circumstances. The left-hander unleashed a never-seen-before counter attack to bring up the then 3rd fastest (4th as of today) century of all-time in Test Matches.

During the golden Australian period of the 2000s, such an innings was as rare as Halley’s comet, that despite the fact the Australians were missing the services of Glenn McGrath in that encounter. In all, it took him a mere 108 minutes to complete the century. One simply has got to admire the wristwork this man possesses.

No words can describe the onslaught that ensued on that fateful day in a manner only this video can.

#4 Rahul Dravid

50 off 22 balls v New Zealand at Hyderabad, 2003, One Day International – Inning strike-rate: 227.27

Career strike-rate: 71.24

A player that needs no introduction, an innings that needs no story. No one can possibly forget the day when Rahul Dravid decided he would become the Sachin Tendulkar of the 90s in costume. A 182-run opening stand meant it was time for him to drop down the order, but India suffered a mini collapse of sorts with 3 wickets falling for 20 runs. After Yuvraj Singh, India’s best hitter, was back in the hut, the rather reserved lad from Karnataka took it upon himself to unleash a flurry of boundaries right at the end to take the team’s total from average to match-winning.

If you want to watch Rahul Dravid attempt a ramp shot during his days in the international arena and change it in the last moment to still get a boundary, you simply cannot miss this video!

#5 Jacques Kallis

54 off 25 balls v/s Zimbabwe at Cape Town 2003, Test Match – Inning strike-rate 216

Career strike-rate: 72.89

Not Shahid Afridi, not Viv Richards and not Virender Sehwag, it is this man who has the record for the fastest 50 in Test cricket.

There is an interesting story that Kallis was always a stroke player par excellence, but the lack of solid batsmen in the South African team when he started out meant he had to assume the role of a sheet anchor for majority of his career.

However, he gave a glimpse of what could have been, in 2003, when he scored the fastest fifty in the history of the game in merely 24 balls after coming in to bat at a relatively comfortable position – meaning he could go after it since ball one.

An innings that saw him hit 5 sixes – 3 consecutive ones before playing even 10 balls – lead to the commentator having a premonition that a record would be broken, only to be proved correct after barely 40 minutes.