New Delhi. India-Pakistan Test. Fourth day of the match. Sachin Tendulkar is playing on 194 runs. Every fan of Sachin wants to see his double century. Only then Indian captain Rahul Dravid indicates the announcement of the end of the innings from the pavilion. Sachin Tendulkar’s dream of scoring another double century gets shattered. Angry Sachin also expresses anger at the timing of the end of the innings. This is the story which is known to most of the Indian cricket lovers. But do you know that when a batsman famous for playing excellent innings against India was unbeaten on 98 runs, then his captain announced the end of the innings.
The matter is of January 1995. England took a 193-run lead in the first innings on Australia in the third Test match of the Ashes series. England captain Mike Atherton wanted to win this match at any cost. He asked his batters to score fast runs in the second innings. The English batter was also successful in his plan to a great extent.
Batting fast on the fourth day of the match, England scored 255 runs for 2 wickets in 72 overs. At that time Graeme Hick was unbeaten on 98 and Graham Thorpe on 47 runs. Means Graeme Hick was 2 runs away from his century and Graham Thorpe was 3 runs away from his fifty. There was 40 minutes in the teabreak. Only then captain Mike Atherton announced the end of the innings. It is said that Graeme Hick was so angry with the captain’s decision that he did not talk to Mike Atherton for the entire series.
The result was that Graeme Hick missed out on scoring his first century in the Ashes series. See the coincidence that despite having a long career of 10 years, Graeme Hick could never score a century again in the Ashes series. He has 6 centuries and 18 half-centuries in his career of 65 Test matches. But he does not have a single century against Australia.
As for the match, England could not win the match despite Mike Atherton’s ‘heartless’ decision. Australia drew the match by scoring 344 runs for 7 wickets. And when Sachin returned unbeaten on 194, he had expressed anger over this, but in the end he must have been happy that India had won that match. While Graeme Hick could neither score a century nor did his team win.
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Tags: Ashes Series, Australia, England, India Vs Pakistan, sachin tendulkar
FIRST PUBLISHED : February 26, 2023, 20:15 IST