Saeed Anwar: A Fortunate Stroke of 194

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Saeed Anwar, the talented cricketer, etched his name in history with an incredible stroke of luck. On that fateful day, he achieved something extraordinary—scoring 194 runs in a single innings. Let's delve into the serendipitous events that unfolded. May 21, 1997, marked a memorable day at Chennai's MA Chidambaram Stadium. Anwar's masterful display caught the attention of spectators and pundits alike. Breaking a 13-year-old record set by Vivian Richards, he surpassed all expectations. However, it's essential to recognize the fortuitous circumstances that contributed to this remarkable feat. A closer look reveals that fortune played a significant role in Anwar's achievement. Examining the photograph of Anwar, we witness his exhaustion and wonder how he managed to accumulate such an impressive score. The answer lies in an unconventional turn of events—he had a stroke of luck. You see, Anwar was physically unfit, unable to endure the demanding conditions of the game. T...
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"The Nightmare at the 2007 ICC World Cup: India's Disastrous Batting Performance against Bangladesh"

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ICC World Cup 2007,Group Stage match
India Vs Bangladesh.
Mistakes are as serious as the consequences they cause.
As It Happened
  • Match started with Indian team as utter favourites but as far as World cup was concerned Indian team were facing Bangladesh for the first time ever.
  • No pressure on the Indian team as we were loaded with stars who according to us “The Indian fans” cannot fail on the same day to give birth to the miracle of Bangladesh winning the match.
  • If this fight was “On Papers”,Indian team would have been declared winner even before the toss.
  • After winning the toss Dravid opted to bat first . Habibul Bashar during the presentation told Indian team to be restricted to 250.
  • Ganguly and Sehwag opened for India . After a tight few overs by the Bangladeshi seamers Sehwag was looking for an opportunity to free his arms with his favorite cut-shot but only managed an Inside-edge back to the stumps.

WICKET!!! Huge wicket . Any bowler is happy to see Sehwag’s back .
  • Not an auspicious start but we had all the talent still waiting to perform.Indian fans including me were chilled out. No Worries,Let Uthappa perform today .
  • Along with a scoring run rate of 2.8 per over Indian team was snailing and someone needed to break the shackles.
Uthappa tried to but again in vain AGAIN!!
WICKET!! Uthappa failed to get India started.
  • Indians were two-down with not much on the score board. We started to worry a bit now but then again we saw the “GOD” walking-in and again we were stress free.
  • Sachin and Ganguly reunion. Going by their track record we were in for a feast.
  • But the run-rate per over was not increasing at all and Suddenly,

WICKET!!! and it cannot get bigger than this,Sachin Tendulkar going back to the Pavillion .
  • Rahul Dravid walks in to accompany Ganguly who was just hanging-in there.
  • Ganguly and the RUN-RATE were the only two things constant that day.
  • Suddenly in the 24th over with just 72 on the board India took another blow and this time it was “THE WALL”.

  • Now India was not looking like the clear winner and we were feeling the heat of this match.
  • With Ganguly struggling at 41 from 99 balls Yuvi took the charge and tried to up the run rate.

  • Yuvraj looked like playing on a separate pitch altogether.
  • Just to give you a comparison by the end of 42 overs,
  • Yuvraj Singh 47 off 55 balls .
  • Saurav Ganguly on 64 on 125 balls.
  • But most importantly,India was 155–4.
  • We would have loved to settle for 250 on this occasion which was the initial target told by the Bangladesh’s captain Habibul Bashar but it looked highly unlikely.
  • Yuvraj also made his way towards the pavillion and the situation was looking grimmer than ever now.

  • The most common sight for the day where Ganguly waits for the next batsman in.
  • Dhoni joins Ganguly on the crease but just within the span of one over Another WICKET down!! Only this time it was Saurav ganguly.
  • Oh My God!!! This is a disaster for India. Our expectation took a blow when “DADA” went back .

  • Dhoni and Bhajji on the crease now and this time DHONI goes without scoring.

  • Now I was sure there was something in the food today,entire team was suffering from an epidemic . They were just coming in and checking the pitch . They were like interviewing for the job of a curator.
  • Such was the desparation of the situation that now we have to lie our hopes on Bhajji and Agarkar and they did not take much time to disappoint.
  • With another two overs in they both fell prey to the Bangladeshi bowlers.
  • The “Khali” of the Indian team and the last man in,Munaf patel walks in and the score was an abysmal 169/9 .
  • With just 3 balls remaining India was ALL-OUT for 191 and so were our hopes.
  • The batting line-up we took so much pride in disappointed us and left a scar on our cricketing memory that too on the biggest stage of them all,World Cup.
Bangladesh’s innnigs I can’t describe in words,it was so painful.
Please find the pain in the images itself.




After this match we won against Bermuda and lost against Sri Lanka too but this match laid to foundation for our way back to India.
This was by far the most embarassing performances by the Indian batting line up which costed us the spot in even the SUPER 8 .
Image Source : Google and GettyImages

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Saeed Anwar: A Fortunate Stroke of 194

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Image
Saeed Anwar, the talented cricketer, etched his name in history with an incredible stroke of luck. On that fateful day, he achieved something extraordinary—scoring 194 runs in a single innings. Let's delve into the serendipitous events that unfolded. May 21, 1997, marked a memorable day at Chennai's MA Chidambaram Stadium. Anwar's masterful display caught the attention of spectators and pundits alike. Breaking a 13-year-old record set by Vivian Richards, he surpassed all expectations. However, it's essential to recognize the fortuitous circumstances that contributed to this remarkable feat. A closer look reveals that fortune played a significant role in Anwar's achievement. Examining the photograph of Anwar, we witness his exhaustion and wonder how he managed to accumulate such an impressive score. The answer lies in an unconventional turn of events—he had a stroke of luck. You see, Anwar was physically unfit, unable to endure the demanding conditions of the game. T...
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