Once upon a time - an Indian substitute wins a game against Pak with his bowling!

[dani2k]

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series...kistan-3rd-odi-pakistan-tour-of-india-1986-87

The 3rd ODI between hosts India and Pakistan.

Srikkanth is retired hurt and Gopal Sharma replaces him. ODI rules then permitted substitutes to bowl if the player who was being substituted was ruled out for the game (Cheeka was ruled out of the game).

Gopal Sharma bowled his six overs of offspin and claimed three wickets which went a huge way in India winning the game.

But, there was one more wierd ODI rule. Both India and Pakistan scored the same number of runs (212 each) but India had lost one wicket less and were declared the winners! (well the rules were such then). And that one eventual wicket that decided the contest was lost as Qadir was run out of the last ball!

However this proved to be the only Indian win of the series which Pakistan so convincingly won 4-1. Saleem Malik and Wasim Akram were star performers for Pakistan and were coming up big time for them while India was off colour in the ODIs (the test series was much closer with Pakistan eventually winning the last match to claim the 5 match series 1-0)

Those were early days of my cricket watching and with all the recent controversies regarding concussion subs, I was reminded of a time when a similar incident had happened and there was no fuss.

 

[Cryin Out Loud]

Very interesting.

And Gopal Sharma- I don't even remember the guy. Blink and you miss it kind of career.

 

[dani2k]

If memory serves me right, this was the match where Srikkanth got hurt by an Akram bouncer. He was out of Cricket for a while due to this injury.

 

[Thunderbolt14]

I think I’ve heard Qadir narrate this story in an interview. The way he narrated it was incredibly funny, kudos to the legend. I believe if he hadn’t run, we would have won right?

 

[MMHS]

I think I’ve heard Qadir narrate this story in an interview. The way he narrated it was incredibly funny, kudos to the legend. I believe if he hadn’t run, we would have won right?

PAK would have won that game had the last ball been dot (same score, same no. wicket, but PAK was ahead after 25 overs). So, Imran sent 13th man (Elahi????) before the last ball to explain this ..... what did A Qadir do - got himself run out to an impossible run. Someone had to loose few teeth - either the 12th man or AQ...

 

[moghul]

This match is remembered for the biggest stupidity I have ever heard committed in an international cricket match , by Qadir. All he had to do was " do nothing" play a dot ball, there was no need to run. He ran and got himself out and with that handed India the only win of the ODI series and saved India from a white washed inflicted by Pakistan.

 

[dani2k]

I think I’ve heard Qadir narrate this story in an interview. The way he narrated it was incredibly funny, kudos to the legend. I believe if he hadn’t run, we would have won right?

No. Pakistan needed 2 to win and Qadir wanted to win that way I guess. Unfortunately for him and Pakistan it did not work that way since he was run out trying to score the second run.

 

[dani2k]

This match is remembered for the biggest stupidity I have ever heard committed in an international cricket match , by Qadir. All he had to do was " do nothing" play a dot ball, there was no need to run. He ran and got himself out and with that handed India the only win of the ODI series and saved India from a white washed inflicted by Pakistan.

He had to score one and do nothing more to win on technicalities or score two to win on absolute count. In the end he scored one and ran himself out thereby giving India a win.

You might feel (in hindsight) that Pakistan had lost a golden chance to inflict a white wash on their rivals. But this was only the third match of the series and Pakistan had won two while India was looking for parity. This one close win enthused India and fans like us, giving hope that performances would pick up.

But it was Pakistan instead that picked up their performance. Akram and Malik in particular took their game to the next level. I remember being awe struck by Akram's allround brilliance. He scored his then highest score of 48 in that series (5th ODI) and I remember him hitting a hattrick of sixes which was very rare those days.

In the second ODI, Malik brought his team from behind to win a close game and the target was 6 runs per over (40 over game - Malik scored 70 odd ). Chasing 6 runs those days was unheard of!

Pakistan brought up some tall scores at the rear end of the series (286 in 44 overs - unthinkable chasing more than 6 those days - this is the Wasim Akram sixer show game) and chased India's target of 265 losing only three wickets in 45 overs!

I checked the score cards and it was a 6 match ODI series (odd indeed) which Pakistan had won 5-1! After the famous Miandad sixer this series should have started the Pakistani streak of ODI victories which lasted for more than a decade until it was the noughties I guess.

 

[Shafi]

Nothing surprise!!! Our bowlers never use any intelligent to get batsmen out. They rely on swing/seam/speed...That's why when our bowlers get hammer they can never come back to defend score. Indian bowlers may be average in terms of swing/speed.. but they know how to get wickets. That's why India once bowled out 125 then bowled us out for 87. Our bowlers can hardly do that. In 1999 World Cup final Australia chased 132 runs in 20.1 overs with 8 wickets in hand.