Maninder Singh, born on June 13, 1965, was a fine left-arm spinner who promised much as a prodigy but who did not live up to the expectation. Abhishek Mukherjee looks back at the unfulfilled career.
Making history
Four runs off the final over. That was what it had come down to after almost five days of tussle. The heroics of Dean Jones, Greg Matthews, Kapil Dev, and Sunil Gavaskar would depend on these six balls. Allan Border handed the ball to Matthews. The off-spinner, bowling unchanged throughout the day from the eighth over of the innings, complete with a cap and a full-sleeved shirt, ambled in to bowl what would be the last over in a historic Test.
Madras — virtually a steaming cauldron in September — had come to a halt. The sweltering heat had ready sapped the life out of Jones earlier in the match. But the spectators in a jam-packed Chepauk braved the heat of the concrete seats in the sun, and sat sweaty-palmed with bated breath, waiting eagerly for the climax that awaited them.
Ravi Shastri kept the first ball out, and thick-edged the next to deep-square leg for two. He played it safe, flicking the next ball past mid-wicket for a single — ensuring that India would not lose. Maninder Singh, clad in a white patka, was on strike now.
Maninder would later finish his career with a Test average of 3.80 runs, and would finish his career with 99 runs — still holding the record for most Tests (35) and innings (38) for anyone with less than 100 Test runs.
He somehow managed to put the fourth ball out.
Two balls left, one run to score. Could Maninder defy all odds to pull it off? Matthews pitched it up, Maninder missed it completely, the ball struck him on his back pad, and umpire V Vikramraju lifted the tell-tale finger after a vociferous appeal. Maninder was not happy (he claimed to have edged it) — the cameras show that he was not happy — but he had actually etched his name in history by being only the second batsman (after Ian Meckiff) to be last out in a tied Test.
Making history
Four runs off the final over. That was what it had come down to after almost five days of tussle. The heroics of Dean Jones, Greg Matthews, Kapil Dev, and Sunil Gavaskar would depend on these six balls. Allan Border handed the ball to Matthews. The off-spinner, bowling unchanged throughout the day from the eighth over of the innings, complete with a cap and a full-sleeved shirt, ambled in to bowl what would be the last over in a historic Test.
Madras — virtually a steaming cauldron in September — had come to a halt. The sweltering heat had ready sapped the life out of Jones earlier in the match. But the spectators in a jam-packed Chepauk braved the heat of the concrete seats in the sun, and sat sweaty-palmed with bated breath, waiting eagerly for the climax that awaited them.
Ravi Shastri kept the first ball out, and thick-edged the next to deep-square leg for two. He played it safe, flicking the next ball past mid-wicket for a single — ensuring that India would not lose. Maninder Singh, clad in a white patka, was on strike now.
Maninder would later finish his career with a Test average of 3.80 runs, and would finish his career with 99 runs — still holding the record for most Tests (35) and innings (38) for anyone with less than 100 Test runs.
He somehow managed to put the fourth ball out.
Two balls left, one run to score. Could Maninder defy all odds to pull it off? Matthews pitched it up, Maninder missed it completely, the ball struck him on his back pad, and umpire V Vikramraju lifted the tell-tale finger after a vociferous appeal. Maninder was not happy (he claimed to have edged it) — the cameras show that he was not happy — but he had actually etched his name in history by being only the second batsman (after Ian Meckiff) to be last out in a tied Test.
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