Broken records and broken jaws | Antigua Test, 2002

The Antigua Test, 2002, between India and the West Indies, was a peculiar one. On a dead track with absolutely nothing for the bowlers, 1142 runs were scored over the five days with just 18 wickets taken. Five individual hundreds were scored, including 136 not out in 510 balls by a certain Shivnarine Chanderpaul, and yet Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara could not go past four runs between them. And this was just the beginning of all the oddities! We bring to you some unique and rather strange things that took place in this game, which will surely appall you!

1. A tale of two keepers

Ajay Ratra has played just six Test matches for India in his entire career. This series was his first, and this match was just his third, but he made quite a mark on the record books with his century in the first innings. His gritty knock of 115 not out, in a 217-run stand with VVS Laxman for the seventh wicket, won him the Man of the Match award and was just the second century scored by an Indian wicketkeeper overseas. He also became the youngest keeper in Test history to score a century, being just twenty years old then.

Now we come to Ridley Jacobs, the burly Windies keeper who always batted with great aplomb. He made the second Test century of his career in this game, with a knock of 118 in just 206 balls, which included 11 fours and five huge sixes. He made the most of a dull Day 5 and entertained the crowd with some big hits, before getting out to the bowling of Rahul Dravid (yep, you read that right!).

A virtuoso display by both keepers meant that this is till date, the only match in the history of Test cricket, where both regular keepers scored a century in the same game. Farokh Engineer, Rodney Marsh, Alec Stewart, Adam Gilchrist, Kumara Sangakkara and MS Dhoni are just some names of glovemen who have diligently kept wickets and also played some big innings. Yet, this game is the only occasion where the regular keepers of both sides have made a ton each!

2. A ‘Very Very Strange’ dismissal

On Day 2 in the match, India were in a spot of bother after losing their sixth wicket with a slightly concerning 257 runs on the scoreboard. Along with Ajay Ratra, it was the flamboyant VVS Laxman who rescued India and scored the third ODI ton of his career, with this one being the next after the mammoth  281 at Kolkata against the Aussies. He took India to safety with a patient knock of 130 as he waited for the right ball to hit and then caressed it through the covers with those magical wrists of his.

So, how does this innings feature in our list of oddities? All was going well for Laxman, until the first ball of the 185th over. Mervyn Dillon ran in and bowled a short delivery, which Laxman flicked towards the leg side off his backfoot. As he positioned himself, he also stepped on his off stump with his right foot, bringing his innings to a tragic end, and also giving a moment of comic relief in a dull and seemingly endless Test. Amazingly, this is the only time in his entire Test career that he has been out hit wicket!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ph14vSHFwY

3. The bandaged warrior!

Every cricket fan has surely seen the image of Anil Kumble bowling with a bandaged jaw and marveled at the bravery and passion of this man. Well, it was in this very game that Jumbo broke his jaw and later came on to bowl, and in the process, provided Indian cricket with one of its most memorable moments.

Coming into bat at number seven, Kumble was looking to protect his end, with VVS Laxman in full flow on the other. All of a sudden, he failed to deal with a bouncer from Dillon, which struck him right on the jaw. He continued to bat though, even as he spat blood. Another bouncer from the same bowler was gloved to Chanderpaul at leg gully, as Kumble managed to last four overs after being hit.

He didn’t enter the field the next day, as he sat in the dressing room with a heavily bandaged jaw. He watched Sachin Tendulkar begin his spell and start to harness some turn from the dead wicket. It was then, that Jumbo decided to step out onto the pitch and bowl. He bowled for an astonishing 14 overs in a row, and managed to take the prized wicket of Brian Lara in the process!

When asked why he decided to bowl despite the harrowing pain, he just said, “I didn’t want to sit around.” These words show why Kumble is so widely respected and loved, and why this particular spell of his will remained etched in the memory of every cricket fan who watched him bowl that day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKpG5S6-RSI

4. Sabko bowling milegi!

As Day 5 began, everyone expected it to be a dead rubber as West Indies were still halfway into their first innings, with Jacobs and Chanderpaul in great nick and the pitch still as dead as a doornail. With the series tied at 1-1 and a game to play in Jamaica, Sourav Ganguly decided to give his regular bowlers a rest after lunch.

As the two batsmen made merry, Ganguly decided to hand over the ball to everybody in his team. Dravid, Laxman and Shiv Sunder Das, all got a chance to showcase their bowling talents and invited the batsmen to smack them all over the Antigua Recreation Ground. Jacobs was caught in the deep off the bowling of Dravid’s bowling, while Chanderpaul continued to bat with his trademark patience and determination. On the penultimate over of the day, even Ratra got to bowl his medium pace, with Dravid behind the stumps!

This was just the third time in the history of the game that all 11 players got to bowl at least an over each. The first game to feature such a sight was in 1884 at the Oval, when England had all their players have a bowl and rather surprisingly finished with their wicketkeeper Alfred Lyttleton taking four wickets for 19 runs. The other time this happened when Australia played Pakistan at Faisalabad in 1979/80, as Rodney Marsh bowled 10 overs and Greg Chappell keeping in his place.

5. When the Wall became a weapon!

If you saw the image on the previous slide carefully, you’d find something quite strange. Out of the nine West Indian wickets that fell, two were claimed by Zaheer Khan, two by Sachin Tendulkar and one by Kumble, when he dismissed Lara in his inspirational spell. So where did the other four go?

Rahul Dravid took one. VVS Laxman took one. And Waseem Jaffer, the opening batsman, took two! A perfectly bizarre way to close out a bizarre Test match. Dravid had got the wicket of the dangerous Jacobs, while Laxman dismissed the number 10 batsman, Adam Sanford (yes, the one who also played for the USA). Jaffer picked up Merv Dillon and Pedro Collins, as India’s batsmen cleaned up the Windies tail.

For both Dravid and Jaffer, this was to be the only wickets they would take in their Test careers. For Laxman, the solitary wicket of Sanford would prove to be half of his career haul, as he also picked up another wicket at the Eden Garden against Pakistan in 2007. While Dravid and Laxman bowled a few overs in their long careers with the Indian side, this spell of 11 overs was the only one he would ever bowl in his 31-match test career!