Moments of madness: 5 shots that the batsmen wished they never played

Sachin Tendulkar’s paddle scoop – India vs Australia, Hyderabad, 2009

One scoop too many from Tendulkar

Another Sachin Tendulkar epic that didn’t deserve to be on the losing side. Chasing a mammoth score of 350 against Australia, Tendulkar decided to celebrate reaching his 17,000 runs in ODIs with a hurricane hundred.

Virender Sehwag went back after a breezy 30 and Gautam Gambhir didn’t last long. Yuvraj Singh walked in but couldn’t add much and so did skipper MS Dhoni. And when Suresh Raina walked in, the crowd had already given up, but Tendulkar didn’t.

Along with Raina, Tendulkar went on a complete rampage ransacking the Aussie attack. Raina too joined in the party, and the two diminutive Indian batsmen suddenly made the target look achievable.

Tendulkar took to the spinners, especially Nathan Hauritz, while Raina flawlessly hoicked everything over mid-wicket. Tendulkar reached his hundred in only 81 deliveries and Ponting had a few problems as the master continued bludgeoning his bowlers all over the park.

But Watson struck in the 43rd over, not once but twice. Raina and Harbhajan Singh walked back as Ravindra Jadeja joined in the chase. Jadeja looked completely at ease and raced to a 17 ball 24 but with 19 needed off 18 balls, not McKay but tragedy struck!

Tendulkar, batting on 175, looked to scoop the first ball from Clint McKay over the short fine leg fielder. The ball was pitched on middle and leg, and the shot was on. However, Tendulkar misread the pace of the delivery and played the shot just that bit early. The ball caught the edge of his bat and skied up for a dolly catch to Nathan Hauritz.

As Tendulkar left the field, the Aussies found a way in and the Indian tail-enders lost their marbles! India lost the game by mere 3 runs, and a classic was rendered useless thanks to that one shot!