It is rightly said that the road to greatness is not marked by perfection, but the ability to overcome adversity and failure. There isn’t a single sportsperson who has played for a certain length of time and hasn’t been stricken by injury or poor form. But, only a few are able to surmount the associated physical and psychological distress to emerge as champions.
The history of Indian cricket is galore with such great men who fought all the odds to make a startling comeback in the toughest format of the game.
As Harbhajan Singh makes a return to the Indian team for the one-off Test against Bangladesh, we turn the pages in history to look back at the top 5 comebacks made by Indian cricketers in Test cricket.
5. Zaheer Khan
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Like tigers, fast bowlers in India are an endangered species. They enter the cricketing arena with tremendous ability & pace but fade away much quicker. Even for those who manage to sustain, the journey to success is far from being rosy.
In a land of spinners, Zaheer Khan was one such exception who rose to fame through his sheer pace and toe-crunching yorkers. Over the years, he evolved his bowling both as per the changing demands of the game and those of his injury-prone body.
Struggling with form and fitness in the lead up to the 2004-05 season, Zaheer was dropped from the Indian Test team. Instead of sulking over his exclusion, the fast bowler made the best use of this opportunity to fine-tune his skills with the ball. He played exceptionally well for Worcestershire in county cricket in England and clamoured for his return back into the Indian team through sheer weight of performance.
Zaheer made a successful comeback in 2006 to pick eight more five-fors in Test cricket and became India’s pace bowling spearhead for the next five years. He also turned out to be an important weapon in the MS-Dhoni led team that achieved the No.1 ranking in Test cricket in 2009.
4. Mohinder Amarnath
The hero of India’s World Cup triumph in 1983, Mohinder “Jimmy” Amarnath is better known as the comeback king of Indian cricket. Aptly described by the legendary Sunil Gavaskar as the “bravest Indian batsman ever”, Jimmy was an epitome of grit, courage and determination.
Despite a decent start to his international career, Jimmy’s weakness against short-pitched bowling was no hidden secret. He suffered a fair share of blows from some of the fastest bowlers of his era including Imran Khan, Richard Hadlee and Michael Holding. A series of flops against England and Australia in the late 1970s brought about his downfall and he was subsequently ignored by Indian selectors.
This is when Amarnath started working vigorously on his technique and practiced with a more open, chest-on stance that gave him extra time against fast bowlers. The 1982-83 season marked the return of the gutsy batsman to Test cricket after almost three years.
In what turned out to be the defining stage of his career, Amarnath slammed five centuries in 11 away Tests against Pakistan and West Indies. The fast bowlers who once proved to be his nemesis were now met with little disdain.
He capped off his wonderful season by bagging the Man of the Match awards in the semi-final and final of the 1983 World Cup.
3. Sourav Ganguly
From being acknowledged as one of the greatest Indian captains to being accused of being a selfish batsman, Sourav Chandidas Ganguly has seen it all. The story of Ganguly’s comeback into the Indian team is one that embodies inspiration in the truest sense.
Remember the famous Pepsi advertisement where he says, “Mera naam Sourav Ganguly hai. Bhule toh nahi?”.
In what was perhaps the lowest point of his glittering career, Ganguly was involved in a major fall-out with coach Greg Chappell during India’s tour of Zimbabwe in 2005. Amidst questions over his captaincy ability and diminishing batting prowess, he was sacked as the Indian captain and eventually removed from the team.
However, for a man who had waited for almost four years after being dropped for the first time in 1992, this was just another opportunity to prove his worth. After a string of superlative performances in domestic cricket, Ganguly fought his way back to the Indian team for the first Test against South Africa in 2006. And the rest, as they say, is history.
The match is now remembered as India’s first Test victory in South Africa following Ganguly’s courageous half-century in extremely hostile conditions. In what is described by many as Ganguly’s best period as a batsman, his comeback involved his maiden double-century against Pakistan and also the distinction of being the second highest run-getter in Tests in 2007.
2. Sachin Tendulkar
The “God of Cricket” is the undisputed definition of greatness. The champion batsman is known for his sheer dedication and commitment towards the game.
During the first half of his career, Sachin Tendulkar did not miss a single Test match for almost 12 years. He was known to carry his niggles onto the cricketing field and suppress pain as if nothing had happened.
Then came the moment that proved the mortality of the great man. Tendulkar suffered a serious tennis elbow injury in early 2004 which threatened to cut short his career. The pain owing to the injury was so acute that the batsman was unable to even grip his bat, prompting the media to run headlines like “Endulkar”.
With doubts lingering over his future in Indian cricket, the Little Master went into a rehab stranded at Sunil Gavaskar’s record-equalling 34 Test centuries. But Tendulkar remained focused on a comeback and worked intensely on his fitness.
Eventually, Tendulkar made an emphatic return to Test cricket scoring his 35th Test century after a gap of more than a year against Sri Lanka in 2005. He went on to play a staggering 200 Test matches and scored 51 Test centuries for India.
1. Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi
As they say, “The greatest examples of motivation are seen either in war or sports”. There isn’t a better narrative epitomizing motivation in the gentleman’s game than the life of Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi.
Tiger Pataudi, as he was fondly called, was a keen learner of the game and started his first-class career playing county cricket in England. But as fate would have it, Pataudi was hardly 20 when he met with a deadly car accident that permanently impaired the vision of his right eye. Many thought this to be the end of a promising career as the batsman failed to pick even a glass in front of him.
The ‘Nawab of Pataudi’ had other plans. Days after his fatal injury, he was back in the nets, practicing his favorite shots with one eye. His determination and never-say-die attitude brought him back to Test cricket and he went on to become India’s youngest Test captain (a feat he holds till date).
It was under his captaincy that India won their first ever overseas Test match against New Zealand in 1967. Pataudi ended his career with six international centuries and is still widely regarded as the man responsible for instilling a winning attitude in Indian cricket.
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