5 unlikely Indian heroes who have now been forgotten

#3 Hrishikesh Kanitkar

Kanitkar was India’s hero in what was then the world record ODI chase

For a brief period in the late 90s, Hrishikesh Kanitkar was considered to be a great batting prospect for India. But 2 Tests and 34 ODIs later, Kanitkar was forgotten and added to the list of innumerable Indian cricketers who had promised much but faded out eventually.

With 74 runs in his two Tests and 339 ODI runs at an average of 17.84, Kanitkar failed to impress much during his short international career. But his defining moment, for which he is still fondly remembered by some, is the match-winning heroics he came up with against Pakistan at the Silver Jubilee International Cup final at Dhaka in 1998.

In that 3rd final at Dhaka, Pakistan had posted a mammoth 314 thanks to a brilliant knock of 140 by Saeed Anwar. Chasing 315 from 48 overs for an unlikely victory, Sourav Ganguly (124) and Robin Singh (82) had steadied the ship. Their departure had, however, led to a mini collapse and the equation came down to 9 required off the last 6 balls.

With Saqlain Mushtaq bowling, Srinath kept swinging away blindly for twos until Kanitkar came on strike with India needing 3 runs off 2 balls for victory. Kanitkar calmly lofted Saqlain on the leg-side for a famous four as India recorded what was back then the world record ODI run chase for victory.