Ten Deliveries of the Millenium

A lot has been said and written about Shane Warne's so-called 'ball of
the century' in the 1993 Ashes, his 'ball from hell' in the 1999 World
Cup, and an Allan Donald delivery to Mike Atherton in the 1999-2000 series, also termed a 'ball from hell'. In 1993, Warne,
with his first
delivery in an Ashes Test, bowled Mike Gatting with a delivery that
pitched well outside leg to take the off stump. He bowled a similar
delivery to South African Herschelle Gibbs in the 1999 World Cup
semi-final which shook the remaining batsmen and paved the way to an
Australian victory. In the 1999-2000 season, Allan Donald won a short
battle against England's Mike Atherton with a fast inswinger that took
Atherton's off stump.

These deliveries are a few of the magical deliveries that are
remembered by
most cricket enthusiasts around the world because they are covered and
written by people from Australia, South Africa, and England. One
doesn't read much about Kapil Dev's huge inswinger in the 2nd Test of
the 1991-92 India-Australia series that knocked back Allan Border's
middle stump. Similarly, perhaps the only people who know how
devastating Manoj Prabhakar's boomerang-like indipper to Javed Miandad
was in the 3rd ODI of India's 1989-90 tour to Pakistan, were the
people who saw that delivery on television or who were present at the
ground. I was among the latter. The match was abandoned due to crowd
trouble. I will never forget the tear-gas that we had to endure while
the police were clearing the mob of angry spectators. Unfortunately,
people will remember that match more for the crowd disturbances than
Prabhakar's wonderful bowling.

Pakistan has produced some of the finest bowlers in the history of the game. There have been many more impressive deliveries
bowled by
Pakistanis than Warne's 'Ball of the Century' but they haven't been
captured well enough. In this article, I travel down Memory Lane and
recall some of the deliveries that captured the hearts of millions of
Pakistani cricket fans and would delight any bowler. There are a few
disclaimers that I wish to mention though. The deliveries that I
recall are based only on their caliber, not how important they were to
the complexion of the game. They all belong to the era of the 80's and
90's because television had not captured cricket angles better until
then. I am sure the England batsmen who faced Fazal Mahmood's
leg-cutters in the 1954 Lords Test would disagree with the list that I
present. Moreover, they only reflect my opinion. I welcome all
suggestions and comments about this list. I do not to wish to take
away anything from Shane Warne or Allan Donald; they are truly great
bowlers. But, it is important to realize that with over 1400 test
atches and 1500 ODIs played this century, one cannot mention a
particular delivery as being the best, especially if some bowlers are
given less attention than others. With these qualifications in mind, I
present my list of the '10 Balls Of The Millennium' as bowled by Pakistani bowlers.

#10 - Mushtaq Ahmed to Graeme Hick, Pak-Eng World Cup Final, Melbourne
1991-92.
This was a flighted delivery drifting well outside off stump, but spun
back sharply to trap Hick leg before wicket as he was attempting to
cut the ball. Admittedly, Hick wasn't among the best players of spin
bowling, but this was such a deceiving delivery that not only could
Hick not read it, according to Omar Qureishy, he was "illiterate".

#9 - Aaqib Javed to Mark Greatbatch, Pak-NZ World Cup Semi-final,
Auckland 1991-92.
One of New Zealand's heros of 1991-92 World Cup, Greatbatch, had come
down the track the previous delivery to belt Aaqib out of the stadium
for a huge six. Aaqib responded with an off-break pitched short of
length and on the legside. Greatbatch picked the slower delivery and
attempted to defend but watched the ball spin away to barely dislodge
the leg bail.

#8 - Shoaib Akhtar to Rahul Dravid, Pak-Ind Asia Test Championship
opener, Calcutta 1998-99.
India's technically most correct batsman, Dravid, had batted for
almost two hours and was set for a big score. Shoaib bowled a perfect
yorker directed towards middle and off that swung late in. As a result
Dravid's leg stump was sent cartwheeling several yards back.

#7 - Abdul Qadir to Graham Gooch, Pak-Eng World Cup group match, Rawalpindi 1987-88.
This was the period when Abdul Qadir was at his peak. In the test
series that followed the World Cup, Qadir claimed 30 wickets in 3
tests against England. At that time he had mastered 5 different
deliveries including two types of googlies of varying pace. He bowled
the faster one to Gooch that took England's best batsman by complete
surprise and skidded into his stumps.

#6 - Waqar Younis to Trevor Franklin, Pak-NZ 3rd Test, Faisalabad
1990-91.
Waqar ran through the entire batting lineup in this series taking 29
wickets in 3 tests. Earlier in the innings, he gave Phil Horne a
bloody nose with a short-pitched delivery that forced the batsman to
retire hurt. The thunderbolt to Franklin, however, was so quick that
by the time the batsman put his bat down to block the yorker his
middle stump was already uprooted.

#5 - Wasim Akram to Chris Lewis, Pak-Eng World Cup Final, Melbourne
1991-92.
Wasim bowled this delivery round the wicket to the right-handed Lewis.
It was directed well outside off stump and Lewis shouldered arms but
the ball swung in a long way to rattle his defence, perhaps after
contact with Lewis.

#4 - Waqar Younis to Rod Latham, Pak-NZ Only Test, Hamilton 1992-93.
Anyone who watched this delivery must have considered it a gross
mismatch. Latham displayed poor technique and was on the back foot to
a beautiful delivery from Waqar. It was another big indipper that
ripped the middle stump out of the ground and left Latham bewildered.
A fast bowler's dream.

#3 - Wasim Akram to Allan Lamb, Pak-Eng World Cup Final, Melbourne 1991-92.
Wasim produced an unplayable delivery that knocked back the castle of
a Lamb who was on his way to a big score. The ball was bowled from
round the wicket and wide of the crease. Yet, from that angle he got
the ball to straighten after pitching in the line of the off-stump.

#2 - Imran Khan to Gundappa Viswanath, Pak-Ind 2nd Test, Karachi 1982-83.
Imran bowled this when he was at his peak, taking 40 wickets in the 6
test series against India. Taking advantage of the humid conditions of
Karachi, Imran produced a delivery that Viswanath felt safe enough to
raise his bat above his shoulders. The nation still remembers that
magic moment when the ball swung in to bowl Viswanath.

#1 - Shoaib Akhtar to Sachin Tendulkar, Pak-Ind Asia Test Championship
opener, Calcutta 1998-99.
I must have played back the video of this delivery over 20 times. It
was bowled with an action different from his previous ball which
dismissed Rahul Dravid. Shoaib bowled this slightly wide of the crease
and produced another fast inswinging yorker to the best batsman in the
world. Tendulkar had previously never been dismissed for a golden duck
but on this occasion was beaten for pace as his middle stump was
uprooted. A perfect delivery to dismiss a great batsman.