Shikhar Dhawan's ton wins; Thisara Perera's one over heroics in vain

One swallow does not make a summer and one over is not good enough to change the match !! ~ Nicknamed Panda, Thisara Perera - Narangoda Liyanaarachchilage Thisara Chirantha Perera is in news.

Remember watching this tall 6.6” Bob Willis running in at Chepauk – a slightly bent frame, he was considered a genuine quickie….. Robert George Dylan Willis known as Bob Willis was an aggressive fast bowler with a notably long run-up, played 90 tests; took 325 wickets at that time behind only Dennis Lillee.  He was a rabbit with the bat……. On that England tour of 1981-82, I remember watching with glee [may not have been live but only recorded]…. Willis mauled by Sandeep Patil at Manchester.  In that particular over, Patil hit : 4,4,4,0,4,4,4 [don’t count and say I am wrong – it was indeed a 7 ball over with the third, a no ball and a dot ball !!!] Patil jumped from  73 to 104 in nine balls. He was 129 not out when rain brought an early end to the match. Years later Ramnaresh Sarwan was to emulate his feat clubbing 6 fours in an over of Munaf Patel joining the elite club of Patil, Sanath Jayasuriya [off James Anderson] and Chris Gayle [off Matthew Hoggard] ~ all that was in Tests….

At Zimbabwe in the 2^nd ODI,  Shikhar Dhawan capitalised on three reprieves to slam his third ODI century as India maintained their stranglehold over minnows Zimbabwe with a comfortable 58-run victory in the second cricket one-dayer today. Dhawan struck 116 as India recovered from early jolts to post a competitive 294 for eight and then restricted the hosts to 236 for nine to take a 2-0 series lead in the five-match series. The comeback man Jayadev Unadkat took 4 wickets.  Miffed at being given out to a controversial catch, an incensed Indian captain Virat Kohli argued aggressively with on-field officials even after the third umpire ruled against him and spoiled his name further…

Elsewhere at Pallekele, the burly Perera made Robin Peterson’s life miserable.  In the 33^rd over it was 6; 1 [wide]; 6; 6; 6; 4 and 6… the last one was the biggest sailing in to the night sky and disappearing !!  Chasing a modest 224, Lankan middle order failed and that over could not make much difference as Lankans were all out for 167.   Earlier, the  49th and 50th over of SA innings produced 38 runs.  Though that Peterson’s  over brought Sri Lanka's required run-rate below six it proved that  it would take more than one over to change the course of the match.

Some search in to ODI records reveal that on top stands Herschelle Gibbs with that 6 sixers off the poor Van Bunge in 2007 WC and the second is the effort of NLTC Perera; then 32 by Shahid Afrid off Malinga Bandara; 31 – a combined effort of  Williamson (1) and Franklin (30); 30 twice by Sanath Jayasuriya [off Aamer Sohail and Chris Harris]’ 30s by Mark Boucher (5) and Kallis (25); Mascarenhas off Yuvi and Ross Taylor hitting Abdul Razzaq.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar.