Destiny in cricket

[vvvslaxman]

Let us share fun ironies,  coincidences, destinies  in cricket. Light hearted thread

 

Before Ashes  biggest worry for Australia was opening.  Then Khawaja picks up an injury. Head volunteers to open. Rest is history.  Very batting position they worried about became the strongest weapon of Australia

 

 

2019 world cup

 

Martin Guptill played a crucial part in the semi final when he nailed the throw to run out  MSD.  The very Martin Guptill throw cost them the final as it deflected of the bat of Stokes. Ofcrouse Adharmasena should not have allowed stokes to bat .

 

 

Edited December 25, 2025 by vvvslaxman

[nevada]

Steve Smith got injured and his concussion sub Labu turned out to be mini Smith for quite a while, becoming a key element of their batting lineup. 

 

[Ultimate_Game]

Nothing but rotten luck for us...

 

2019 WC - Dhawan got injured and had to be replaced by that panauti KL

 

2023 WC - Our LOI MVP Pandya got injured and we had to bring in another useless panauti SKY

 

Both these cost us the WC. Worst part was both the times our best player got injured. Somehow it's never likes of Rahane, KL, SKY or useless bottlers who get injured. It's always our best player who gets bitten by the injury bug. And then Pant got into a car accident and hasn't looked the same since 

Edited December 26, 2025 by Ultimate_Game

[kosingh]

This one dude with a career ODI average of 33 and 0 hundreds after 70 matches is asked to open the innings for the first time in a match against New Zealand.

 

Goes on to have a pretty good career after that. 

Edited December 26, 2025 by kosingh

[jf1gp_1]

It took Sachin around 5 years and 79 odis to get his first odi 100 after that there was stopping him.

[vvvslaxman]

8 minutes ago, jf1gp_1 said:

It took Sachin around 5 years and 79 odis to get his first odi 100 after that there was stopping him.

Again that was due to SIdhu injury. GOod call. We never know whether he would have opened at all but for that. IT was a smallish total. They just tried it. 

[Lord]

2 hours ago, Ultimate_Game said:

Nothing but rotten luck for us...

 

2019 WC - Dhawan got injured and had to be replaced by that panauti KL

 

2023 WC - Our LOI MV Pandya got injured and we had to bring in another useless panauti SKY

 

Both these cost us the WC. Worst part was both the times our best player got injured. Somehow it's never likes of Rahane, KL, SKY or useless bottlers who get injured. It's always our best player who gets bitten by the injury bug. And then Pant got into a car accident and hasn't looked the same since 

 

Both were bad planning too. KL was no. 4 in 2019 after Rayudu playing there all this while before WC. Then Karthik came in and then VJS and Pant . No. 4 was a mess and KL was not seen as opening backup there.

 

2023- If SKY was gonna be backup he needed to have more game time, not only he didnt play much before even during WC he was slotted way down. Could have got Dube or Venky who did nothing wrong to get dropped

[sage]

have random injuries ever turned into good luck for indian team? 

 

bgt 20/21 seems like the only example

Edited December 26, 2025 by sage

[vvvslaxman]

Gabba test is the biggest destiny. India just packed the side with polayers who were originally picked for T20.  Thakur was decent for a couple of series. Sundar was another find. 

[Chalks]

19 minutes ago, vvvslaxman said:

Gabba test is the biggest destiny. India just packed the side with polayers who were originally picked for T20.  Thakur was decent for a couple of series. Sundar was another find. 

Yes, won Gabba test with a bowling line up of Mohd. Siraj, one test wonder Thangarasu Natarajan (picked from the nets, iIrc), Navdeep Saini (who went wicketless), Lord Thakur, and Washi Bhai.

  

[vvvslaxman]

Those three tests also gave us a glimpse of Rhlahanes ability to lead the side.

[Chaos]

3 minutes ago, vvvslaxman said:

Those three tests also gave us a glimpse of Rhlahanes ability to lead the side.

Ohhh genie of a professor 

[Ultimate_Game]

3 hours ago, kosingh said:

This one dude with a career ODI average of 33 and 0 hundreds after 70 matches is asked to open the innings for the first time in a match against New Zealand.

 

Goes on to have a pretty good career after that. 

 

1 hour ago, jf1gp_1 said:

It took Sachin around 5 years and 79 odis to get his first odi 100 after that there was stopping him.

 

Tendulkar used to bat at 5 and that too in early 90s when the average total was around 230. That means he would get in after the 25 overs mark on average and barely have enough time to get a decent score. In shorter formats your best batters need to be at the top and should get to face maximum deliveries. Glade we made the right decision for once.

[Ultimate_Game]

41 minutes ago, sage said:

have random injuries ever turned into good luck for indian team? 

 

bgt 20/21 seems like the only example

 

41 minutes ago, vvvslaxman said:

Gabba test is the biggest destiny. India just packed the side with polayers who were originally picked for T20.  Thakur was decent for a couple of series. Sundar was another find. 

 

2020-21 BGT series is the only time when injuries somehow worked in our favor. That series was the series of destiny and our greatest Test series win. Even now I can't fathom how we won that series.

[Ultimate_Game]

2 hours ago, Lord said:

 

Both were bad planning too. KL was no. 4 in 2019 after Rayudu playing there all this while before WC. Then Karthik came in and then VJS and Pant . No. 4 was a mess and KL was not seen as opening backup there.

 

2023- If SKY was gonna be backup he needed to have more game time, not only he didnt play much before even during WC he was slotted way down. Could have got Dube or Venky who did nothing wrong to get dropped

 

2019 was all Kohli as he made Indian team carbon copy of RCB - top heavy, no planning or backups, changing his mind on a whim by kicking out Rayudu at the last minute, dropping Shami to play useless Chahal, lengthy tail where the last 4 or 5 players couldn't even hold the bat etc. I wasn't a big fan of Rayudu but if you backed him for the no. 4 slot for such a long time then go with him.

 

As for 2023 and SKY, I've never seen such a mediocre cricketer as SKY get such a long rope. I preferred someone like Rinku at 6. He had a great List A record and had announced himself by that time. Definitely a much better option than SKY but the MI connection coupled with the panauti Modi stadium and inability to win an important toss in the final doomed us.

Edited December 26, 2025 by Ultimate_Game

[Ultimate_Game]

12 minutes ago, vvvslaxman said:

Those three tests also gave us a glimpse of Rhlahanes ability to lead the side.

 

Deserved to captain India. India never lost under him and he always captained us in tough situations. He was the captain in 2017 as well in the decider of the Aus-Ind series at home where it looked like Aussies might beat us at home. That was the best visiting team we faced over the last decade. Rahane was a much better man manager and I'm sure we would've won in SA had Rahane captained us there.

[Talkie]

9 hours ago, kosingh said:

This one dude with a career ODI average of 33 and 0 hundreds after 70 matches is asked to open the innings for the first time in a match against New Zealand.

 

Goes on to have a pretty good career after that. 

 

That's not random though. Everyone knew what he is gonna do, even after a bad start. 

[Talkie]

6 hours ago, vvvslaxman said:

Gabba test is the biggest destiny. India just packed the side with polayers who were originally picked for T20.  Thakur was decent for a couple of series. Sundar was another find. 

Pretty incredible as Natarjan and Saini never played another test after that. 

 

[nevada]

13 hours ago, Ultimate_Game said:

Nothing but rotten luck for us...

 

2019 WC - Dhawan got injured and had to be replaced by that panauti KL

 

2023 WC - Our LOI MVP Pandya got injured and we had to bring in another useless panauti SKY

 

Both these cost us the WC. Worst part was both the times our best player got injured. Somehow it's never likes of Rahane, KL, SKY or useless bottlers who get injured. It's always our best player who gets bitten by the injury bug. And then Pant got into a car accident and hasn't looked the same since 

Losing Dhawan was a BIG, irreplaceable loss! He was the big match player who usually gave us initial momentum. Without him, we stalled and stuttered right at the start against NZ in the SF. 

[nevada]

9 hours ago, Ultimate_Game said:

 

Deserved to captain India. India never lost under him and he always captained us in tough situations. He was the captain in 2017 as well in the decider of the Aus-Ind series at home where it looked like Aussies might beat us at home. That was the best visiting team we faced over the last decade. Rahane was a much better man manager and I'm sure we would've won in SA had Rahane captained us there.

It's a shame he couldn't even maintain a 35 average to save his place in the team. Would have been a great captain for a couple of years at-least!