Azharuddin’s 1992 WC dropped catches vs. South Africa. Did he throw more matches ?

[IndianRenegade]

Lol.. looks extremely deliberate, the exaggerated action to make it seem like the ball is far from him when it is going straight to him his a dead give away.

[singhvivek141]

2 hours ago, NameGoesHere said:

Some here are too young to recall, so I want to tell them - Never forget that Azhar’s betrayal of Indian cricket and fans has no parallels in our history. 

 

It is made worse by the opportunities he was given, and the emotional investment many fans made in his career.

 

We were instant, delirious fans after his stunning debut. “Hazar Azhar!!” the periodicals screamed after he reeled off  three Test centuries in a row.

 

We were very happy at his appointment as captain; proof that merit worked in Indian cricket.  His marriage to a Bollywood actress seemed to create another Tiger Pataudi/ Sharmila Tagore moment.

 

And then - having it all - he cheated.  
 

I repeat: An Indian captain, already rich beyond compare, feted, loved, supported.  That man cheated.  
 

The shame he bought on this country cannot be erased.

 

I have nothing but contempt for this guy or his career.  
 

When he dies, I won’t be surprised if someone goes to piss on his grave.  

 

 

 

I didnt want to bring that up, but bad karma comes around.

That bloody bugger lost his younger son off bike accident. But instead of becoming a better human he was chasing other girls.

 

Sometimes, the greed and immoral behavior are so deeply grooted in a person that no amount of name and fame can hide that out. There has been many players who carried this "playboy" image in their playing days, but they all became wiser when they grew old. This filthy SOB remained like the same.

[New guy]

17 hours ago, rangeelaraja said:

But it doesn’t matter …

 

He gets to play the “ I am being hounded because I am a Muslim “ card. 
 

I
 

Everyone called him out on this, no one bought that

[New guy]

We blame Sachin for being a bad captain, but half of the team under him was fixing and playing politics. Batting order was changed in the dressing room when Sachin was batting, without his inputs. Sachin had to play conservatively because he knew others would throw their wickets once he is out. Selectors never gave him players he wanted, the rot was deep in every place in Indian cricket. 

 

The fact that we survived all that and after fixing was exposed, we focused on being strict on players, is why Indian cricket flourished after that. Meanwhile Pakistanis treated their fixers as king which is why they are in the state they are in today.

[Ultimate_Game]

6 hours ago, New guy said:

We blame Sachin for being a bad captain, but half of the team under him was fixing and playing politics. Batting order was changed in the dressing room when Sachin was batting, without his inputs. Sachin had to play conservatively because he knew others would throw their wickets once he is out. Selectors never gave him players he wanted, the rot was deep in every place in Indian cricket. 

 

The fact that we survived all that and after fixing was exposed, we focused on being strict on players, is why Indian cricket flourished after that. Meanwhile Pakistanis treated their fixers as king which is why they are in the state they are in today.

 

The team was pretty ordinary under Tendulkar but he still wasn't a good captain. He made the right call in giving up captaincy to Ganguly first and then backing Dhoni. I'll always admire Tendulkar for that selfless act. He could've been like Kohli and continued being a captain despite being poor at it but he recognized his weakness and did what was best for the team. That self-awareness and reflection is not something most are capable of and respect to him for doing the right thing 

[Vk1]

27 minutes ago, Ultimate_Game said:

 

The team was pretty ordinary under Tendulkar but he still wasn't a good captain. He made the right call in giving up captaincy to Ganguly first and then backing Dhoni. I'll always admire Tendulkar for that selfless act. He could've been like Kohli and continued being a captain despite being poor at it but he recognized his weakness and did what was best for the team. That self-awareness and reflection is not something most are capable of and respect to him for doing the right thing 

1991  economic reforms took time to create a confident young gen capable of beating anyone.. you see those guys from 2000 onwards in the form of Viru, Yuvi, MSD etc.. Zonal selections also reduced and eventually removed.. contrast that with the players who debuted under Sachins captaincy..none of them had even a semi decent career 

[Ultimate_Game]

8 minutes ago, Vk1 said:

1991  economic reforms took time to create a confident young gen capable of beating anyone.. you see those guys from 2000 onwards in the form of Viru, Yuvi, MSD etc.. Zonal selections also reduced and eventually removed.. contrast that with the players who debuted under Sachins captaincy..none of them had even a semi decent career 

 

Globalization did have a huge impact just like IPL has had on the current gen. The Dhoni, Yuvi, Raina, Sehwag was the 1st gen but it wouldn't have been possible without Ganguly. He was the one who encouraged these guys and brought them along. Dhoni continued the good work and now we're seeing the fruits of IPL as the current gen is confident and not afraid of anyone.

 

The difference between that gen under Ganguly was that they had confidence in their abilities and wouldn't back down. The current gen know they're the top dogs and it shows. This gen has that brashness and touch of arrogance which comes knowing that you're the best.

[Vk1]

1 minute ago, Ultimate_Game said:

 

Globalization did have a huge impact just like IPL has had on the current gen. The Dhoni, Yuvi, Raina, Sehwag was the 1st gen but it wouldn't have been possible without Ganguly. He was the one who encouraged these guys and brought them along. Dhoni continued the good work and now we're seeing the fruits of IPL as the current gen is confident and not afraid of anyone.

 

The difference between that gen under Ganguly was that they had confidence in their abilities and wouldn't back down. The current gen know they're the top dogs and it shows. This gen has that brashness and touch of arrogance which comes knowing that you're the best.

Debashis Mohanty..Abey saale kuruvilla.. Amey khurasia.. Dodda Ganesh.. Noel ( who?) David.. vijay bharadwaj.. nikhil chopra not sure how many debuted under sachin but you can't get anymore mediocre cricketers.. now add this mediocrity to match fixers 

[Ultimate_Game]

Just now, Vk1 said:

Debashis Mohanty..Abey saale kuruvilla.. Amey khurasia.. Dodda Ganesh.. Noel ( who?) David.. vijay bharadwaj.. nikhil chopra not sure how many debuted under sachin but you can't get anymore mediocre cricketers.. now add this mediocrity to match fixers 

 

That 90s bunch was absolutely useless. The only decent cricketers we unearthed in 90s were Dravid and Ganguly. Probably Kumble and Srinath as well if they made their debuts in 90s and not 80s. Rest came in early to mid 2000s and after that the production started.

[Vk1]

1 minute ago, Ultimate_Game said:

 

That 90s bunch was absolutely useless. The only decent cricketers we unearthed in 90s were Dravid and Ganguly. Probably Kumble and Srinath as well if they made their debuts in 90s and not 80s. Rest came in early to mid 2000s and after that the production started.

Yes.. while 281 was the game changer in tests the real transformation in odis started when we could chase in odis regularly initially through Yuvi Kaif and later with msd raina along with yuvi. 

[Stutter]

The event that left me stunned was this. Look at that run-out. Whilst watching this game live on TV, we were left speechless.
Manjrekar & Azhar were cruising. Gavaskar & the other commentators were strategizing the chase - something on lines of get 8 boundaries and that should win the game. 
Right after a fantastic boundary from Manjrekar, Azhar came up with this lazy piece of running. Hear the commentary. No filter 

 

I absolutely detest Azhar & Ajay Jadeja. I was at the '96 QF & his hitting was sensational on that day. But something seemed off about him. 

It is a shame that Azhar got elected in our elections and an equally bigger shame that A.Jadeja still gets commentary gigs. It's deplorable that Azhar put on his religious cap only when he had to face the courts & no other time until then. 

 

  

 

[Lord]

Another one

 

 

[vvvslaxman]

15 minutes ago, Lord said:

Another one

 

 

Thsi is the first incident that collectively raised the eye brow of entire country. 

[Ultimate_Game]

41 minutes ago, Lord said:

Another one

 

 

 

Both of them should've been dropped after that match.

[rollingstoned]

On 3/16/2026 at 12:20 AM, Nikhil_cric said:

Plenty of matches look extremely suspect if we had the ball by ball data or the replays of some of the matches between 1992-2000.

 

Let's look at the 1996 semifinal .

 

Azhar selects an inexperienced Ashish Kapoor ahead of the experienced Venky Raju for the semifinal. Despite the fact that Raju had done decently in the quarterfinal on a flatter Bangalore pitch. 

 

Chooses to bowl first. 

 

Now lets look at his bowling changes .

 

Srinath is terrific and bowls a 7 over spell upfront , takes 3 wickets. Prasad is trashed in 2 overs and Azhar bowls 1 over of Kumble and then 3 overs of  Ashish Kapoor to partner Srinath.

 

Kapoor gets massive turn with the ball from well outside off to beyond leg stump - pitch is clearly a turner. 

 

De Silva is counterattacking but Kumble is brought back and dismisses him with SL at 86/4.  In Kumble's 4th over (SL's 18th over), Kumble looks threatening and miserly and has Mahanama plumb in front but Steve Dunne refuses to give it (pre DRS nonsense) with SL on 92.

 

What does Azhar do, he brings back Venkatesh Prasad in the 20th over instead of continuing with Kumble and then brings Ajay Jadeja on for another 5 overs.

 

Prasad is having a horrible day 

 

Jadeja bowls well outside off to Ranatunga with third man up and Ranatunga cuts/dabs him (strength of Arjuna) 3-4 times to the fence with Jadeja pretending to be angry with Nayan Mongia for allowing it. 

 

Jadeja accidentally gets Mahanama plumb but he and Mongia barely appeal and Gavaskar in commentary even notes that they haven't appealed fully "How's" instead of "How's that" so Steve Dunne doesn't consider the appeal 

 

Tendulkar is introduced and he looks extremely threatening and even Ranatunga can barely score off him and gets dismissed eventually by Tendulkar .   Still no Kumble. 

 

Azhar finally brings Kumble back in the 39th over (20 overs of no Kumble on a pitch spitting and turning ) and makes him bowl at the death for straight 6 overs when a seamer should've been bowling.

 

 

Extremely dodgy captaincy, fully supported by Jadeja and Mongia

 

 

 

 

 

Deciding to bowl first on that Eden gardens pitch was as fishy as Wasim deciding to bat first on a cold Lord's morning in June in 1999.

[rollingstoned]

That whole 90s decade is tainted with fixing, can't look at any match without some level of suspicion. And from all teams.

[VT87]

7 hours ago, Lord said:

Another one

 

 

Man, people forgot this bastard Mongia he was bigger scoundrel than Azhar he should have been beaten by public .

[Nikhil_cric]

5 hours ago, rollingstoned said:

Deciding to bowl first on that Eden gardens pitch was as fishy as Wasim deciding to bat first on a cold Lord's morning in June in 1999.

It was probably a worse decision. Lords toss decision didn't matter. There was hardly any swing. Just extra bounce and movement down the slope. Even Waugh didn't know what to do. 

[Nikhil_cric]

9 minutes ago, VT87 said:

Man, people forgot this bastard Mongia he was bigger scoundrel than Azhar he should have been beaten by public .

Prabhakar, Jadeja and Mongia were equally guilty

[Nikhil_cric]

Mongia's pathetic attempt. 

 

https://youtu.be/wCLxGSNKyLQ?si=63g_Jb8UPdP0gOae

 

 

Edited March 17 by Nikhil_cric