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Clinching it with a six
Going, going ... gone
Kanishkaa Balachandran
April 10, 2008
Shivnarine Chanderpaul's last-ball six off Chaminda Vaas sealed a thrilling win for hosts West Indies in Trinidad. Cricinfo looks back at similar heroics in one-day internationals with last-ball sixes to seal the match.
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Javed Miandad was the inspiration for the great one-day finishes of our time
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Javed Miandad - Pakistan v India, Australasia Cup final, Sharjah, 1986
The most legendary of them all. Nobody could have scripted a better climax - a tournament final between India and Pakistan, four needed off the last ball, and a rampaging Javed Miandad fighting a lone battle. Chasing 246, Pakistan lost their ninth wicket with five runs needed to win, as Tauseef Ahmed joined Miandad, unbeaten with a dogged century. Chetan Sharma, who bowled the final over, dished out a slow, friendly full toss on leg stump which Miandad spanked over the square leg almost on his knees. His wild celebrations with Tauseef sent one nation into a frenzy and the other into a state of paralysis. It was Pakistan's first victory in a one-day tournament, and its psychological impact on India was palpable for years, in contests between the two rivals.
Lance Klusener - South Africa v New Zealand, Napier, 1998-99
This was a prelude to Klusener's heroics in the World Cup. Chasing 193, South Africa needed 11 off the final over from Dion Nash with two wickets in hand. New Zealand drew first blood with Mark Boucher skying the ball straight to the fielder at midwicket, but significantly, the batsmen crossed. With ten still required, Klusener bludgeoned the third ball to the backward point fence. Two singles later, Klusener was back on strike for the last ball with four required. Nash's attempted yorker went totally haywire, as Klusener duly smashed it over the long-on boundary. A dejected Nash failed to exorcise the ghosts of the previous year, when his attempt at guiding his team home in another thriller, in Brisbane, was foiled by a running catch at the boundary by none other than - you guessed it - Klusener.
Asif Mujtaba - Pakistan v Australia, Hobart, 1992-93
Another typical Pakistan heart-stopper, this time off Asif Mujtaba's bat. Needing 17 to win off the final over, Mark Taylor tossed the ball to the `Iceman' Steve Waugh, whose famous last-over spells became a part of World Cup folklore during their successful campaign in 1987. Mujtaba lived up to his own reputation as a finisher, and paid scant respect to Waugh's, carting the ball at will, with a last-ball six to level the scores. Technically, there was no winner, but the moral victory was certainly Pakistan's.
Brendan Taylor - Zimbabwe v Bangladesh, Harare, 2006
This time the minnows possessed the license to thrill. With Zimbabwe requiring an astronomical 28 off the last two overs, Brendan Taylor and Tawanda Mupariwa caused a few tremors in the penultimate over, taking 11 runs off it. The final over from Mashrafe Mortaza had it all - a six off the second ball by Taylor, a single which was refused, a run-out, a one-handed swish to midwicket for a boundary. With five required off the last ball, a six seemed the only option, as Taylor sent the home crowd into raptures with a lofted six over midwicket.
The one that got away - Australia v New Zealand, World Series Cup, Melbourne,1980-81
New Zealand were one big hit away from - a tie - but the thought of No.11 Brian McKechnie slamming Trevor Chappell into the stands of the world's biggest ground was too much for his elder brother and captain Greg Chappell to take. What followed was one of the most controversial incidents ever witnessed on a cricket field. The captain instructed him to bowl an underarm ball,
exploiting a "glaring" omission in the playing conditions, which at that time deemed it a legitimate delivery. Scathing criticism followed and the loophole was soon rectified.
Kanishkaa Balachandran is editorial assistant of Cricinfo
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