Shoaib Malik unusually loses his wicket
While bowled, run out, LBW, caught out, etc., are some common ways in which players are dismissed, there is another way in which they end up going to the dugout, i.e., hit wicket. In this type, it is not the bowler who hits the stumps. It is the batsman who ends up losing his wicket in his style, which makes it a bit funny sometimes. Let’s take a look at some hilarious moments where players went back to the dugout via the hit wicket.
Virat Kohli, one of the greatest batsmen of all time, has been out hit wicket twice in his entire cricketing career. The first time it happened was hilarious, as it took place when Kohli was fine and set on the crease. During the India tour of England 2011, India batted first, and he looked fine with the bat, dominating over the English bowlers.
This eventually led to Kohli smashing a century against bowlers such as Graeme Swann, Tim Bresnan, Samit Patel, and various others. But it was not any bowler who dismissed him in this game. It was Kohli himself who got hit wicket after scoring 107 runs. In a delivery against Swann, he unfortunately shifted way too much towards the stumps, and the wicket-keeper was quick enough to notice the bails go off.
Pakistan’s team has been filled with serious players, but sometimes, the moments go hilarious, which makes the players and fans break character. Inzamam-ul-Haq, a former Pakistani player, is known for not just his skills, but also the funniest hit wicket in the history of cricket. This incident took place in a Test match between Pakistan and England in 2006.
During the match, Monty Panesar, the legendary English spinner, was bowling against Inzamam-ul-Haq. His delivery confused Inzamam so well that he ended up losing his balance. To ensure that he doesn’t fall, he ended up going himself over the bales and landed in front of the wicket-keeper. At last, the English players were spotted celebrating the lucky wicket while Inzamam-ul-Haq sat down in disbelief.
Even the greatest can make mistakes sometimes, which can be known as Sachin Tendulkar also holds his name in this list of rare hit-wicket dismissals in cricket history. India and Australia faced each other in an ODI match of the tri-series involving India, Australia, and Sri Lanka. Fans were surely excited to see the showdown between Brett Lee and Sachin Tendulkar.
During the 7th over of the game, Sachin Tendulkar went back foot to play a delivery against Brett Lee towards the on side. Although he was successful in playing the ball to the destination, he made contact with the stumps while attempting to go for the shot. Thus, the bails came off, which led to the Australian players celebrating the wicket. At the start, it seemed that Tendulkar didn’t know he had put the bails off himself, but he realised it halfway down the crease.
AB de Villiers, known as Mr. 360, has not always been about his shot selection, smashing the ball across different corners of the ground. Fans who used to watch him early might remember the disastrous hit-wicket he faced in a match against Australia, which was played at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
During the first ODI between Australia and South Africa, AB de Villiers came quickly to the crease and had to face Shaun Tait. After facing three deliveries against him, he didn’t know what was coming next. Tait bowled a short ball at the speed hovering above 150 kmph, and de Villiers failed to connect it with his bat. The short ball connected with him, and eventually, he fell to the crease, which led to his bat hitting the stumps.
King Kohli has not only been dismissed once, but twice dismissed via hit wicket, and what makes it more interesting is that it came against England, the same team against whom he had his first hit wicket back in 2011. This came in a Test match between India and England, which was being played in Rajkot, and Kohli looked fine with his shots.
Against Adil Rashid, Virat Kohli tried to smash the short ball towards the mid-wicket region, but he ended up losing his balance in the worst way possible. This led to Kohli hitting the stumps with his feet, and the bails were eventually lit off, as Kohli ended up losing his wicket. What could have been a big score ended up being one of the rare hit-wicket dismissals in cricket history, and another one for Virat Kohli.
The West Indies cricket team has been going through turmoil recently, but there have been players who have made a good addition to the team, including Sunil Ambris. A promising star of the Caribbean team didn’t have a good start to his Test career when he went off against New Zealand in 2017.
Keeping the Caribbean mindset, his intent was just to start scoring from the very first ball, and this might be his biggest mistake while being on his debut. In his first delivery against Neil Wagner, he attempted to play a shot towards the on side, but in the process, his foot touched the stumps, which set the bails off. He didn’t just end up losing his wicket in the form of a hit wicket. He also went off for a golden duck in his debut match.
All the hit-wicket dismissals discussed above have been recent, but there was a player who became the first one to lose his wicket in a World Cup match. It was none other than the legendary Caribbean player, Roy Fredericks. This incident took place during the 1975 World Cup, where the West Indies were dominant enough to clinch the title.
However, the end of the tournament was not good for Roy Fredericks, as he got dismissed hilariously. On his World Cup final debut, he ended up losing his wicket via hit wicket, which made him the first player to get out via hit wicket in the World Cup. This moment was not just awful for Fredericks, who was playing his first World Cup match, but also for the fans, who couldn’t hold their laughter, looking at this dismissal on a big stage.
The Indian Premier League also has its own set of hit-wicket outs, which have added a funny element to the game. This unfortunate incident took place with a youngster, Ayush Badoni, during the match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Lucknow Supergiants in IPL 2023. The match was in the hands of LSG, and Badoni thought of finishing the same.
He smashed the ball perfectly for a six, inching his team closer to the win, but with the bat, the bat connected with the stumps also, lifting the bails off. Just when Badoni thought he had finished the game, he ended up losing his wicket, which left his teammates in splits, and RCB fans in some hope that maybe they could bring up a comeback.