Five Indian Bowlers And Their Bunnies

One of the features that make cricket such a beautiful game, is its unpredictable nature in the contemporary times. Till the last ball of the match is bowled, it is pretty much absurd to predict anything out of it.

A single ball can change the entire course of the game. But there are some things that can be predicted in this game and the prediction turns out right more often than not.

Well, we are talking about bunnies here. When a particular bowler dismisses certain opposition batsmen several times, the batsman is referred as the bowler’s bunny.

And such phenomenon is not new in cricket. Fred Trueman getting rid of Polly Umringar with ease during the 1952 series is still talked about a lot.

In the 2009 Ashes series, Ravi Bopara was dismissed by Ben Hilfenhaus as many as five times, while the England batsman managed to score just 16 on the bowling of the paceman.

So, here we take a look at five Indian bowlers and their bunnies:

5. Zaheer Khan – Graeme Smith:

There was always one winner whenever Zaheer Khan squared up against South Africa’s Graeme Smith. The former India pacer used to give the Proteas legend a hard time on the field.

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Zaheer enjoyed huge success against left-handed batsmen and Smith’s wickets perhaps certified them.

In fact, during the One-day International series in 2006, Zaheer had even dismissed Smith in three consecutive games.

Out of the 15 Tests that Smith played against India, Zaheer claimed the wicket of the Proteas left-hand batsman on seven occasions.

4. Anil Kumble – Adam Gilchrist:

India’s highest wicket-taker in Tests and arguably one of the greatest match winners in the history of Indian cricket, Kumble had a knack of coming out on top on big occasions.

Kumble enjoyed good success against an Australian team that boasted of several match winners, one of them being Adam Gilchrist. And Kumble managed to win a personal duel while taking on the legendary wicketkeeper on several occasions.

In 18 encounters, Kumble got the better of Gilchrist on nine occasions, making it a 50 percent success rate for himself against one of the most dangerous batsmen of all time.

3. Ishant Sharma – Alistair Cook:

The sight of a young Ishant Sharma troubling Ricky Ponting consistently on the Australia tour of 2008 has made many to consider that the legendary Aussie was Ishant’s bunny.

The lanky pacer had dismissed Ponting twice during that tour. However, it’s actually England star cricketer Alastair Cook who is Sharma’s favourite victim.

Ishant has dismissed England’s highest run-scorer in Tests nine times across all forms of international cricket.

2. Harbhajan Singh – Ricky Ponting:

Ace off-spinner Harbhajan Singh absolutely loved to perform against Australia is a well-known fact in the cricketing circles. Who can forget the series in 2001 when he bagged staggering 32 wickets in just three Tests – to help India beat Steve Waugh’s all-conquering side 2-1.

And the Sardar just loved to dismiss Ricky Ponting more than anyone else from the Australian team.

Overall, Harbhajan dismissed the legendary Aussie ten times in 14 Tests. This makes the India spinner the bowler to have dismissed Ponting on most of the occasions. And out of the 14 dismissals, Harbhajan got Ponting out for zero three times.

1. Kapil Dev – Mudassar Nazar:

The India-Pakistan cricket rivalry has given the game a lot. There is absolutely no dearth of entertainment when these two teams meet. And every fan of this great fixture knows that Pakistani cricketer Mudassar Nazar dreaded playing against Kapil Dev.

Out of the 18 Tests Nazar played against India, Kapil Dev dismissed him 12 times. The greatest allrounder the country has ever produced, Dev also dismissed Australia’s Allan Border, England’s David Gower, and Windies Malcolm Marshall 10 times during his illustrious Test career.