Five Selfless Acts In Cricket

Cricket is a ‘gentleman’s game’. I know this statement has been very challenged on a lot of instances thanks to players getting involved in match-fixing, ball-tampering, verbal slurs which tend to cross the line or acts borne out of selfish interests.

But, that is not to say, there haven’t been moments where players have actually displayed selfless nature by putting the interests of their team or the spirit of the game ahead of their own personal interests. Who can forget Mark Taylor [334*] and Michael Clarke’s [329*] decision to declare their innings when they had the opportunity to leapfrog Sir Donald Bradman’s highest individual tally as a mark of respect for the legend?

On that note, here’s a look at five selfless acts in cricket:

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Richard Hadlee

One of the greatest all-rounder that world cricket has ever seen, Sir Richard Hadlee could have become the second bowler after England’s Jim Laker in the history of the game to claim all ten wickets in a single innings at the Gabba in 1985.

But the champion all-rounder denied himself the feat by claiming to take a brilliant catch running backward to help fellow teammate Vaughan Brown take the solitary wicket before he duly claimed his 9th scalp to finish with figures of 9-52.

Spora journalist Frank Keating hailed it as the ‘Catch of the century’,not because of its difficulty but because of Hadlee’s selflessness.

Javagal Srinath

While Vaughan Brown did try and take a wicket when his teammate Richard Hadlee was within range of taking all 10, 14 years later Javagal Srinath did not even attempt to get in the way of Anil Kumble.

It would have been the first time that a bowler would be cheered for just ambling in his run-up with no real intent and delivering the ball on the 6th or 7th stump.

Eventually, Srinath’s efforts paid off as Anil Kumble dismissed Wasim Akram in the 61st over to become just the second bowler to claim all ten wickets in an innings.

Gautam Gambhir

Gautam Gambhir might be a hot-headed character but time and again, the 2011 World Cup-winner has shown that he has a heart of gold.

One such instance of it came during a 2009 One-day International between India and Sri Lanka. Chasing in excess of 300, Gautam Gambhir’s brilliant 150 and Virat Kohli’s maiden ODI hundred helped the Men in Blue overcome the Lankan challenge.

Gambhir has adjudged the ‘Player of the Match’. But what happened next was something no one could have imagined. The southpaw decided to pass the award to Virat, as an appreciation for the youngster’s efforts.

Robin Uthappa

How many of you remember Rohit Sharma’s epic record-breaking 264 against Sri Lanka back in 2014? Surely, everyone does!

Cast your mind back to the last 10 overs of that innings. Do you remember who exactly was batting with Rohit Sharma? Can you? Well! You could be excused for not recalling because how can you remember a who guy who faced just 16 balls and scored 16 during his nine-over stay on the crease?

But you should. Because it wasn’t for Robin Uthappa’s selfless 16-ball 16, Rohit Sharma wouldn’t have got the chance to score the number of runs that he eventually did. Uthappa came to the crease in 41st over when Rohit was batting on 155.

By the time, the innings ended, Rohit had smoked another 109 runs, and Uthappa’s selfless act to let the Hitman revel in glory, was something to savor.

Adam Gilchrist

Australia vs Sri Lanka. ICC World Cup 2003, Semi-Final.

And, Gilchrist decides to walk after the on-field adjudged him not-out. Tell me how many batsmen would have done that in a World Cup semi-final? Frankly, not too many.

Years later, Gilchrist revealed the reason behind his decision to walk.

Apparently, Gilchrist, during his Australian academy days had encountered a similar incident where he hadn’t walked after having got a big edge off his bat. Gilchrist went on to score a hundred but a confrontation with the bowlers and his reply to the former stumper’s apology left a big impact on Gilchrist.

“There was this wily old leg-spinner bowling to me and I went back and played this cut shot and smashed it straight into the keeper’s gloves and got given not out,” revealed Gilchrist back in 2018.

And, the bowler’s reply was-

“Oh, don’t worry about it. It obviously means more to you at the moment than it does to me,” he replied and for Adam Gilchrist, that was “like a dagger in the heart”.

That gesture by Adam Gilchrist still remains one of the most selfless acts in the game’s history.

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