My first one - Has to be cricket!!!

Short & Stellar contributions overshadowed by heroic innings

Cricket, the most individualistic team game (probably the main reason why we Indians do so well...i mean "used to do" so well at the sport) is filled with instances where most of us have gone on to associate some important matches with batsmen who hammered the wits out of the opposition. And in the process, we often forget some short but really stellar contributions made by other batsmen that completely got overshadowed because of higher scores by their team-mates.

The top of the mind "short but sweet" ODI innings for us Indians, thanks to Kirmani's constant reminder on national TV on countless occasions is by Kirmani himself when he gave Kapil company enroute his monumental 175* against Zimbabwe at Turnbridge Wells. We also remember many such short but sweet innings being played on other occasions. To name a few TOM, Mongia (Nayan not the World Cup 2003 free-rider Dinesh Mongia) with Sachin at Sharjah against the Aussies, Sanjay Bangar (yes, he played for India too apart from Railways) against the WI at Motera. The following are three of my favourite short yet un-noticed innings that we often forget but scratch our head and remember as soon as someone points them out.

JJ van der wath (35 off 18 balls) - SA vs. Australia, Jo'berg

Arguably the most important contribution of the match, van der waath came in at 335 for 6, a very comfortable position in any other ODI, but chasing a mammoth 434 to win, it sure was a no-nonsense situation to find yourself in. In the next 44 runs that he added along with a rather sedate Boucher to start off with, van der wath cleared the boundary thrice, twice over point & thirdman and in the process handed over the momentum back to the SA team that they lost after Gibbs' wicket. We tend to remember this match more for Ponting batting like there was no tommorrow and Gibbs batting like there was no day after tommorrow and also for Boucher's spendid slog over batting as much as Mick Lewis' century with the ball (113 off 10 overs not in a 20-20 match or without Agarkar bowling to Ponting is quite some achievement)

Saurav Ganguly (60 off 43 balls) - India vs. England, Natwest Series, Lords
Better known as the match that Kaif and Yuvi won for us, we don't instantly remember the innings that ignited the spark to start with. Dada's fearless and often senseless hitting over the cover and point boundaries probably made Kaif believe that he too could clear the boundary once in his life (he did that twice in this match in fact). In this innings studded with 10 fours and one six, Ganguly led by example much before he pulled off a Rakhi Swant trick...No, he didn't smooch John Wright, the poor guy merely took off his shirt...bhool to nahi gaye na apne dada ko?

Sachin Tendulkar (41 of 26 balls) - India vs. Pakistan, Independence Cup, Dhaka
This match belonged to Ganguly (124) and Robin Singh (82) with due respect to Hrishikesh Kanitkar's only contribution to world cricket where he hit Saqlain's dew-sogged bowl over extra cover to come up with the winning runs. But not many would instantly associate Sachin with this match who actually sent the cat amongst the crows...err pigeons. Azhar Mehmood's molestation soon made way for Saqlain's rape! Pity that the little master couldn't stay on longer and this premature yet worthwhile innings came to end when he hit a skier off that bastard Afridi to be caught by the other one, Azhar Mehmood!

Would love to be reminded of more such innings that come to your mind!