When Anwar surpassed the 'King'

As Pakistan cricket goes through one of its typically embarrassing phase on the the administrative front, it would be apt to de-stress and rewind to perhaps a much joyous if not an entirely trouble-free era. Seventeen years ago on this very day, Pakistan’s performance on the field well and truly overshadowed all the backroom drama - even the slightest murmurs of discontent. True to tradition, it was a high-octane encounter between Pakistan and India but it was only one man who ruled the headlines as the sun set around the MA Chidabaram Stadium, Chennai, on May 21. Saeed Anwar, smashing 22 boundaries and 5 sixes, surpassed the great Vivian Richards' record that day. For many that was the bigger achievement than becoming the then highest run-scorer in an ODI with his 194. Scandalously underrated as a batsman, a Saeed Anwar cover drive was arguably the most pleasing sight in cricket in the 90s. But he displayed his full range that day; all variations of the cut, pull, drive and sweep were on offer along with the street smarts to tickle the ball on either side of the keeper. Pakistan had lost the opening matches of the Pepsi Independence Cup versus New Zealand andhad to win this match to stay in the tournament. It was also critical as it was a match against India. Anwar opened the innings with Shahid Afridi, who was still fresh on the international stage despite scoring the fastest ODI century a year earlier. But he was dismissed for just five before Anwar combined first with Ramiz Raja for an 89-run partnership and then with Ijaz Ahmed for a 116-run stand. The command with which Anwar went about was evident in the way he broke apart Anil Kumble, easily India's best bowler in an attack that was completed by Abey Kuruvilla, Venkatesh Prasad, Sunil Joshi, Robin Singh and Sachin Tendulkar. The look on Kumble’s face, after Anwar lofted India's spin maestro for three consecutive sixes almost said: "What do you want yaar?" Perhaps, the look on the face of Ravichandran Ashwin after Afridi dispatched him for two last over sixes at this year's Asia Cup maybe comes close to that emotion. The Chennai heat had already taken a toll on the left-handed opener who called for a runner. Afridi, who wasn't exactly the smartest between the wickets as the latter part of Anwar's innings demonstrated amid 'ooohs' and 'aaahs' from the Pakistani fans, joined his opening partner in the 19th over. Despite being hampered by cramps, Anwar was fluid in his stroke-play. His particular brand of the leg-side whip over square leg was perhaps at its best during that innings. He was harsh on the fast bowlers and dominated the spinners even more. It can be safely said that he was one player who used to play Kumble the best from the Pakistani side before the arrival of Younis Khan. As Anwar finally succumbed to a top-edged sweep, there was no doubt that the dismissal came more as a result of exhaustion than the quality of bowling. Tendulkar said after the match that it was the best innings he had seen. But anyone who had been following Anwar since his debut in 1989, something like this was a long-time coming. His was a fairly unimpressive first year in international career. He burst onto the scene as a wiry 20-year-old and played his first ODI against West Indies in Perth, Australia, in one of the World Series matches. It was in 1990, though, that he really got heads rolling. The venue was the same but this time Sri Lanka were to join Pakistan and hosts Australia for the World Series. At a time when players like Aamer Malik and Shoaib Mohammad were opening the innings and scoring at strike-rates of around 50, Anwar was being used by skipper Imran Khan at number 3, sometimes 4 and on occasions even as an opener to blast away. Scores of 27, 33, 43 and 37 all came at strike rates of over 90. These were followed by his maiden century, 126 off 99 balls with 8 fours and 6 sixes against Sri Lanka in the 10th match of the series at Adelaide. During the said series, this crash-bang technique, which he used at the behest of his captain who handpicked him, frustrated one of the opposing captains Allan Border so much that he went on to say, “what this new guy Saeed Anwar is doing, is not cricket”. This was reported by Munir Hussain during the radio commentary of one of the matches. So before Mark Greatbatch and Romesh Kaluwitharana and Sanath Jayasuriya, it was Anwar who had first started employing this technique of hitting the ball over the head of the fielders in the 30 yards circle. Anwar's wrist work and the timing are now part of Pakistan cricket’s folklore. With 8,824 ODI runs, he is third in overall ODI runs for Pakistan behind Inzamam-ul-Haq and Mohammad Yousuf. He still holds the record of making the most ODI hundreds for Pakistan (20). But it his 12th ton that still sticks out whenever there is a mention of this understated genius.