DrWolverine
First Class Debutant
McGrath’s bowling vs Sachin’s batting
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ODI : Glen McGrath vs Sachin Tendulkar
- Thread starter DrWolverine
- Start date
SillyCowCorner1
Moooo
McGrath, because of what he did in WCs
McGrath was part of 4 ODI World-Cup teams in his career, his team won 3 and came to the final in the remaining. His contribution to his team's success in those 3 won ODI World-Cups was immense - 65 wickets at an average of 15.9, an economy rate of less than 4 RPO, and a strike-rate of a wicket every 24 balls.
What particularly stood out for me was McGrath's ability to frequently perform in clutch ODI WC matches often getting the opposition's key batsman cheaply - Kallis in 2007 ODI WC Semis, Tendulkar in 2003 ODI WC Finals etc.
One of my most memorable ODI WC matches between the two players, particularly in this regard of McGrath turning up when needed, was the 1999 WC super-6 match at the Oval.
At this point in their careers, both Tendulkar and McGrath had firmly established themselves as the best in their respective trades.
Both Australia and India entered the super-6 of that WC at the bottom of their group tables, and so it was a must-win match for both teams.
Tendulkar's scores in previous 6 ODI matches against Australia were 100, 15, 80, 143, 134 and 141 (an insane avg of 102 at a SR of 106).
If you looked at the body language of the Aussie team whenever Tendulkar batted against them at that time, it was evident that he had a huge psychological hold on them.
There was one big caveat though. McGrath was absent in all those 6 previous matches. Australian captain Steve Waugh was aware of it, and later in the press conference, Waugh said that he was hoping/praying that Tendulkar would open the Indian innings because then McGrath would have the opportunity to bowl at him with the new ball.
In a dazzling display of great fast bowling, McGrath removed Tendulkar for a duck in the very first over of the Indian innings, and then went on to remove Rahul Dravid in his 2nd over and Indian captain Mohammed Azharuddin in his 3rd over.
Within the first 7 overs of the Indian innings, McGrath literally broke the back of the Indian batting line-up and pretty much reduced the match to a formality. The victory was a huge psychological boost for Australia who went on to win the World Cup.
subshakerz
Hall of Fame Member
Objectively I can't think of a reason to deny McGrath given how important he was in those WCs.