When the name of Dean Jones flashes in a cricket romantic's mind, one pictures the Victorian tackling canny spinners with twinkle-toed footwork. During the monumental tied Test match played at Madras in 1986, Jones, with his craft and clockwork precision, bisected fielders to essay a timeless composition. Twelve months later, the majestic template of Jones' batting was yet again taking cricket lovers to an elevated plane in the 1987 World Cup game played against India in Chennai.
When Maninder Singh was introduced into the attack, Jones greeted him with quicksilver footwork to thwack one towards the long-on region. It could have been a catch but luckily for Jones, it eluded the fielder. However, it still remained to be seen if it was a six or a four. Those were the days when there were no ultra-slow motion replays that would help the umpires decide whether it was a boundary or a six. To put the umpire, Dickie Bird, in a quandary, Jones was clear in his mind that he had deposited Maninder for a maximum. Kiran More, the wicketkeeper, and Shastri, though, believed it was a four. Later, Bird went by Shastri's word to signal a boundary - much to the chagrin of the Australian camp, especially the captain, Allan Border and coach, Bob Simpson.
It was Alan Crompton, the Australian manager, who was also visibly upset with the decision, who finally took up the matter with the match referee, Hanif Mohammad. During the lunch break, respective captains, Kapil Dev and Border as well as the umpires were called to discuss the matter. After watching the replay, in a sporting gesture, Kapil, agreed that it was a six, and two runs were added to Australia's total of 268.
When Maninder Singh was introduced into the attack, Jones greeted him with quicksilver footwork to thwack one towards the long-on region. It could have been a catch but luckily for Jones, it eluded the fielder. However, it still remained to be seen if it was a six or a four. Those were the days when there were no ultra-slow motion replays that would help the umpires decide whether it was a boundary or a six. To put the umpire, Dickie Bird, in a quandary, Jones was clear in his mind that he had deposited Maninder for a maximum. Kiran More, the wicketkeeper, and Shastri, though, believed it was a four. Later, Bird went by Shastri's word to signal a boundary - much to the chagrin of the Australian camp, especially the captain, Allan Border and coach, Bob Simpson.
It was Alan Crompton, the Australian manager, who was also visibly upset with the decision, who finally took up the matter with the match referee, Hanif Mohammad. During the lunch break, respective captains, Kapil Dev and Border as well as the umpires were called to discuss the matter. After watching the replay, in a sporting gesture, Kapil, agreed that it was a six, and two runs were added to Australia's total of 268.
"We played against India - the host nation - in our very first game of the tournament and at the end of our innings... in the last few overs there was a high ball hit over Ravi Shastri's head on the boundary. It was right in front of our change rooms and we saw that the ball actually went for six, but Ravi got up signalling four so it was given as four at the time and we were jumping up and down saying 'it was six'.
"So our score was 268 and our manager - a bloke called Alan Crompton - said he wasn't going to have that so he went up to see the match referee Hanif Mohammad who said Yes, I saw that incident and I'm going to change the score," Border was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.
What happened next?
Sunil Gavaskar, from nowhere, turned into a pillaging Master Blaster and Kris Srikkanth showed flashes of brilliance to give India a rousing start. Towards the end, India just needed 16 runs from the last fours, with four wickets in the bag. In what turned out to be a coup de theatre by Australia, they staged a superb comeback to win by a solitary run. The same run that could have given India a win instead if the four had not been overturned earlier in the match.
What happened next?
Sunil Gavaskar, from nowhere, turned into a pillaging Master Blaster and Kris Srikkanth showed flashes of brilliance to give India a rousing start. Towards the end, India just needed 16 runs from the last fours, with four wickets in the bag. In what turned out to be a coup de theatre by Australia, they staged a superb comeback to win by a solitary run. The same run that could have given India a win instead if the four had not been overturned earlier in the match.
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