We are pretty sure that the Indian fans would surely have enjoyed the way their tail stood up against all odds and added crucial runs on the board which helped India win the Lord’s Test against England. Ishant Sharma chipped in with what were pretty crucial 16 runs at that stage which was followed by an unimaginable partnership of 89* between Mohammed Shami (56*) & Jasprit Bumrah (34*) which put India in charge of the proceedings for the remainder of the game with the vice-versa being the case before this partnership.
In this column, we will be describing a tale buried within the sands of time where Zimbabwe stunned India by coming from behind to register an unimaginable victory in the 1st ODI at Nahar Singh Stadium in Faridabad with the help of their tail.
File Photo: Dougie Marillier
The architect of this victory was Douglas Anthony Marillier (more popularly known as Dougie Marillier), who was famous for his fancy version of sweep which was labelled as ‘The Marillier Shot’ in the media back then. Marillier showed the first glimpse of this innovative shot when he walked out to bat with Zimbabwe needing 15 off the last over against Australia in February 2001 with Glenn McGrath set to bowl the final over in Perth. Marillier thrashed McGrath for two boundaries using the ‘Marillier’ shot on both the occasions in the first 3 balls to bring the equation down to 5 off 3. Though Zimbabwe fell a run short of Australia’s total of 302, Marillier had made a name for himself as he had surprised arguably the best bowler of all times by lapping two meant-to-be yorkers for a four and had brought Zimbabwe to the cusp of victory against a bowler of that quality. Dougie Marillier was pretty unique in his own ways, we have often heard of the term wicketkeeper-batsman but Marillier was more of a wicketkeeper-bowler who could even chip in with the bat to some extent as a pinch hitter. Owing to the presence of the wicketkeeper Tatenda Taibu, Marillier found his place in the Zimbabwe side mostly as a bowler and used to bat deep down the order. He had gathered a decent amount of fame for his ‘Marillier Shot’ which was a sweep played by the batsman by shuffling across the crease. This very shot later went on to be referred as the ‘scoop’ shot.
Even the great Glenn McGrath was under the pump once while bowling to Marillier
Scorecard of Australia v Zimbabwe 12th Match (Tri-Series) 2001
Zimbabwe's national cricket team toured India from 15 February to 19 March 2002. The tour comprised a series of 2 Tests and 5 ODIs. India won the Test series comprehensively by 2-0 but the real challenge for India were going to be the ODIs as back then, Zimbabwe were a very competitive side in the limited overs format with the presence of some of the greats of the game in their side like Andy Flower, Grant Flower, Heath Streak to name a few.
In the 1st ODI, India won the toss and opted to bat first. The Indian batsmen posted a total of 274-6 kudos to half-centuries by VVS Laxman (75) & Sourav Ganguly (57) and a late flourish by Ajit Agarkar (unbeaten 40 off 19). It was an above par total back then and with the Faridabad pitch not being a belter, Indian bowlers were expected to defend this score and this is what it seemed like when India had Zimbabwe reeling at 210-8 in 44.2 overs. Zimbabwe needed another 65 runs off 34 balls at almost 2 runs a ball or 12 runs per over which was virtually an impossible task for even the best of batsmen back then but Marillier, who walked in to bat at this stage at number 10, had other ideas.
Ajit Agarkar once played a knock of 67(25)* against Zimbabwe in Rajkot during the 5th ODI played on the 14th of December 2000 and a little more than a year later, it was India’s turn to experience the same with the roles being reversed.
Marillier struck a boundary off Sanjay Bangar at the third-man region off the last ball of the 45th over. He followed it up with a 10 run over comprising two boundaries off Anil Kumble in the 46th over. Needing 49 off 24, Zimbabwe desperately needed a big over and Marillier didn’t disappoint as he gathered 21 runs off the 47th over bowled by Zaheer Khan. Zaheer Khan who had the bowling figures of 8-2-14-4 before this, was smacked for 2 fours and a six over deep square leg in this over by Marillier who used to love pace on the ball and encashed real hard on it. The 48th over bowled by Sanjay Bangar saw India inch closer to victory as Bangar got rid of Tatenda Taibu and gave away only 5 runs in his over. Zimbabwe now needed 23 off the last 2 overs with the last pair of Dougie Marillier and Gary Brent at the crease. The penultimate over of the game saw 13 runs being scored, courtesy two ‘Marillier’ shots which went for four off Zaheer Khan and Zimbabwe now needed 10 to get off the last over. With the idea that Marillier didn’t like to play the slower bowlers, Anil Kumble was brought into attack for the final over. Marillier welcomed him with a boundary towards the extra cover and completed his half-century in just 21 balls (exactly equal to Agarkar in terms of balls taken to reach the half-century). The next 3 balls saw only 2 runs being scored. With 4 needed off 2 balls, Mariller tried to pull off a slog sweep but ended up edging the ball which raced away for a four at the back of the keeper, Ajay Ratra (that delivery was also adjudged as a no-ball by the umpire while the ball was racing away to the fence).
Zimbabwe had finally dished it back to India and had levelled the scores against them with respect to the famous Ajit Agarkar knock. The cricketing fraternity was surprised by this audacity shown by Marillier which carried Zimbabwe to a win out of nowhere. In the words of former English cricketer Robin Jackman, “Zimbabwe have won the most amazing game of Cricket that I have had the privilege to watch, what an incredible victory for the visitors, we had them dead and buried, I make no bounds about it, I said it, we all said it and yet once again this amazing game proves us all wrong and Douglas Marillier has performed a minor miracle.”
Douglas Marillier scored almost 80% of his runs at the back of the wicket which used to be his area of strength. He played way too many ‘Marillier’ shots (with some even on the backward off side) in his inning and since the pacers of that era had no idea regarding how to deal with this innovative shot that they were witnessing for the first time, hence they all seemed clueless in front of it. In the words of former Indian cricketer, Sanjay Manjrekar who seemed clueless in describing this shot, “This is the first time I’ve seen a sweep being played on the off-side, the ball ends up on the off-side, it’s very much a shovel more than anything else, can’t call it a paddle sweep as well”. This shot became an overnight sensation in India and almost all of the 80s and 90s kids tried to imitate this shot in gully cricket in a bid to stand apart from the rest of the crowd.
Marillier in action while playing his signature shot against Zaheer Khan
India went on to clinch this closely contested ODI series by 3-2 but it was Douglas Marillier’s heroics in the 1st ODI at Faridabad which still remains afloat somewhere deep in the cricketing folklore.
Scorecard of India v Zimbabwe 1st ODI 2002
Nahar Singh Stadium in Faridabad
