Memorable Comeback By Injured Cricketers: Injuries are part and parcel of the game and the cricketers generally shrug off the minor injuries that they sustain on the ground, but sometimes the injuries are serious and force the cricketers to go off.
However, there have been numerous instances where a cricketer has gone off the field because of a serious injury but has come back to match a match-winning difference later. Here are the 5 instances when injured cricketers came back to win the games for their sides:
Rick McCosker (Australia vs England)
This was a Test match in 1977 and in those days, the pitches were uncovered and had a lot of moisture early in the morning. Since the helmets were not there either; pulling the ball was always dangerous in the first session of the day.
Rick McCosker got hit on the head pretty badly while trying to pull Bob Willis in the first innings. Since he was bleeding, he had to go off. The injury was evidently pretty serious, but it didn’t stop McCosker to come out to bat again when Australia needed him in the second innings.
McCosker batted at no. 10 in the second innings and built a partnership with Rodney Marsh to give a big enough lead to Australia to win the Test match.
Kedar Jadhav (India vs Bangladesh)
Kedar Jadhav has never been one of the fittest cricketers for India. He has this hamstring problem since the time he has started playing for India and it came to the fore once again in the final of the Asia Cup in 2018.
Jadhav had to retire hurt because he was not able to run properly and was not able to hit the big shots either.
But as India lost wickets towards the end and the match seemed to be slipping away, Jadhav returned and finished off the game on the last ball to win the tournament for India.
Sourav Ganguly (India vs Sri Lanka)
This was a One Day International game against Sri Lanka in 2006 where Ganguly opened the batting with Virender Sehwag and got hit in the rib cage area off a short delivery from the Sri Lankan all-rounder Farvez Maharoof.
The pain was so much that the former Indian skipper decided to leave the field thinking that somebody else would do the job better at that stage. However, the left-hander had to return later as India lost a few wickets quickly.
Ganguly was, thereafter, involved in a match-winning partnership with Yuvraj Singh as the duo dragged India over the line.
Malcolm Marshall (West Indies vs England)
Malcolm Marshall had sustained a fracture in his thumb during the first innings of a Test match against England in 1984. Most of the people thought that there was no way Marshall was going to bat thereafter, but he came out to bat with just one hand to help his teammate Larry Gomes complete his hundred.
If that was not enough, Marshall, thereafter, came onto bowl as well in the second innings and bundled England out for just 150 odd runs with a seven-wicket haul. West Indies ended up winning that Test match quite convincingly by 8 wickets.
Tamim Iqbal (Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka)
It was an Asia Cup game in 2018 where Tamim Iqbal opened the batting for Bangladesh and injured himself off the bowling of Suranga Lakmal. Tamim had to be retired out and was expected not to take any further part in the game.
But, he surprisingly walked out to bat in the latter stages of the innings to make sure his teammate Mushfiqur Rahim had a batting partner and he could add as many runs to the Bangladesh total as possible, in the death overs.
Mushfiqur smashed the Sri Lankan bowlers to all corners, while Tamim tried to survive and hold the fort at the other end. Bangladesh eventually emerged as the winners of that game.
