by Arunabha Sengupta
Memorably blasted for five fours in an over by Mohammad Azharuddin on that dazzling Eden day on debut., he ended 0/75 from 14 overs.
But, a chat with Bob Woolmer, a few words with Allan Donald and Brian McMillan … aided by a pathetically slow start by Indians in the second innings that saw hardly any run on the board when the ball started reversing.
Azhar was in as murderous a mood yet again, but Klusener got him caught by the bucket hands of McMillan. And he got seven others.
21.3-4-64-8. Some debut.
Three Tests later, he hammered the fastest hundred in the history of South African cricket.
But, Lance Klusener is remembered most often for that 1999 World Cup, when ground after English ground became scorched by his blazing strokeplay. 12* (4), 52* (45), 48* (40), 52* (58), 46* (41), 36 (21) and 31* (16). Coming in surprisingly low in the order, no situation seemed hopeless, no target beyond reach. And somehow, through that incredible spurt of hitting, he seldom looked like getting out.
After the 46 against Pakistan, Nelson Mandela called him up and congratulated him. They spoke in Zulu. Klusener had grown up among Zulu children in a sugar-cane farm.
The Australians, the eventual world champions, were at the mercy of his Hammer-of-Thor willow before, with the scores tied and a couple of balls yet to be bowled, he was involved in that terrible, heart-breaking mix-up with Allan Donald.
At one stage he averaged 40 with the bat and 29 with the ball in Test cricket. Unfortunately he declined quite quickly with the ball in that format, especially after an ankle injury played havoc with his stump-or-head length approach. And though the mighty bat roared sometimes, he was not quite consistent.
But in the ODIs, he remained a force, bowling off-cutters from a short run up, often batting higher up.
3576 runs at 41.10 at a strike rate of nearly 90, and 192 wickets at 29.95 underline what a fascinating performer he was in the shorter format. In March 1999 he became the world’s top-ranked ODI all-rounder and stayed among the top 2 for a couple of years. For a brief while, during the 1999 World Cup, he was No 2 as a batsman as well.
Lance Klusener was born on 4 Sep 1971.