New Delhi: Veteran Bangladesh batter Mahmudullah has joined the long list of batters who have fallen victim to the ‘Nervous 90s’ syndrome. He was dismissed for 98 runs in Bangladesh’s five-wicket loss to Afghanistan in the third and final ODI of a three-match series in Sharjah on Monday.
‘Nervous 90s’ is a form of analysis paralysis for batters, who come under pressure to score a century after coming very close to it.
Often batters become more conservative in order to achieve the milestone, becoming nervous in the process, subsequently allowing a window of opportunity to the fielding team to dismiss a well-set batter. Or they are
Mahmudullah had scored a run-a-ball 98, studded with seven boundaries and three sixes before he was run out at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.
Needing three runs to complete his century on the last ball of the Bangladesh innings, Mahmudullah hit the Azmatullah Omarzai to deep square leg and desperately ran for two runs but was found well short of the crease as keeper Rahmanullah Gurbaz flicked the bails after latching onto an accurate throw from the deep.
Tendulkar on top of the unfortunate list
His dismissal reminded the pain Sachin Tendulkar must have gone through as he remains the batter with most dismissals in the 90s.
The Indian batting maestro has been dismissed in the 90s for a total of 28 times across all formats, being a victim of the curse 18 times in ODIs and 10 times in Tests.
He is among a long list of distinguished batters who have come so close but remained so near to the coveted three figures in cricket.
Giving Tendulkar company up top in the unwanted list is his one-time team-mate Rahul Dravid, who had to take the walk back to the pavilion 14 times (four in ODIs, 10 in Tests) after being out in the 90s.
Former South Africa dasher AB de Villiers must have sympathetic to Dravid, having being dismissed 14 times (six in ODIs, eight in Tests) too.
Legendary South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis was as much a consistent run scorer as a victim of ‘Nervous 90s’ curse with 13 dismissals (eight in ODIs, five in Tests).
Pakistan great Inzamam-ul-Haq, who was once famously compared to Tendulkar, rivalled him in this list too with 12 dismissals (four in 50-over format and eight in Tests) as has Australia’s Ricky Ponting (six and six).
The former Australia skipper’s team-mates Matthew Hayden (four and seven) and Michael Clarke (six and five) were right behind him with 11 scores of 90s, as was daredevil Indian opener Virender Sehwag (six and five) and West Indies’ Shivnarine Chanderpaul (five and six).
West Indies legend Brian Lara, stylish Sri Lankan Mahela Jayawardene and South African big hitter Herschelle Gibbs all were out 10 times in the 90s, each of them falling four times in ODIs and six times in the traditional format.
Among current cricketers, New Zealand’s Williamson has suffered the heartbreak nine tines in ODIs while Indian keeper-batter has witnessed it seven times in red-ball cricket.
Australian batting czar Donald Bradman was immune to this phenomenon as scored all of his 29 Tes tons without ever being dismissed in the 90s.
‘Nervous 90s’ is a form of analysis paralysis for batters, who come under pressure to score a century after coming very close to it. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
