5 bowlers who rocked India in their international debut against them
Making a debut for your country in any particular format is a special feeling but for a bowler to take a five-wicket haul on the debut is even more exceptional. Achieving the feat is nothing less than the stuff of dreams for a bowler whether a spinner or a pacer. There are few who took a five-for in their debut match against the Asian giants India.
Let’s take a look at 5 players who took a five-wicket haul on their international debut against India
5. Allan Donald
The South African pacer Allan Donald made his international debut against India in an ODI in November 1991 in Kolkata. The Proteas batted first and posted 177/8. Donald ripped through the top-order of India as he accounted for wickets of Ravi Shastri, Navjot Singh Sindhu, Sanjay Manjrekar and half-centurion Sachin Tendulkar. Pravin Amre, who had also scored fifty, became the fifth victim of Donald. He finished with figures of 5/29 in 8.4 overs with an economy of 3.34 but the Proteas lost the match.
4. Richard Pollard
England’s Richard Pollard played only four Tests in his career with no ODI matches. He made his Test debut against India in July 1946 in Manchester. The right-arm fast-medium bowler took 5/24 in 27 overs spell with 16 maidens and economy rate of mere 0.88 in the first innings to bundle out India for 170 in reply to England’s 294. He also took two wickets for 63 runs in 25 overs in the second innings but the match finally ended up in a draw.
3. Franklyn Rose
West Indies fast bowler Frankly Rose took 6/100 in 33 overs in first innings when he made his debut in a Test against India at Kingston Jamaica in 1997. He got all the big Indian guns out in the form of Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar and Mohammad Azharuddin to rock their batting. Rose got rid of Laxman in the second innings as well with the match ending in a stalemate.
2. Alec Bedser
The right-arm medium-fast bowler Alec Bedser made his debut in June 1946 at Lords. In first innings, he took 7/49 in 29.1 overs with 11 maidens to bowl India out for 200. He continued his solid performance by picking up 4/96 in 32.1 overs in the second innings as England won the Test on the back of 11 wickets from Bedser.
- Jason Krejza
Australia off-spinner Jason Krejza broke the back of Indian batting by taking 8/215 in 43.5 overs in the first innings of his debut Test in Nagpur in 2008. He also snared 4/143 in 31 overs in the second innings but Australia lost the match. Krejza played only two Tests and 8 ODIs picking up a total of 20 scalps across formats.
