Watch: With figures of 5-6, Sunil Joshi destroyed South Africa at the Nairobi Gymkhana Club Ground in 1999.
ODI reached its peak in the 1990s, with triangular tournaments and occasional square tournaments being held during the decade. His 1999 LG Cup was an example of the latter, with Kenya hosting India, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe won the opening match of the tournament against Kenya by four balls and three wickets. In the second match, Hansie Cronje won the toss and elected to bat.
Earlier this year, South Africa defeated India in a World Cup match in Hove. Mohammad Azharuddin was relieved of his captaincy following India’s rude dismissal. Ajay Jadeja led India as Sachin Tendulkar and Anil Kumble both withdrew from the LG Cup.
After Venkatesh Prasad and Devashis Mohanty were done with the new ball, Jadeja brought in Sunil Joshi. Joshi till that point he had his ODI wickets of 44 and at 36.47 he had 4 wickets and he had no hole.
Here he quickly found variety. In the 10th over, Rahul Dravid brilliantly caught Herschelle Gibbs’ misdirection at slip. Meanwhile, Nikhil Chopra kept the pressure on. Gibbs’ opening partner Boeta Dippenaar attempted a slog sweep against Joshi but was bowled.
Cronje himself was next but was caught by S. Ramesh off his bat and pads. Jonty Rhodes’ fierce reverse log sweep hit Chopra from close range. Joshi Shaun he found Pollock’s edge two balls later and Dravid’s catch at slip ensured he got five wickets.
With 85 wins and 7 losses, South Africa were on the verge of bowing out with less than 100 points, but Jacques Kallis (38) helped the team reach 117 points. Joshi finished with his 10-6 record and 6-5 record, while Chopra finished with his 3-26 record. Between Ramesh and Sourav Ganguly he scored his opening stand of 72 before India shut down the chase within his 23 overs.
At that point, Joshi’s figures were the second-lowest five-wicket tally in an ODI, behind Courtney Walsh’s 4.3-3-1-5 against Sri Lanka. Since then, Stuart Binney has bounced back with his 6-4 win over Bangladesh and Luke Jongwe has bounced back with his 5-6 win over Afghanistan.
Watch Sunil Joshi claim 5-6 against South Africa:
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