Bombay Boyz

Mumbai in its rich cricket heritage has been known to produce street smart cricketers. Often they have outwitted even the shrewdest of captains. The bakra in this tale is none other than Steve Waugh. The prick ? Sameer Dighe , playing in his debut match. The game ? The deciding one in his "Final Frontier" series at Chennai with the series tied at 1-1.

The game is on a knife's edge. Needing a further 20 runs to win, India have just slid from 135-5 to 135-7 , chasing 155. The lucky bowler being Colin Miller an off-break bowler, not threatening by any standards, his 2 wickets { VVS Laxman and Sairaj Bahutule } in that over were more courtesy of excellent catches by Mark Waugh and Shane Warne respectively. Zaheer Khan walks in. Knowing that he would rather face Miller than McGrath, Samir Dighe loudly tells Zaheer in English.

"Zaheer, Colin Miller is bowling really well. Be careful !"

The result ? Steve Waugh after a long deliberation gives Miller another over instead of getting McGrath back and Dighe promptly whacks him for a couple of fours thus taking 10 runs off it and gets the target down to single figures. A crucial blow that tilts the match in India's favor. What followed is well known !

picked up from " Indian Summers " by John Wright