When Sunil Joshi racked up a historical spell against South Africa

The entire world went berserk when a veteran spinner from Kenya shocked Australia in the 2003 World Cup with 7 maidens in his 10-over-spell. Despite Australia savouring the last laugh, Asif Karim managed to pen the perfect farewell note for himself before Kenya were eliminated by India in the semi-finals.

With all said and done about Kenya’s seasoned campaigner, there was an Indian who pulled off even better figures in an ODI against the mighty South Africans on the road.

It was back in 1999 when South Africa boasted of a batting lineup that comprised the likes of Herschelle Gibbs, Mark Boucher, Jacques Kallis, Hansie Cronje and Jonty Rhodes. India was in the midst of a transition and winning away from home seemed like a pipe dream back then in the midst of all the chaos that surrounded the nation’s cricketing echelons.

It was the second match of the LG Cup where India were pitted against South Africa. There were a couple of debuts that were on the line which featured Boeta Dippenaar for South Africa and Vijay Bharadwaj for India.

South Africa won the toss and elected to bat first in the contest, considering the decent surface that had a lot of assistance for the batters. However, Sunil Joshi had other plans for the Proteas.

He claimed his first victim in the form of Herschelle Gibbs with Rahul Dravid completing a comfortable grab. The next man to fall to his swivelling sorcery was debutant Boeta Dippenaar when the latter’s timbre was clipped by an absolute peach.

The South African skipper was next to depart as Ramesh completed a safe catch to remove Cronje for cheap. Jonty Rhodes and Shaun Pollock walked the same path, failing to gauge the enigmatic turn of Joshi.

Despite the fifer being an already reckoning act in itself, there was another discerning aspect of the spell. Sunil Joshi claimed a staggering 6 maidens in his spells and conceded just 6 runs from his quota of 10 overs.

India managed to chase down the total at a canter as Sadgoppan Ramesh and Sourav Ganguly stitched a solid opening partnership to help India set themselves up for a remarkable win.