'Freak Incident': Wasim Akram recalls the infamous Sachin Tendulkar Kolkata runout in 1999

Former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram has been part of several momentous occasions as a cricketer but very few of those would come close to being as bizarre and intense as the one that unfolded nearly 25 years ago. What we speak of, of course, is the inaugural Asian Test Championship match between India and Pakistan in February 1999 in Kolkata, wherein a certain Mr. Sachin Tendulkar was runout in a slightly unceremonious manner in the second innings, while batting at 7. 

It didn't help either to defuse the situation that the man involved in the runout was Shoaib Akhtar, who was regarded as Tendulkar's arch nemesis of that era and who had gone through the Little Master's defence only a couple of days prior to dismissing him for a duck. Quite fittingly, Wasim Akram, who was captaining Pakistan in that game, recently described the whole thing as a "freak incident".

You could trust the Swing King's insight into the incident for more than just one reason because, quite possibly, he had the best vantage point to witness the entire drama. Akram's delivery to Sachin was flicked through a vacant mid-wicket and was chased down by fielding substitute Nadeem Khan (Moin Khan's brother), who managed to fling it back to the bowler's end before the ball trickled down to the fence. It was Shoaib Akhtar who would position himself to collect the ball and not Wasim Akram and as Sachin Tendulkar hurried back for a third (batting alongside Rahul Dravid), he would collide into Akhtar and be found short of the crease, as a result, by a few inches. Nadeem Khan's throw, eventfully, had already hit the stumps directly to make matters worse for the Indian batter. 

"Imagine emptying the stadium because (the people) were upset. There was an issue with the security and once the ground was cleaned, the game was resumed. But when we returned the next day to play, there was no one in the stadium because the crowd wasn't allowed to come in," noted Wasim Akram very recently, while on a cricket analysis show.

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The clean-up that Wasim Akram refers to, of course, is that by the end of that over, the Kolkata crowd had become volatile and bottles & other objects were being hurled at Shoaib Akhtar, along with the 'cheat, cheat' chants, before anybody realized it. The umpires would then rush the players out of the ground for an early tea, with India standing at 145 for 3 and needing 134 more to win the historic match. During the break, Sachin would himself step back onto the field to urge the crowd to calm down and allow the game to continue. He was duly obliged.

But the one-hour break caused by the riot, as it were, wasn't all helpful for the Indians who began to lose wickets on the trot and managed to end the day (Day #4) at 214 for 6. The next day would turn out to be worse than the previous one as India's decline continued at the same rate and when they found themselves at 231 for 9, the crowd found itself more restless than ever. 

As another, and a much more vigorous, backlash unfolded at the Eden Gardens, the match came to a standstill once again for about 3 hours. During this period, the crowd began to burn newspapers in the stands and threw stones, bottles, fruit and everything possible onto the ground, compelling the police and other security staff to take dire measures. As many as 65,000 people had to be removed from the stadium before the game could resume, with about only 200 people remaining inside to witness Pakistan's victory. 

Was it the media reportage that fuelled the tensions? Well, Wasim Akram made no bones about that in his post-match comments and Indian skipper Md. Azharuddin, on the other hand, noted that the crowd's behaviour was out of line, yet again. Only three years ago, India had to accept a 'default' victory in the 1996 World Cup at Kolkata when the crowd displayed similar sentiments and brought the semi-final game against Sri Lanka to stoppage.  

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Sachin's dismissal, unsurprisingly, wasn't received well but the pundits of the game ruled out foul play immediately and the umpiring, too, was adjudged fair and neutral. One must note that through the '90s and potentially up till his retirement in 2013, Sachin Tendulkar was not just any cricketer but a cultural icon in India and when a man of his stature is made to face unheard technicalities, the crowd's collective emotions were clearly ruffled. Pakistan would go on to win the Asian Test Championship after facing Sri Lanka, the third team of the tournament, in the final and getting past them with an innings and 175 runs to spare. For many Indian fans, the moment still remains as dispiriting as it was on February 19, 1999. For the Pakistani team, the moment still evidently remains etched as an extraordinary and rare occurrence. But rest assured the "freak incident" will be part of the annals of cricket forever and ever.