666666 to 500

Whenever we Indians hear the name Stuart Broad, we straight away remember 19 September 2007, where a certain Yuvraj Singh smashed him all round the Kingsmead and hit him for six sixes in all consecutive balls of the 19th over. What do you think about a bowler who gets smashed for six sixes? Mediocre? , Ordinary? Or the one who will never get picked in their national side ever ? But, this wasn’t the case with Broad , yesterday he became only the fourth fast bowler ever in test cricket’s history to take 500 wickets.

We might argue formats are different and all that but I think to keep that mindset even after that day at Durban and play 140 test matches for England is amazing and taking 500 test wickets is no joke , we might not even see any other fast bowler acheiving this going forward, as fast bowling is one of the toughest jobs on the cricket field, it requires immense fitness and dedication. And also one more thing that intrigues me the most is the fact that he has taken all these wickets by being under the shadow of James Anderson, who is an absolute legend and has taken more wickets than any other fast bowler has ever taken in test cricket.

My fondest memory of Broad was an incredible 8/15 against The Aussies at his home ground Trent Bridge , it was when England’s main strike bowler James Anderson was injured and was out for the whole series. Because of this performance Aussies where dismissed for a mere 60 runs and this was also the fastest innings in a first day of a test match. This performances set the tone for the whole series and in turn helped England regain the Ashes.

Another memory of him is just recent , it was in the first test in the recently concluded series against the Windies, where he was dropped from the side despite taking 485 test wickets at that time just because English management wanted to accommodate young fast bowlers. As soon as he got his opportunity in the second and third test , he took 16 wickets in just two matches and proved that he still had that in him.

Lastly, in these tough times Broady’s journey shows us hope, that even after one bad day or one bad incident nothing changes , the process doesn’t change. If you have the capability to take 500 wickets you take those no matter you get hit for six sixes or not.