Australian legend Brett Lee has turned 39. He is one of the quickest bowlers the world has seen. Binga made his Test debut in 1999 against India. India were touring Australia and had lost the first Test match by a whopping 285 runs. In the second Test match of Border-Gavaskar trophy in Australia, India’s Hrishikesh Kanitkar made his debut. Another player who made his debut was Brett Lee. Kanitkar couldn’t play much cricket. However, Brett Lee became a legend.
When Indians came on to play, they had no idea that Lee would be so quick. From the very start, Brett Lee was bowling in the speed bracket of 145-150 kmph. This was too much for the Indian batting line up to handle. At that time, Indians were not much known for batting on fast wickets. And that kind of pace was nightmarish for the Indian batting.
Australia had made 405 runs in the first innings. When India came out to play, Brett Lee wreck havoc on their batsmen. He got his first wicket when he cleaned bowled Indian opener S Ramesh. Then he got the wall of Indian cricket, Rahul Dravid caught behind. He also got Dravid out in India’s second innings. Brett Lee took 5 wickets to scuttle the Indian innings. India were bowled out for a paltry 238 runs courtesy Brett Lee’s fifer in his debut match.
Though, none of the Indian batsman could put up much of a challenge to Lee’s raw pace, one Indian batsman scored a century. He was none other than master-blaster Sachin Tendulkar. Tendulkar scored 116 runs in the match. Brett Lee couldn’t get him out.
Brett Lee took two more wickets in the second innings. India lost the match by 180 runs. Brett Lee later became the most dreaded bowler of the world along with Pakistan’s Shoaib Akhtar. Lee once clocked 161 kmph. He took 310 wickets in Test matches and 380 wickets in ODIs.
