Glenn Maxwell spins last-over magic: Other instances of match-winning final-over bowling spells in ODIs

On Sunday, part-time Australian bowler Glenn Maxwell conceded no runs off the last over of the 3rd ODI against Pakistan, taking his team to victory by one run. Pakistan finished on 230/9, chasing 231, and lost the series 0-3. 

The Pakistani defeat was incredible because very rarely do we hear of a team being unable to score a single run off the last over of a match. This is even more true today than ever before, considering that required rates of even over 10 an over no longer seems to scare the batsmen. But Pakistan lost the match and also helped Australia to secure the No 1 ODI ranking.

Here we bring you some other terrific final-over bowling performances in the second innings of an ODI match (or terrible batting performances, depending on which side of the fence you are on).

1) Chris Pingle, Australia v/s New Zealand, World Series Cricket, 1990: Chris Pingle was the bowler for New Zealand, and Bruce Reid the Australian 'batsman'. Australia only needed 2 to win off the final over after restricting New Zealand to 194/6 off 50 overs. But Reid hit most of the deliveries in that over straight back to Chris Pingle, and then was run out off the last ball. Here are the highlights of the Australian innings from that match, including the embarrassment at the end:

2) Imran Khan, Australia v/s Pakistan, Benson and Hedges World Series, 1990: The match was reduced to 49 overs and Pakistan made 220/8. Needing 4 to win off the last over, Australia could manage just a single run, and ended up at 218/7. The reason? A masterclass in death bowling from the great Imran Khan. Here's the video:
 

3) Sachin Tendulkar, South Africa v/s India, Hero Cup Semifinal, 1993: This has been hailed as one of the most astonishing last-over performances of all time. South Africa needed 6 runs off the last over to reach the final. Surprisingly handed the ball because captain Azharuddin ran out of options, Tendulkar, aged 19, conceded just 3 runs off that over to deny the South Africans a famous win. India went on to win the final against the West Indies courtesy of Anil Kumble's career-best performance of 6/12. The Eden Gardens crowd, always prone to extremes of emotion, went wild with joy. Here's the video which every Indian cricket fan loves to watch:

4) Andrew Hall, Sri Lanka v/s South Africa, VB Series, 2006: In the 6th match of the VB Series in Australia, South Africa scored 263/5 off their 50 overs thanks to 125 from Boeta Dippenaar. Then, Sri Lanka needed 11 to win off the last over when Andrew Hall came on to bowl. Though Sri Lanka were eight down, top order batsman Tillakeratne Dilshan was still at the crease. The first three balls were faced by Muralitharan, who managed a leg bye off the third. Dilshan however missed the next three balls, handing South Africa a 10-run win.

There are other terrific last-over performances in ODI history. Incredibly, four not included on this list have come after 2002. But in each of those cases, either the unfortunate team batted first, or they fell way too short of the target to merit an entry on this list. While there might have been more such astonishing last-over bowling performances before the 1990s, the lack of ball-by-ball information for that era prevents us from adding to this list.