Why Viru's 99 is greater in value than a hundred

To deny a batsman a century by a means other than dismissal or containment only diminishes your standing as a bowler.

To deny a batsman a century by a means other than dismissal or containment only diminishes your standing as a bowler.

If Virender Sehwag is good enough to make a century off a team's bowling then I don't believe it was in the right spirit for Suraj Randiv to deny him by deliberately bowling a no-ball. To me that means the batsman has won more than a victory; he has got into the psyche of the bowler.

Eventually that'll prove to be worth more than a century.

India's champion batsman Virender Sehwag. PIC/AFP

No gifts either
Equally I don't believe it's correct to gift a batsman a century when the result of the match is beyond doubt. At the SCG in 1979-80 Ian Botham delivered a slow full toss to Greg Chappell who remained 98 not out when his shot didn't clear the boundary (Greg needed six for a ton) and the four runs took Australia to victory. This is not acceptable because it cheapens the difficult feat of scoring a hundred. In a World Series Cricket Super Test final played at the SCG in 1978-79 the Australian team was about to lose to the World XI in a fiercely fought match. The previous week the Australian team had lost the best-of-five Limited Overs final series to the West Indies. This meant that the Australian team was the only side to make both finals and yet we were going to be the only one that went home empty-handed.

I was peeved that we'd fought so hard and had nothing to show for our efforts so I took the ball with one run required for victory. I deliberately bowled four wides and the World XI won by five wickets but on this occasion Barry Richards, who was on strike, had already passed his century. Equally, on a few occasions I've commenced an over with the scores tied and I set myself the task of trying to ensure the opposition had to play another over to score the winning runs. Randiv has apologised to Sehwag which is where the matter should end. Next time though, he'll gain far more kudos if he stops a batsman scoring the winning runs off his bowling by delivering a maiden over.