Amazingly, these injuries happen in a split of second but the result linger on in the expressions of the players, once they are down on the ground, and probably stay with them for a lifetime.

1999: This year, saw two injuries in the same match that were rather bad but neither done on purpose; the only cause of the injuries was because the players were aiming for victory and nothing else. The legendry Steve Waugh, in full form, playing for his country against Sri Lanka in a test match, was to meet with a serious injury when he ran to catch a ball lifted by Mahela Jayawardene. As Steve Waugh and Jason Gillespie had their eyes on the ball, neither saw the other coming and they collided. While Steve Waugh broke his nose, Gillespie snapped the tibia in his right leg.

2002: "People not appreciating the position they're in, that frustrates me," says Simon Jones. How can anyone forget the ill-fated injury that shook the English team, on the first day of the first Test in Brisbane as Jones twisted his knee while fielding? The pace bowler was saving a boundary, as he stretched sideways he ruptured his knee ligament. He was taken off the field on a stretcher and out of the game for 6 months.

2003: Not many batsmen have been immune to this bowler. Any guesses? Yes, Shoaib Akhtar; although, there was one batsman who faced the worst of him: Gary Kirsten. Now, we all know that Kirsten has been a player of much credibility; in 2010 even Dhoni, describing Kirsten said, he was “the best thing to happen to Indian cricket.” In a test match, between South Africa and Pakistan, Shoaib Akhtar bowled to Gary Kirsten but probably his target was not the wicket; the outcome of that can be seen in the above picture.

2004: After completing 20 years of International cricket, Sachin Tendulkar almost felt that his career would end prematurely; he had almost surrendered to a tennis elbow injury. Even after undergoing surgery in London, he wasn’t being able to approach the game with the same splendor that he had acquired through years of practice. A player who had not missed more than 3 test matches and 45 ODI’s, was forced to miss the 2004 Videocon Cup in Holland, the NatWest Challenge and the Champions Trophy in England. Looking back at that time, this is what he had to say: “There was a stage when I could not hold the bat properly, could not lift it at all.” His and our prayers were finally answered by the end of that year.

2011: Keegan Meth, the Zimbabwean cricketer who shot up to fame because of his talent for the game and because of the hellish experience he had, bowling to Bangladesh’s Nasir Hossain, in the fifth ODI, in Bulawayo, cannot be forgotten. Unfortunately, the injury occurred during the last delivery of his spell in his first appearance in the five-match ODI series. However, it was a lesson well learnt. After bowling one of his right-arm medium fasts, to Nasir, he lost sight of the ball; Meth said he “just didn’t see the ball” and it came right back and hit him in the face. The resulting scene was bloody and it cost him four teeth.