On This Day In 1995 And 2010: Saleem Malik Called 'Bird' During Toss; Shahid Afridi Bit The Ball

Cricket has always been a sport associated with jaw-dropping trivia. Cricket trivia, by their nature, can stun the fans as well as make them giggle on occasions too. Some of them can be factually mind-boggling, while some of them can tickle the funny bone as well.

Pakistan cricket team is a side who are generally tagged along with hilarious cricket stories. Two of the most shocking but funny incidents in cricket history took place on January 31 in 1995 and 2010. On both occasions a star Pakistan cricketer was on the spotlight for making the wrong move.

Heads Or Tails? Or Is It A Bird?

The match referee pinched themselves in disbelief when Pakistan captain Saleem Malik called 'bird' during toss instead of saying 'head' or 'tail'. The incident happened in 1995 during a Test match between Pakistan and Zimbabwe. The coin had a eagle carved on one of the sides and Pakistan captain Malik decided to have some fun. He called 'bird' and the coin landed on the side the eagle was on.

Malik supposedly won the toss as Zimbabwe captain Andy Flower presumed. But match referee Jackie Hendriks was having none of it and he said Malik's call wasn't 'clear'. He decided to re-do the toss.

On the second occasion, Zimbabwe won the toss. They opted to bat first and Malik didn't take it well. Zimbabwe were down to 42/3 but a batting-friendly Harare pitch helped them to rebuild. Powered by Andy and Grant Flower, they posted 544/4 on the board before declaring. An already irked Pakistan went nowhere with their batting and Zimbabwe enforced an follow-on over them.

The second innings became a horror show for Pakistan, as David Brain's opening spell reduced them to 35/5 and Zimbabwe cruised to a 64-run victory. This was Zimbabwe's first Test victory in their history and all of it happened because Saleem Malik decided to have some fun at toss.

Smelling By Teeth

When Pakistan invented the art of reverse swing, they didn't anticipate that they will need a new skill to prepare the ball for it. While Australia's sandpaper incident remains infamous as one of the worst attempts to make the ball reverse swing, over the years, many cricketers have tried unfair means to change the shape of the ball. One of them was Pakistan's stand-in ODI captain Shahid Afridi, who tried to bite the ball and make it reverse.

This particular incident took place on January 31, 2010 at Perth. Pakistan were playing Australia in the last of five-match ODI series. Australia were already 4-0 up in the series and were chasing the score of 212 posted by Pakistan. It was the time when ODIs were played with only one ball and the old ball used to move in the end overs.

Pakistan got Australia down to 178/7 and were hoping to win the game. That is when the giant screen showed the camera capturing Afridi biting the ball to make it lose shape and reverse. Rod Tucker, the television umpire, immediately alerted Paul Reiffel and Asoka de Silva, the on-field umpires. Upon inspection, they replaced the ball.

“I was trying to smell it,” said Afridi later. But it was barely believable given the visuals that came out. He later pleaded guilty to match referee Ranjan Madugalle. He was banned for two T20Is for violating 2.2.9 offence of the ICC Code of Conduct (“changing the condition of the ball in breach of Law 42.3 of the Laws of Cricket”). His attempt also went in vain as Pakistan eventually lost the game and Australia completed a 5-0 whitewash.