Cricket is a game of great uncertainties. There are several ways to dismiss a batter - bowled, caught, run-out among others but there are a few unsual dismissals that always catch the attention. Handling the ball and obstructing the field are two of those dismissals and in the history of cricket, 22 such instances have taken place across all the formats.
Interestingly, from India, there is only one player who has been dismissed in such unusual ways and he is Mohinder Amarnath. The World Cup winner got dismissed in both ways during his illustrious career and both instances happened in the ODI format itself. The first time Amarnath got out in such an unusual manner was handling the ball against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in 1986.
He was batting on 15 at the time when he faced a flighted delivery from off-spinner Greg Matthews. Amarnath tried to cut the ball with barely any foot movement and in the end, had to awkwardly defend it. However, after defending, the ball was on its way to the stumps and instinctively, the batter stopped the ball with his hands. Even as Australia appealed, Amarnath realised his mistake and walked away to the pavilion.
The second instance of Mohainder Amarnath getting out in an unusual way happened in 1989 against Sri Lanka. He kicked the ball away from the bowler to avoid getting out when he was in the middle of a brilliant partnership with opener Navjot Singh Sidhu in an ODI against Sri Lanka. Amarnath was batting on 28 at the time and was given out 'Obstructing the Field.' To date, no other Indian batter has been dismissed in either way and Amarnath remains the only Indian batter to get out in those ways.
