KL Rahul's injury has taken the count of injured Indian cricketers to three, Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav being the others. With Virat Kohli availing his paternity leave and five others being under the radar for supposedly violating the biobubble, there is – or, was – a possibility of the Indians having to summon locals holding an Indian passport to make up an XI at Sydney!

They would not have been the first. Australia were left with only two fast bowlers – Dennis Lillee and Terry Alderman – ahead of the Old Trafford Test match of 1981. The only available Australian nearby, Mike Whitney, had played four matches last season, for New South Wales, and was now playing for Gloucestershire against Hampshire. Whitney left the match midway, arrived at the ground, and took 2/50 and 2/74. In all, he played 12 Tests and 38 One-Day Internationals.

England faced a similar problem in 1983-84 in Christchurch: they needed another seamer on an SOS basis. Tony Pigott, a seam bowler from Sussex, was playing for Wellington. However, there was a problem: Pigott was supposed to get married on February 6,  while the Test began on February 3. The wedding had to be postponed. He need not have worried, for England were thrashed by an innings inside three days. Pigott did not do too badly (he took 2/75), but did not play international cricket again.

South Africa, who usually played on matting wickets, were finding it difficult to adjust to the English conditions. They contacted Cape Town-born George Parker, who was playing club cricket Eccleshill in the Bradford League. Parker played for them in the tour match against Oxford and took 4/34. In less than 24 hours he made his Test debut, at Edgbaston. South Africa were still thrashed in the two Tests, but Parker took eight of their 12 wickets. Let alone Test cricket, he never even played First-Class cricket again.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 05, 2021 05:19 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).