Hyderabad: The COVID-19 pandemic forced all sporting activities to come to a standstill around the world. People around the world have been staying indoors to get rid of highly contagious respiratory disease COVID-19. But the current unprecedented situation will not erase the history of sports. You might have been doing many things to get rid of ennui. To add something interesting to your daily digital media consumption, we bring five sports stories that took the world of news by storm in years past on April 20.
1986
It was 25 years ago, on April 20, 1986, Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan had set an NBA playoff record with 63 points in a game in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals against Boston Celtics at the historic Boston Garden. Despite Jordan’s achievement, the Bulls lost to the Celtics in double overtime, 135-131. Boston swept the three-game series and went on to win the NBA championship.
1994
In an Austral-Asia Cup match against New Zealand, Aamer Sohail and Inzamam-ul-Haq took New Zealand bowlers to the cleaners in Sharjah. Sohail and Inzamam built a monstrous 263 runs partnership for the second wicket, then a world record partnership in ODI cricket for any wicket. While Inzamam scored 137 Sohail played 134 runs knock. Pakistan set a massive 329 runs target for New Zealand losing two wickets. In reply, New Zealand could score only 266 for 7. It was a very bad day for the Black Caps as all-rounder Dion Nash was fined for swearing at Saeed Anwar.
2002
Javagal Srinath was on a roll against West Indies in 2002 Port of Spain Test. West Indies lost 6 wickets to score 197 runs in reply to India's 339 on the second day of the second Test at the Queen's Park Oval. Javagal Srinath was the most successful for India. He dismissed Chris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Junior Murray as India finished day 2 on top. Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra and Harbhajan Singh got a wicket apiece on that day as India would go on to win the Test by 37 runs. Later, West Indies won the five-Test series 2-1.