Legends Month: The best of Shoaib Akhtar

During their period of unmatched dominance in the late 1990s and early 2000s, only on the rarest of occasions did the mighty Australian cricket team appear truly incapable of combating what was being thrown at them.

There were times when they would stumble by losing a wicket or two in quick succession, or fail to get one of their own for a session or more. But for the most part, any slip-up was quickly forgotten as the class of the juggernaut led by Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting proved too much over five days of a Test match.

And it so would prove in October 2002 when Australia overcame an almighty scare to do what they nearly always did; win a Test on their march towards a series win.

But for a brief moment in this match, the giants of the world game were so brilliantly flattened by one of the fastest bowlers the world has known that it remains one of the lasting memories from a series in which there were few.

Not least because all three matches of Australia's Test campaign against Pakistan were played in front of near-empty stadiums due to a combination of security concerns, which led to the games being played at neutral venues, and brow-furrowing heat.

On day three of the first Test, played at the P. Saramavuttu Stadium in Colombo where – anecdotally, at least – the touring media outnumbered the paying spectators, Australia had cruised to an advantage of more than 260 runs before their stumps started flying.

Pakistan's pace ace Shoaib Akhtar, after a wicketless opening spell in Australia's second innings, came back into the attack and sent down a series of thunderbolts that proved too much for some of the most accomplished batsmen the game has seen.

After a wide delivery to Ricky Ponting was (somewhat fortuitously) dragged back onto the batsman's stumps, Shoaib's next ball was a fast inswinger that clattered into Mark Waugh's stumps before the veteran – playing in what would be his final Test series – had a chance to get his bearings.

The Pakistani produced another fast inswinger for his hat-trick ball, which Mark's brother Steve inside-edged marginally past the woodwork and onto the leg side. But it was merely a stay of execution for the Australia skipper, who was trapped in front the next ball by a 147kph in-ducker that completed a collapse of three wickets in four balls.

And after Saqlain Mushtaq made it four in seven deliveries by removing Matthew Hayden at the start of the next over, Shoaib returned to deliver a vicious yorker that clattered into the bottom of Adam Gilchrist's leg stump and spark the trademark aeroplane celebration from the man known as The Rawalpindi Express.

When asked about his dismissal later, Gilchrist is said to have simply shrugged his shoulders in response, saying more than any words could.

The wicket of Shane Warne followed in Shoaib's next over, completing a barely-believable spell of 5-5 in just 15 balls of top-class bowling that made a mockery of a lifeless surface that had seen 12 of the 21 wickets before Shoaib's burst fall to spin.

From 1-74 and a lead of 262, Australia lost 9-53 to leave Pakistan needing a gettable 316 to do what had been unthinkable merely hours earlier – win the Test match.

But despite a rollicking start that saw the underdogs cruise to 2-173, Australia's class shone through in a 41-run win built on the back of their imposing first-innings advantage and 11 wickets to the incomparable Shane Warne.

However, more than 15 years later, the final result has done little to dull the memory of Shoaib's extraordinary spell, which Australia's skipper would later rate one of the best he'd ever seen.