The run and the riot

Sachin Tendulkar's run out in the 1999 Eden Gardens Test must rank as one of the most phenomenally unlucky dismissals ever.

Here's how heavily the odds were against the run out:

1) The fielder threw the ball from near the ropes. A direct hit from the midwicket boundary — usually the longest in the field — is rare.

2) The fielder had just one stump to aim at. To cover that distance and hit the stumps? Nearly impossible.

3) What are the odds, now that the ball is about to hit the stumps, that Tendulkar would also bump into a fielder? Less than one in a million.

When you add up these three factors, you'd see just how unlucky Tendulkar was. Not Pakistan, though. They were on a roll and went on to win the Test.