In today’s weekend blog, I am writing about cricket, which is about GREATEST ODI PERFORMANCES.
Since the start of One Day Internationals (ODI) in 1971, and to date 4700 ODI matches have been played between ICC-recognised ODI teams worldwide. Many records have been created and erased. And needless to say, every decade has had its share of breathtaking performances that has stayed in the minds of players and fans alike. Here are the 10 greatest ODI performances recognized by cricketing experts, which can be considered as heroic acts o individual brilliance.
# 10 Michael Bevan (Aus) 78* vs West Indies, January 1996
A successful run chase is as much about strategy and timing as it is about holding one’s nerve, and Michael Bevan did in this match. Chasing 172, the host Australian team were tottering at 38/6 with Curtly Ambrose running a riot, when Bevan came to crease. His first objective was to get close to the target. He and Paul Rieffel were involved in 34 vital runs partnership. When Rieffel departed and Shane Warne also departed early. In the end Glen McGrath found himself on strike with 5 still required of last 3 deliveries. Bevan got the strike back when McGrath scored single, and on the last ball of the match Bevan hit boundry, and sealed victory for his team.
# 9 Sachin Tendulkar (Ind) 98 vs Pakistan, World Cup 2003
Pakistan batting first scored a decent 273 runs. And when Sachin took the strike ahead of Sehwag, fans guessed that something special is in the store. Sachin’s thrashed in form Shoaib Akhtar in his first over with 6, 4, 4 and set the trend for things to follow. After that no Pakistani bowler, including Wasim Akram could contain him, he eventually fell for 98 in 75 balls, and the foundation for victory was laid. He hit 12 fours and one six in his innings.
# 8 Vivian Richards (WI) 138* vs England, World Cup Final 1979
England won the toss and elected to field, and had the West Indies on the mat at 99/4. Richards came in at the fall of first wicket, and he was joined by Collis Kings at the fall of 4th wicket. Their partnership was to alter the course of the match. In one of the few instances, if not the only such, Richards was out scored in a partnership. In 139 runs partnership kings has scored 86 in 66 balls. After kings fall, Richards held the innings together, and other players gave him support, the batting genius played a restrained yet dominant innings of 138. With 6 on last ball, the West Indies team finished at 286 runs. England subsequently were bowled out for 194.
# 7 Gary Gilmour (Aus) 6/14 vs England, World Cup 1975
This was semi-final match, fast bowling of a different sort was on offer, Gary Gilmour’s left-arm swingers were treat to watch. Englishmen were worried about Dennis Lillee, little did they know that Gilmour had something special up his sleeve that day. Australian won the toss and asked England to bat first on green and damp pitch Gilmour took the charge from thereon. Swinging the ball viciously back into the right handers, he produced a devastating spell of 6/10 to leave England reeling at 36/6. England were eventually bowled out for 93. Australia was also at 39/6 when Gilmour came to bat. He gave valuable support to Walters, and scored 28 runs, and Australia won the match.
# 6 Kapil Dev (Ind) 1975 runs vs Zimbabwe, World Cup 1983
India won the toss and elected to bat, the decision backfired dramatically and with the score at 17/5, Kapil Dev came to crease. He first stitched partnerships with Roger Binny and Madan Lal and later with wicket-keeper Syed Kirmani. His 9th wicket partnership with Kirmani produced 126 runs in just 16 overs. He plundered six 6s, and 14 fours in his score of 175 in 138 balls, and they say rest is history, as a weel later India were crowned World champions.
# 5 Joel Garner (WI) 5/38 vs England, World Cup Final 1979
In this world Cup team West Indies had formidable pace-quartet in Andy Roberts, Joel Garner, Michael holding and Colin Croft. WI batting first was tottering at 99/4, as mentioned earlier Richards and Kings partnership saved the day for West Indies. In reply England’s opening partnership scored 129 runs with mike Brearley and Geoff Boycott. Garner came to bowl for his second spell in the 48th over ( In those days it was 60 over WC). Of the five wickets Garner took that day, four were by means of full pitched deliveries that struck timber. The match winning spell just lasted 11 balls and resulted in 5 wickets. From 183/2, England collapsed to 194 all out.
#4 Rohit Sharma (Ind) 264 runs vs Sri Lanka, November 2014
A year after joining 200-club, he took strike against Sri Lanka at Eden gardens. After he got his eye in, he was unstoppable. His first hundred came at run-a-ball and thereafter he switched gears. His last 164 runs were scored in just 73 balls He hit 33 fours, and 9 sixes. Till date his score of 264 in ODI inning is a record.
# 3 AB de Villiers (SA) 149 runs vs West Indies January 2015.
The score board read 247/1, when de Villiers walked in, and 16 ball later Sanath Jayasuriya’s 19 year record of fastest ODI fifty was thing of the past. There was not a shot in the book Villiers did not play that day. Soon enough, record for fastest ODI hundred fell(in jut 31 balls). His second wicket association with Hashim Amla yielded 192 runs in 67 balls, with Amla just scoring 39. He hit 16 sixes ( a record then), and his strike rate was 338.63.
#2 Shane Warne (Aus) 4/29 vs South Africa, World Cup Semi-final 1999
Australia, batting first, were restricted to 213, South African bowler doing great job. In their reply, South Africa did not lose any wicket till 12th over. That is when Warne stepped in, first opener Gibbs was bowled by his leg spinning delivery, and 5 balls later it was Kirsten’s turn to go back, after he missed a drifting turner from Warne. Next to go was skipper Hansie Cronje, who fell to vicious turner. From sitting pretty at 48/0 SA were reduced to 53/3, in just 2 overs. SA could not recover from here and Australia marched to final, which eventually they won.
#1 WasimAkram (Pak) 3/49 vs England, World Cup final 1992
At the start of England’s innings Akram had sent down a fearsome rising delivery that Ian Botham nicked. After that Mushtaq Ahmed had struck twice with his leg spinners, Akram took over again. Chris Lewis then received a ball angling towards middle stump and then change the trajectory towards the off, and he was gone. With these magical balls Wasim instill the fear of reverse swing in the minds of English batsmen, from which they could never recover. While batting also, Akram played a vital role with his bat scoring 33 of just 18 balls. His all round performance won him man of the match award. Pakistan won the WC.
Waiting for your feedback/comments on this blog.
Anil Malik
Mumbai, India
24th January 2025