With time ticking like a bomb around your neck, One Day cricket is a litmus test of your devastation which at times comes with a certain degree of steadiness.
It used to be played for 60 overs earlier which was later truncated to 50 in order to make it comfortable for the players and accomodate a shorter and a more exciting version of the game.
Batsmen became a lot more dominant and implied a new style of cricket, as they evolved over the years. However, amongst it all, a few batsmen still managed to hang in the centre to chronicle a few remarkable innings which spanned for more than 150 balls which is the halfway mark in an innings.
We will look at five Indian batsmen who achieved this herculean feat in the shorter format of the sport.
1. Mohammad Azharuddin versus Zimbabwe, 1998
The icon of elegance for Indian cricket, Mohammad Azharuddin achieved this feat against a formidable Zimbabwe.
India was wobbling at 16 for 3, when Azhar and Jadeja started stitching India’s resistance. Despite, early quandaries, the duo did a decent job to help India overcome the early jitters.
Azhar played the dominant role as he attacked every single delivery that was adrift off its actual line. Clobbering away 17 boundaries and a sixer, he stayed unbeaten for 153 from 150 deliveries. Jadeja scored an unbeaten 116 as India posted a staggering total of 301.
After a considerable bout of bat and ball, India emerged victorious, winning the game by 32 runs.
2. Sachin Tendulkar versus New Zealand, 1999
It was the 2nd ODI of the series and India was batting first against New Zealand. Saurav Ganguly was removed early for just 4 runs, while Tendulkar and Dravid started hammering the visitors.
Tendulkar was at his classic best as he sprinkled the bowlers in all corners of the park with some fine stroke play.
Racking up 20 boundaries and a sixer, en route to his unbeaten 186, he consumed 150 deliveries.
An interesting fact about this innings was even Rahul Dravid played 153 balls at the other end, but it was only possible because of New Zealand’s magnanimous character on the field which ceded 31 extras including 15 no balls.
Indian bowlers ran riot through the Black Caps batting order with emphatic contributions from every one. India won the match by a whopping 174 runs.
3. Saurav Ganguly versus Zimbabwe, 2000
India batted first in this lopsided encounter and suffered an early blow to their ambitions as Travis Friend scalped Tendulkar early.
Ganguly and Dravid started piecing the initial resistance and were shortly riding the storm of dominating the Zimbabwean bowlers with some exquisite batting.
Ganguly was relentless as he took the bowlers head on, consigning them to different corners of the stadium. However, he also ran a good deal between the wickets as his boundary count wasn’t significant. It read a modest 8 boundaries but a whopping 6 over-boundaries.
He notched up 144 from 152 deliveries before finally being dismissed by Viljoen.
India could manage 306 from their quota of 50 overs. Zimbabwe did fight India tooth and nail but the response never really seemed like hurting India as Sriram and Sunil Joshi shared 5 wickets between them to confine the visitors to 245 for 8.
4. Rohit Sharma versus Sri Lanka, 2017
This was first-hand carnage from the mighty hitman of Indian batting as he dismantled Sri Lanka with zero mercy.
Batting first, Sharma was spraying the bowlers all around the park, irrespective of who was at the other end. With strong stands from Shikhar Dhawan and Shreyas Iyer, India kept on amassing runs at a steady rate.
Rohit stayed unbeaten on 208 from 153 deliveries, smashing 13 boundaries and 12 over boundaries.
India slammed a mammoth total of 392 while Sri Lanka was restricted to 251, giving a comprehensive victory to India.
5. Virat Kohli versus South Africa, 2018
This was a tough knock which was played by Virat Kohli under staggering circumstances as the South African bowling were always hurtling into the Indian batting line up.
After a decent partnership between Dhawan and Kohli, things turned downhill as none other batsman could play the much-needed anchor at the other end.
Kohli hung in there, waiting for the right balls to be condemned and took as much strike as he could, so as to take away the pressure from the other end.
After spending considerable amount of time in the middle, he stitched an unbeaten 160 from 159 deliveries. India was able to manage 303 for 6.
South Africa couldn’t manage to withstand the searing bowling tempo from the Indians and crumbled under immense pressure, thanks to some brilliant spin bowling from Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzevendra Chahal who shared 8 wickets between them, bowling South Africa out for a meagre 179.
