The most difficult batting positions in ODI cricket or white ball cricket in general is no. 5 or below simply because of the situations that you are supposed to find yourself in.
If you get to face a lot of deliveries at no. 5 or below, it simply means that the team lost quite a few early wickets and is in trouble now.
On the contrary, if the team doesn’t lose a lot of early wickets, then the top order batsmen bat for the bulk of the overs and the players batting at no. 5 or below are supposed to go after the bowling from ball one when they arrive at the crease towards the latter stages of the innings.
Despite being the tough nature of the middle order batting, a lot of middle order batsmen have scored some sensational hundreds batting at no. 5 or below against Australia.
Here are the 5 batsmen with the highest ODI score against Australia (batting at no. 5 or below) –
#1 MS Dhoni (2013):
MS Dhoni batted at no. 6 in the third ODI of the bilateral series between India and Australia in 2013. He walked in at a time when the Australian bowlers were right on top. He first put his head down and stitched together a partnership with Virat Kohli to stabilize the ship a little bit.
But, once he got his eye in, Dhoni absolutely threw the caution to the wind and smashed the Australian attack to all corners. The then Indian captain scored 139 runs off 121 balls with 12 fours and 5 sixes.
However, despite Dhoni’s knock, India lost that game by 4 wickets.
#2 Yuvraj Singh (2004):
Yuvraj played this knock in the triangular series in Australia in 2004 when the Indian team was struggling with three out of their top 4 back in the hut at the score of 80.
Yuvraj, however, changed the whole complexion of the game from there as he put together a double hundred partnership with VVS Laxman for the 4th wicket.
Both Laxman and Yuvraj scored centuries with Yuvraj getting dismissed after scoring 139 runs off just 122 balls. India posted 296 runs on the board which proved to be a match winning score as India won the match by 71 runs.
#3 David Miller (2018):
David Miller played this knock a couple of years back when Australia toured South Africa for a 5-match ODI series.
Australia, however, didn’t have their first string bowling attack on the tour and most of the bowlers were either their second or third choice bowlers and were pretty inexperienced.
However, South Africa was in a bit of trouble in the third game of the series as they had lost 3 wickets at the score of just 55 before Miller walked in to bat at no. 5.
With a stroke-filled knock of 139 off just 108 balls and with a 252-run partnership with the captain Faf du Plessis for the 4th wicket, Miller dragged South Africa to the score of 320.
Australia, in pursuit of the total, could score just 280 runs and lost the game.
#4 Chris Harris (1996):
This knock by Chris Harris was probably one of the best knocks played by a New Zealand batsman ever in ODI cricket as it came in a World Cup quarter-final against Australia.
Harris batted at no. 5 and scored 130 runs off just 124 balls with 13 fours and 4 sixes. To score a hundred at such a high strike in those days was not very common in ODI cricket.
Harris added 168 runs with the captain Lee Germon for the 4th wicket and New Zealand managed to post 286 runs on the board.
The Kiwis, however, lost the game as Australia chased the target down in 47.5 overs at the loss of just 4 wickets.
#5 MS Dhoni (2009):
MS Dhoni features in this list once again as he scored another eye-catching hundred against Australia batting at no. 5 in the 2nd match of the ODI series between these two countries in 2009.
Dhoni scored 124 runs off just 107 balls and stitched century partnerships with both Gautam Gambhir and Suresh Raina for the 4th and the 5th wicket respectively to power India past the score of 350 runs.
Australia, in reply, never really gave India a scare as they were bundled out for just 255 runs in 48.3 overs.
