5 instances of a single player outscoring an opposition in One-day Internationals

Cricket is a team sport in which 11 players strive hard to get a favourable result for their team. Over the years, the game has undergone several modifications and is hardly the sport it used to be more than a century ago. Gradual advancements in batting techniques along with batting-friendly rules have transformed the game completely.

The advent of limited-overs cricket breathed life into the dying sport and resurrected it by increasing its appeal to the mass audience. Throughout the following years, the batsmen started changing their techniques and started batting aggressively. As a result, the modern batsmen have started conquering the heights no one would have imagined a few decades ago.

Many players have managed to score double hundreds in ODI cricket, a feat unimaginable at the onset of ODI cricket. In many instances, with the collective effort of a batsman and disciplined bowling, an opposition was bowled out before they could even match the batsman’s individual score. Thus, a player trounced an entire opposition in a single limited-overs match.

Here we recollect 5 instances in which a single player outscored an entire opposition in ODIs: 

1. Rohit Sharma- 264 against Sri Lanka in 2014

Numerous records were broken in the 4^th ODI at Kolkata between India and Sri Lanka during the latter’s tour to the former in 2014. Sharma’s name was chronicled in the gilded pages of cricket history when he broke the record of Highest Individual score in ODI cricket, surpassing Virender Sehwag’s 219 against West Indies. He also became the first (and till now the only) batsman to breach the 250 run mark in limited-overs international cricket.

One of the lesser noticed aspects of the match were the abject surrender of Lankans during the run-chase. Tasked with chasing a mammoth total of 405 runs, they barely managed to reach 250, folding up their innings a solitary run later. Thus, India won the match comprehensively by 153 runs and consolidated their position in the series.

On the bowling front, Dhawal Kulkarni was the pick of the bowlers, scalping 4 wickets for 34 runs in his allotted quota of 10 overs. Interestingly, the total score of Sri Lanka fell short from Rohit’s individual score in the match by 13 runs. After the match, various news headlines read that Rohit Sharma defeated Sri Lanka by 13 runs in the 4^th ODI.

2. Fakhar Zaman- 210* against Zimbabwe in 2018

Pakistan’s Champions Trophy 2017 hero Fakhar Zaman is the next player on this list and the only Pakistani player with a double hundred in a limited-overs cricket match. Playing against a spirited Zimbabwe attack at their home in Bulawayo in July 2018, Fakhar led a batting onslaught which culminated in their team putting 399 runs on the board at the loss of a single wicket. His companion Imam-ul-Haq also notched up a hundred whilst No.3 batsman Asif Ali remained unbeaten at 50 till the end of the innings.

Zimbabwe had an uphill task, being asked to chase 400 runs against one of the most lethal bowling attacks in the whole cricketing world. Shadab Khan wore an alluring web around the batsmen with his deceiving spin from which they were not able to escape. The leggie snared 4 wickets as the innings came crumbling down at 155 in less than 43 overs.

Pakistan won the match sweepingly by a margin of 244 runs. From Zimbabwe, no one other than Donald Tiripano and Elton Chigumbura could make any impressionable difference to the result. The miserly batting of the African nation can be evidenced from the fact that they fell 55 runs short of Fakhar’s individual score.

3. Sir Vivian Richards- 189* against England in 1984

Before the likes of Rohit Sharma, Chris Gayle and Andre Russell established themselves as power-hitters, the legendary Caribbean cricketer Sir Vivian Richards terrorized the bowlers during his reign. A fearless and gallant batsman, he used to walk out to bat with nothing but the destruction of opposition in his mind. One such instance was when he plundered 189 runs in a single innings against an English bowling attack comprising the likes of Ian Botham and Bob Willis.

The 189* from 170 deliveries turned out to be his highest ODI score and proved too much for the opposition to handle. On the back of his thunderous innings, West Indies had put up 272 runs on the board at the loss of 9 wickets. However, the English team could not match Viv’s individual score as they bundled up for 168 runs in 50 (out of 55) overs.

The pace of Joel Garner, Michael Holding and Malcolm Marshall proved too much for the British as they could not stitch even a single 50 run partnership throughout their innings. Richards doubled up in the bowling too as he scalped 2 wickets for 45 runs from his allotted quota of 11 overs. Altogether, the English team fell short of Vivian Richards individual score by 21 runs in this eventful match.

4. Gary Kirsten- 188* against UAE in 1996

Before he led India to a World Cup triumph in 2011, Gary Kirsten was a mainstay in South Africa’s batting order during the 1990s. He churned out various impressive performances and kept his team right at the top whenever he played. In one such instance, he thrashed the ceiling and broke the record of the highest individual score by a South African batsman in ODIs.

In the 2^nd match of the Wills World Cup at Rawalpindi in 1996 against the United Arab Emirates, he scored 188* runs from 159 deliveries as he stood crease for the entire duration of 50 overs during the match. He was ably supported by Hansie Cronje and Daryll Cullinan who chipped in with their own contributions. With the help of his knock, South Africa notched up 321 runs at the loss of just a couple of wickets.

In response, the team from the Middle-east nation could manage only 152 runs in their allotted quota of 50 overs at the loss of 8 wickets. They fell short of Kirsten’s individual score by 36 runs as none of their batsmen could manage even a half-century during their innings. For South Africa, Allan Donald and Brian McMillan shared 6 wickets between them while conceding only 32 runs in total.

5. Yuvraj Singh- 102* against Bangladesh in 2003

The World Cup-winner Yuvraj Singh, before showing his skills in 2011 whilst propelling India to a world title, made this coveted record his own in 2003.

However, unlike other instances on this list, the credit of the record of a batsman scoring more than the entire opposition, in this case, belongs primarily to the bowlers. Also, this is the only instance in which the record-holding batsman’s team was also bowled out in their innings.

Batting first at Dhaka in the 1^st match of TVS Cup in 2003, Yuvraj scored an unbeaten 102 from 85 deliveries as he led India to an appreciable score of 276. He was supported by substantial contributions from Virender Sehwag, Sourav Ganguly and a late innings flourish by Ajit Agarkar. In return, India’s neighbouring nation could muster only 76 runs before their innings was folded up by the unstoppable Indian bowling attack.

Not even a single batsman could cross the 20 run-mark as Indian pacers breathed fire on that eventful evening in Dhaka. Aavishkar Salvi, Ajit Agarkar and Zaheer Khan shared 9 out of 10 wickets between them whilst conceding only 52 runs out of their collective 21 overs. Eventually, Bangladesh fell short of Yuvraj’s individual score by 26 runs.