6 Best Innings of Indian Batsmen in ODI While Chasing Down The Score

Today, we are talking about one of the five best innings of Indian Batsmen in ODI. The motive of this article is to make you remind of those amazing innings of Indian batsmen.

We will only talk about the run chase innings of Indian batsmen. Therefore, you will not get the innings of double hundreds of Rohit Sharma and Sachin Tendulkar.

Scoring runs either century or half-century only matters if they end on a winning cause. That is another reason which makes a batsman different from the rest of the batsmen.

India had played a total of 997 ODI including the last ODI against Sri Lanka at R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo on 23 July 2021.

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Let’s have a look at those amazing innings of Indian batsmen over a span of the last 25 years. I bet you these innings are going to give you goosebumps if you missed them.

Saurav Ganguly and Robin Singh Inning of  Silver Jubilee Independence Cup 1998.

The best inning of Indian batsmen in ODI should start with the final of the Independence Cup against Pakistan in 1998 at Dhaka, Bangladesh.

The Final was reduced to 48 overs due to bad light. India won the toss and elected to field first.

Saeed Anwar and Izaz Ahmed scored 140 runs and 117 runs respectively and set a totol of 315 runs for India.

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You can imagine, chasing 315 runs in the final, the pressure on the Indian captain and on the players as well.

Chasing down 315 runs was not that easy in that era, especially in the finals. But the world has something new to watch.

Here, Saurav Ganguly and Robin Singh created a history of chasing down the highest run score of ODI by then.  It was one of the best innings of Indian batsmen in ODI.

Saurav Ganguly scored 124 runs and Robin Singh scored 82 runs and they added 179 runs partnership for the 1st wicket before Robin Singh got out on 82 Runs.

Though Saurav Ganguly was on the wicket till 43rd over but there was a collapse in the middle order of India. No batsmen could reach the double-figure.

Finally, India won the match with the boundary of Hrishikesh Kanitkar when Indian needed 3 runs in 2 balls.

Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif in the Final of NatWest Series.

Yet another most memorable and best innings of Indian batsmen in ODI. It was NatWest Series between three nation, Sri Lanka, India and England.

India and England reached to the finals of the NatWest Series. England opted to bat first after winning the toss.

England scored 325/5 with the centuries of  Marcus Trescothick  and  Nasser Hussain. Indians were again under pressure like Dhaka Independence Cup.

Chasing 325 runs in England against England and in the final was like a dream. India started off well with the opening pair of Saurav Ganguly and Virendra Sehwag.

India’s opener scored 106 runs before the completion of the 15th over and minimise the required run rate for the team.

From here, Indians watched the best innings of Indian batsmen in ODI.

The remarkable inning came with the partnership of Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif.

The pair added 121 runs for the sixth wicket before Yuvraj Singh was caught by Tudor bowled by Paul Collingwood.

Mohammad Kaif was still on the wicket. All Indians kept holding their nerves till the 50th over of the match.

Finally, India won by two wickets with three balls remaining. Mohammad Kaif’s four in the second last ball of 49th over again brought hope of a win for the Indians.

In many ways, this was still known as one of the best Innings of Indian batsmen in ODI.

Sachin Tendulkar’s 98 against Pakistan in the 2003 World Cup

Indians always boast that they never had a defeat by Pakistan in the World Cup. It was again India vs Pakistan in the World Cup 2003.

In the high voltage match, we had seen the great knock of Sachin Tendulkar. The inning was adjudged one of the best innings of Indian batsmen in ODI.

Pakistan opted to bat first after winning the toss. As usual for Pakistan, Saeed Anwar once again scored 100 for Pakistan and Pakistan set 274 runs target for India.

We still remember the runs chase by the Indian openers Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar. They added 5o runs by the end of five overs.

Sachin’s uppercut on Soaeb Akhtar and Virendar Sehwag’s six over the point region is still one of the best shots of these two Indian legends.

Waqar Younis quickly brought Pakistan back to the match in his sixth over when he took wickets of Virendra Sehwag and Saurav Gangly in his back-to-back two deliveries.

Pakistan again started making strategies but they all were failed in front of Sachin Tendulkar. Sachin kept scoring with a strike rate of 100 plus.

There was a good partnership between Tendulkar and Kaif. Both added 102 runs for the third wicket.

Sachin Tendulkar scored 98 runs in just 75 balls in that crucial match which led India to a win of 6 wickets.

The inning was stopped long back before the target but still, it is counted as one of the best innings of Indian batsmen in ODI.

Sachin Tendulkar’s 175 Runs against Australia in 2009

Sachin Tendulkar has lots of innings under his belt which is unforgettable.

Sachin’s 175 inning against Australia is one such inning that is still a favourite of many, though the inning was on a losing side.

It was Nov 5 2009, Australia tour of India. Australia won the toss and opted to bat first. It was the match that held the nerve of Indian fans till the end.

Shaun Marsh and Shane Watson gave a fantastic start to Australia. Watson scored 93 and Marsh scored 112.

Ricky Ponting added quick 45 runs off 45 balls before his departure.

Soon, we watched a short but worthy inning from Cameron White’s bat. Cameron scored 57 runs only in 33 deliveries.

Sachin and Sehwag opened the inning for India and gave a good start. India lost the first wicket at 66 in the 9th over.

Though Indian middle-order was collapsed and nobody could stand by Sachin. But Sachin had something different in his mind.

Then a good partnership builds up between Suresh Raina and Sachin Tendulkar. The pair added 162 runs partnership for the sixth wicket.

It seems India is going to win the match but then Suresh lost his wicket at 299 in 43rd over. India needed 52 more runs to win in 42 balls.

Sachin kept scoring with a good strike rate. But unfortunately, Sachin lost his wicket when India needed only 19 runs in 18 balls remaining.

Sachin Tendulkar scored 175 runs in 141 balls but could not make it in India’s favor. The inning was still called one of the best innings of Indian batsmen in ODI.

The match was one such match when a player was awarded man of the match even he was on a losing side.

Virat Kohli 133 runs against Sri Lanka in CB Series 2012

Virat Kohli was being popular in International cricket by 2011 but the inning of CB series against Sri Lanka gave him fame and a big name in International cricket.

It was a triangular series among India, Australia and Sri Lanka. India was in the situation of do and die.

India had to win the match with a good margin. India won the toss and elected to field first.

Sri Lankan Dilshan and Sangakara scored a century and put a mammoth of 321 runs in front of India.

India would have reached the final only if the target would have chased down before 40th over but India chased the target in 36.1 overs.

Virat Kohli made the world astonished with his bat in this match. He butchered Lasith Malinga in that match.

Virat Kohli scored 133 runs in 86 balls and a good partnership with his Delhi mate Gautam Gambhir and delivered the best innings of Indian batsmen in ODI.

Interestingly Lasith Malinga was the most expensive bowler for Sri Lanka in the match with stats of 96 runs in 7.4 balls. Worst match for Malina ever.

India won the match with the contribution of all the batsmen but Virat’s inning in the match was still called the best innings of Indian batsmen in ODI.

Gautam Gambhir and Mahendra Singh Dhoni in 2011 WC Final

When we talk about the best innings of Indian batsmen in ODI how we can leave the innings of Gautam Gambhir and Mahendra Singh Dhoni in the final of CWC 2011.

You can imagine the pressure on both the teams who are playing the final of World Cup. Sri Lanka won the toss and decided to bat first.

With 103 runs of Mahela Jayawardane in just 88 balls, Sri Lanka set a target of 275 for India.

In the final of World Cup, under a huge crowd, the score looked quite good. It was not an easy cakewalk for Indians.

Lasith Malinga gave a big breakthrough to Sri Lankans when he sent Virendra Sehwag to the dugout before Sehwag could open his account in the final.

Lasith Malinga did not take much of his skipper’s time and took the wicket of Sachin Tendulkar. The crowd at Wankhede went numb with these two wickets of Malinga.

Though a short partnership was developed between Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli. But it was broken by a diving catch of Dilshan in his own delivery.

Virat Kohli lost his wickets after adding 35 runs for India. After Kohli’s wicket, India became the witness of the best innings of Indian batsmen in ODI.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni came ahead of Yuvraj Singh in the final. The score was 114 at the loss of 3 wickets. The best innings of Indian batsmen in ODI were about to start.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Gautam Gambhir added 109 runs partnership for India and it seems that the match was slipping from Sri Lankan’s hand.

But the audience still had something to watch. Thisara Parera took the wicket of Gautam Gambhir at 97 and created tense in the dug out of India.

Here, people at Wankhede watched the best innings of Indian batsmen in ODI. Mahendra Singh Dhoni changed the gear right after the wicket of Gautam Gambhir.

Yuvraj Singh kept changing the strike for Dhoni. Finally, Dhoni ended the match with a six in the second ball of the 49th over.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni was awarded man of the match but we can not ignore the inning of Gautam Gambhir as it was also one of the best innings of Indian batsmen in ODI.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Gautam set one of the best innings of Indian batsmen in ODI.

These were the best innings of Indian batsmen in ODI. If our readers know some more best innings of Indian batsmen in ODI, you are welcomed with your comments.

THE BEST INNINGS OF INDIAN BATSMEN IN ODI.