Yuvraj's hot streak

In his last seven innings (starting from Kolkata ODI vs South Africa) Yuvraj has made a score of at least 35, which is a new Indian record. The previous best sequence for India was of six consecutive innings, jointly held by Sanjay Manjrekar (in 1991), Virender Sehwag (in 2002) and Sachin Tendulkar (twice – in 2003 & 2003-04).

Eight more batsmen - Australia's Graham Yallop and Geoff Marsh, England's Geoff Boycott and Graham Gooch, West Indian Gordon Greenidge, New Zealand's Glenn Turner, South Africa's Jacques Kallis and Pakistan's Mohammad Yousuf – have also made 35-plus scores in 7 consecutive innings. Yuvraj, however, has the chance to extend his streak and get past the tally of following four who have had a longer streak:

Inns  Batsman       Year               Sequence
9  Javed Miandad    1987    78,78*,74*,60,52*,113,71*,68,103
9  Sanath J'suriya  2002    36,49,97,46,71,102*,36,42,74
8  Marvan Atapattu  2000    119*,57,77,41*,42,62,100,62
8  Graham Gooch     1987-88 92,61,115,35,43,142,57,43

7  Yuvraj Singh     2005-06 53,49,39,82*,79*,37,107*

Two world records for Dhoni

Indian wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni got two world records on his name during the fifth and final one-dayer against Pakistan at Karachi.

By remaining unbeaten on 77,Dhoni lifted his career batting average to 53.95, which is the highest for any batsman having scored at least 1,000 runs in one-day internationals. Dhoni moved ahead of Australia's Michael Bevan.

Highest career average in ODIs:
(Min.1000 runs)

Batsman     For Mts  Runs  Hs   Avg  100 50
MS Dhoni    Ind  35  1133 183* 53.95   2  6
M Bevan     Aus 232  6912 108* 53.58   6 46
Z Abbas     Pak  62  2572 123  47.62   7 13
V Richards  WI  187  6721 189* 47.00  11 45
G Turner    NZ   41  1598 171* 47.00   3  9
M Clarke    Aus  74  2237 105* 46.60   2 15
G Greenidge WI  128  5134 133* 45.03  11 31
R Sarwan    WI   88  2817 104* 44.71   2 17
D Jones     Aus 164  6068 145  44.61   7 46
B Dippenaar SA   94  3075 125* 44.56   3 24
S Tendulkar Ind 362 14146 186* 44.20  39 72
J Kallis    SA  229  7954 139  44.18  13 56

Dhoni took only 56 balls to score his unbeaten 77. At the end of Karachi ODI, his career strike-rate stands at 108.73 (runs per 100 balls), which is the highest for any batsman in the history of ODIs. Dhoni displaced Pakistan's Shahid Afridi from the top position in the list of batsmen with highest career strike rate. Interestingly Dhoni is the only one in the following list to also maintain an average of 50-plus.

Highest career strike-rate in ODIs
(Min.1000 runs)

Batsman       For    Mts Runs   Hs    SR    Avg   100
MS Dhoni      Ind    35  1133  183* 108.73  53.95  2
Shahid Afridi Pak   219  4819  109  108.51  23.97  4
IDS Smith     NZ     98  1055   62*  99.43  17.29  0
V Sehwag      Ind   141  4220  130   97.82  32.21  7
RL Powell     WI    109  2085  124   96.66  24.82  1
AC Gilchrist  Aus   234  7985  172   96.37  36.46 14
Kapil Dev     Ind   225  3783  175*  95.07  23.79  1
A Symonds     Aus   141  3491  156   92.01  37.94  4
IVA Richards  WI    187  6721  189*  90.20  47.00 11
L Klusener    SA    171  3576  103*  89.91  41.10  2
A Flintoff    Eng    98  2601  123   89.75  35.14  3
ST Jayasuriya SL    354 10512  189   89.06  31.85 19
N Boje        SA    115  1414  129   88.70  26.67  2
Wasim Akram   Pak   356  3717   86   88.28  16.52  0
MJ Clarke     Aus    74  2237  105*  87.55  46.60  2
Yuvraj Singh  Ind   142  3781  139   86.14  34.68  6
AB Agarkar    Ind   155  1123   95   85.98  16.51  0
SR Tendulkar  Ind   362 14146  186*  85.98  44.20 39

Team batting second winning by runs!

In a limited-overs game, side batting first wins by runs and that batting second by wickets. This is what we all have seen over the years and how it is written in the record-books -of course excepting the rare instances of a side conceding a match. Even when the result was made on the basis of run-rate in case of rain / weather interruptions, it was only in line with the established cricketing convention.

Not any more. Duckworth – Lewis method, supposedly the best method to reset targets in ODIs, has changed all this. Now the team batting second can be declared winner in terms of runs as was the case in the first ODI at Peshawar between India and Pakistan.

Chasing a victory target of 329, Pakistan were cruising along having made 311 for seven after 47 overs, when play had to be abandoned because of bad light. Pakistan were seven runs ahead of the Duckworth-Lewis requirements at that stage and won the match by run margin. Under the old ruling, they would have been declared winner on run-rate or by 3 wickets.

Surprisingly this is not the first instance of this kind in ODIs. We take a look at all the instances when a side won a match by runs while batting second:

Batted 1st Batted 2nd  Venue         Date        Result
NZ  182-9  SL  155-5  Hamilton    8 Feb 2001  SL - 3 runs
WI  300-5  Ind 200-1  Rajkot     12 Nov 2002  Ind - 81 runs
Pak 243-8  SA  221-6  Faisalabad  7 Oct 2003  SA - 13 runs
Zim 211-6  SL  144-4  Bulawayo   20 Apr 2004  SL - 12 runs
SA  175-9  Eng 103-3  Jo'burg    30 Jan 2005  Eng - 26 runs
Ind  328   Pak 311-7  Peshawar    6 Feb 2006  Pak - 7 runs 

Ususual dismissals in ODIs

In the first one-day international between India and Pakistan in Peshawar , Inzamam-ul Haq provided only the third instance in ODI history of a batsman getting out obstructing the field, when he intercepted a throw from Super sub Suresh Raina with his bat to avoid being run-out.

Others to suffer this fate in ODIs are:
1. Rameez Raja (99), versus England at Karachi in 1987-88. He intercepted the ball with his bat to avoid being run-out while taking a second run off the final ball of Pakistan's innings to complete his hundred.

2. Mohinder Amarnath (28) versus Sri Lanka at Ahmedabad in 1989-90. He kicked the ball out of bowler Arjuna Ranatunga's reach to avoid being run-out.

There have been two instances of a batsman being dismissed 'handled the ball'. They are:
1) Mohinder Amarnath (15) versus Australia at Melbourne in 1985-86. He pushed away a turning ball from Greg Matthews that spun back towards his wicket.

2) Daryll Cullinan (46) versus West Indies at Durban in 1998-99. He was given out on West Indian skipper Brian Lara's appeal after playing Keith Arthurton into the ground and catching the rebound with his right hand.

Note: In both these modes, the bowler does not get the credit for dismissing the batsman.