Tuesday, February 21, 2006

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*


Monday, February 20, 2006

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

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

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

Monday, February 06, 2006

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.