Close Encounters... Continued

Top 5 ODI's:

Australia v/s South Africa, Birmingham, 1999.

The greatest ODI ever played! It was the semi-finals of the world cup and South Africa had to win to book a place in the finals. Just a few days earlier they were beaten by the Aussies in a Super Six encounter. In the semis, the Australian batsmen had a torrid time and managed only a paltry 213. For the South Africans, Jacques Kallis led his team's chase with a good 50+ score. However, a middle order collapse set the contest up for a pulsating finish. With 9 required off the last over, Lance Klusener blasted the first two deliveries from Damien Fleming to the boundary. But a moment of madness from Alan Donald, who failed to react sharply to a single, resulted in him being left stranded in the middle. The match was tied and the Australians went through by virtue of their victory in the previous match. The South Africans stuck to their tag of being called "chokers".

South Africa v/s Australia, Johannesburg, 2006.

These two teams always seem to be reserving the best when they face each other. Ricky Ponting made a blistering 164 off 104 balls to help his team post the first ever score of 400+ in ODI history - 434/4. This time, however, South Africa was hell bent to get rid of it's "chokers" tag. Graeme Smith (91 off 48 balls) and Herchelle Gibbs (174 off 111 balls) tore apart the Aussie attack to enable their team to clinch a record chase and re-wrote the team total record - they made 438/9 with a ball to spare. Poor Mick Lewis, the right arm Aussie medium pacer, was thrashed and had the ignominy of having the worst bowling figures in all of ODI cricket. His figures read - 10-0-113-0!

India v/s Sri Lanka, Rajkot, 2009.

Another high scoring thriller where both teams managed a 400+ total - only the second such occurrence. Sehwag and Co. ensured that India recorded it's highest ever ODI total of 414. But Sangakkara and Dilshan mirrored the performances of Smith and Gibbs in the previously discussed match and made sure that the Sri Lankans were in control. But some excellent "death" bowling by Zaheer Khan and Aashish Nehra stopped the Lankan juggernaut and resulted a 3-run win for the home team.

India v/s Australia, Hyderabad, 2009; England v/s India, Lords, 2002.

Two matches that I felt difficult to rank. The first one saw yet another scintillating solo effort from Sachin Tendulkar go down the drains as India fell short by 3 runs and the ghosts of Chepauk from 1999 returned to haunt the Little Master.

The latter though was a memorable one for India. Chasing England's mammoth 325 to lift the NatWest Cup, the Indians found themselves in troubled waters when they were reduced to 146/5. But India's new kids-on-the-block, Yuvraj and Kaif, came up with an extraordinary partnership that sealed a famous ODI triumph for their team.

England v/s West Indies, The Oval, 2004.

The second low scoring match in the list. England were expected to demolish the West Indians enroute to their first Champions Trophy victory. But a very disciplined bowling effort by the underdogs kept the England score to a below par 217. Although the hosts' bowlers stuck to the task at hand and mercilessly destroyed the heart of the West Indian batting line-up to have them reeling at 147/8, West Indies found two heroes in their ranks. Courtney Brown and Ian Bradshaw stitched together an unbroken 71-run stand for the penultimate wicket which secured a rare, major West Indies win in a period when their cricket had reached the troughs of despair.