Top 5 successful chases in last over of an ODI

MS Dhoni. (Photo Source: Getty Images)

In the present day, many big targets have been seen getting chased in unbelievable fashion in the limited-overs. The T20 cricket brought a scope of some impossible equations being chased down. But the same hasn’t been possible in the ODI format where the dynamics remain tough chasing big runs towards the end.

Till date, only seven instances have been recorded where a team scored 15 or more runs in the final over of an ODI. Only three of those seven instances were recorded in the past decade and none in the last six years and two of them even before the debut of T20 format.

Here are some of the highest successful chases in the final over of an ODI match:

5. 15 runs by India vs Sri Lanka in 2013:

Shortly after winning the Champions Trophy in 2013, the Indian team toured West Indies to be part of an ODI Tri-series involving Sri Lanka as the 3rd side. The two Asian giants featured in the final at the Queen’s Park Oval. Sri Lanka raced to 171/2 by 38th over but lost their last 8 wickets for only 30 runs and were bundled out for only 201.

India lost Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli cheaply by 11th over with only 27 runs on the board. But Rohit Sharma put India on top with a couple of fifty-run partnerships.

Rohit added 50 runs in 74 balls with Dinesh Karthik and a 62-run stand in just 48 balls with Suresh Raina as India reached 139/3 by 31st over. India stood favourites to win as the required rate was reading only 3.31. Rangana Herath cleaned up Rohit on the first ball of the 32nd over.

Rohit got out scoring 58 from 89 balls while Raina too fell a couple of overs later scoring a 27-ball 32. Soon India were reduced to 167/8 by 42nd over but were only 35 runs away from title win.

MS Dhoni, the Indian skipper, returned for this game after suffering a back injury in the tournament opener. He was occupied from one end and took the game as deep as possible. India lost their 9th wicket at the score of 182 in the 47th over. India could only score 5 runs in the next 14 balls leaving 15 runs to be chased in the final over to be bowled by Shaminda Eranga. Dhoni, who was batting on 29 off 48 balls, failed to connect the first ball of the 50th over.

The second ball was fuller and in reach of Dhoni. He capitalized the chance and sent the ball straight to the roof of the stands. The following ball took the edge of Dhoni bat and flew over point region for a boundary. The Sri Lankan team had a brief discussion with only 5 runs to get from 3 balls but Eranga ended up bowling a length ball which was smashed by Dhoni over extra cover for a maximum. He sealed a 1-wicket win for India with an unbeaten 52-ball 45.

(Note: West Indies chased 15 runs in the 50th over against New Zealand in 2002 Kingstown ODI. Shivnarine Chanderpaul hit a hat-trick of fours in the bowling of Daryl Tuffey.

Sri Lanka also chased down 15 runs in the 50th over against Pakistan during 2012 Colombo ODI. Angelo Mathews was the batsman while Sohail Tanvir was the bowler where Sri Lanka won with two balls to spare.)

4. 17 runs by Pakistan vs West Indies in 2008:

Pakistan and West Indies clashed in a 3-match ODI series in November 2008. The first game was hosted by Abu Dhabi where the home team got off to a great start. Captain Chris Gayle smashed 11 fours and five sixes on his way to a 106-ball 113. Ramnaresh Sarwan’s 55 and top-order contributions helped West Indies to reach 294/9. Shoaib Malik, the then Pakistan skipper walked out at No.5 when his team were 159/3 in 32.1 overs and still needed 134 runs to win from 107 balls.

Malik was quite effective in getting runs at a quick rate despite not scoring many boundaries. He reached 66 from only 49 balls with seven boundaries by the end of 47th over. With 33 runs required from 18 balls, Malik went for a big heave in the bowling of Jerome Taylor but was caught at the edge of the circle. Fawad Alam (Batting on 19 off 17) and new batsman Kamran Akmal were left to chase 33 runs from 17 balls.

The next 11 balls yielded only 16 runs as Pakistan found just one boundary in that period; a six by Kamran in the 48th over. Jerome, who had figures of 9-0-37-2, was due to defend 17 runs in the final over. Fawad picked a single on the first ball while Kamran found sixes on successive balls – first hit over long-on and the next over deep point. The 4th ball fetched three runs thanks to an overthrow as Pakistan levelled the scores and finish off the chase with a single on the penultimate ball.

3. 17 runs by Zimbabwe vs Bangladesh in 2006:

Zimbabwe hosted Bangladesh during a 5-match ODI series in 2006 which was tied at 1-1 after first two matches. The two sides faced off in Harare for the 3rd ODI aiming to go 2-1 up in the series. Aftab Ahmed’s 39-ball 53 was backed by Rajin Saleh (54) and Mohammad Ashraful (46) as Bangladesh finished with 236 after losing the toss.

Zimbabwe began the chase cautiously as they reached 121/2 by 31st over. In space of 8 overs, the home team crumbled to 151/7 following a hat-trick by Shahadat Hossain.

Brendan Taylor, who was batting on 30 off 40 balls, was joined by No.9 batsman Tawanda Mupariwa. The duo took the game as deep as possible despite the required rate comfortably climbed over 10. The final two overs of Shahadat yielded 26 runs as the equation came down to 17 runs required from the last over.

The final over bowled by Mashrafe Mortaza began with a single by Mupariwa. Taylor then converted a full toss from Mortaza into a six by clearing the deep square-leg fence.

No runs came on the next ball as Taylor hit straight to mid-wicket fielder by Mortaza bowled a wide on the following delivery. Another full toss was cleared by the keeper-batsman for a boundary to bring the equation down to 5 off last two balls.

Mupariwa was runout on the penultimate ball and Taylor decided not to run and retain the strike for the final ball. Mashrafe’s persistence with full toss balls cost his team as Brendan Taylor managed cleared the fence to the right of long-on and seal a 1-wicket win for the hosts.

2. 18 runs by England vs Australia in 1987:

England and West Indies featured in the Benson and Hedges World Series Cup hosted by Australia at the start of 1987. In the first round matches, all the three teams won one game each out of two they played. England lost to Australia by 11 runs after defeating West Indies by 6 wickets who got better of Aussies by 7 wickets later.

Australia and England faced off in the 4th game of the tournament hosted by Sydney. An opening stand of 109 between Geoff Marsh and Dirk Wellham pushed Aussies to 189/2 by 38th over. However, the lack of acceleration towards the end saw Australia finish on 233/8.

Wellham anchored the innings with a 144-ball 97 by hitting five fours. During the chase, Chris Broad (45) and David Gower (50) scored at 75+ strike rate as England reached 134 by end of the 34th over losing only two wickets. But the English team kept losing wickets trying to find big shots and were down to 202/7 by 47th over. England needed 18 runs from the last over to be bowled by Bruce Reid. The No.4 batsman Allan Lamb who scored 59 from 98 balls was on the strike for the final over.

Lamb picked a risky couple on the first ball which he hit towards covers region and found the gap on the on-side with a glance for a boundary on the following delivery. The equation came down to 6 from last 3 balls as Lamb smashed the 3rd delivery into the crowd over cow-corner. An overthrow on the 4th ball helped Lamb remain on strike with four runs still needed from the last two balls. Allan Lamb ensured he finished the game with an unbeaten 77 as he found a boundary to the right of the mid-wicket fielder.

1. 20 runs by New Zealand vs Sri Lanka in 2013:

A young New Zealand side was up against Sri Lanka in the 2nd game of the 3-match ODI series in Hambantota after the first game was washed out. Sri Lanka, who batted first, reached 117/1 in 20.4 overs thanks to a century stand between Tillakaratne Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara before rain break. The game was reduced to 23 overs and the Lankans finished with 138/1 adding 21 runs after the resumption.

Both Dilshan and Sangakkara unbeaten scored fifties ending with 55 and 71 respectively. New Zealand got a revised target of 198 from 23 overs as the Lankans lost only one wicket by the time of rain interruption. Opener Tom Latham fought a lone battle as the Kiwis were reduced to 68/4 by 11th over. But a 93-run partnership in only 9.3 overs between Latham and Luke Ronchi (49 off 26) brought Blackcaps back to the game.

Latham smashed 86 off 68 balls before he got out in the 21st over three balls after Ronchi’s wicket. The visiting side were still 33 runs away from a win in 13 balls. Nathan McCullum hit a boundary on the first and last ball of the 22nd over bowled by Lasith Malinga leaving New Zealand still to get 20 runs from the final over to be bowled by Rangana Herath. Jimmy Neesham handed the strike to Nathan after scoring three runs in first two balls.

With Herath coming around the wicket, the elder McCullum decider to give himself room and found the extra cover fence with a six and four on successive deliveries.

Herath decided to come over the wicket for the penultimate ball which Nathan cleared the long-off fielder quite comfortably to level the scores. He finished off the game by smashing a full-toss over the long-on region. As many as 25 runs came from the final over as Nathan McCullum finished with 32 from only 9 balls.

source https://www.crictracker.com/top-5-successful-chases-in-last-over-of-an-odi/