5 legendary bowlers with just one 5-wicket haul in ODI cricket
In ODI cricket, five-wicket hauls are extremely rare. For one bowler to be able to take five wickets is no easy feat. Furthermore, in the entire history of ODI cricket, a five-wicket haul has only been achieved 445 times, or once every 9 games.
Taking a five-wicket haul means a win for the bowler’s team nearly 80% of the time, demonstrating its immense value for any team. Bowlers often say that carrying the match ball and leading a team off the park is one of the best feelings in cricket.
You might remember them for their excellence on the field, or off it. You might remember them swinging the ball around corners or demolishing attacks with their lethal pace. Here are five legends of the game who took just one five-wicket haul for their country.
#5 Imran Khan
Imran Khan’s 175 games for Pakistan resulted in just one five-wicket haul. Khan averaged 26.61 with the ball over his white-ball career, going at just 3.89 runs an over. His ODI career spanned 18 years, from 1974 to 1992, during which he was one of Pakistan's most prolific captains, even winning the 1992 World Cup.
Khan was, and still remains to be, one of the most influential members of Pakistani cricket, transforming the country from a minnow to a world-class team of world beaters. His sole 5-fer came against India at Sharjah, where he claimed the wickets of Ravi Shastri, Kris Srikkanth, Dilip Vengsarkar, Sunil Gavaskar, Mohinder Amarnath and Madan Lal on the way to the figures of 6-14 off his 10 overs.
He came close to repeating the feat three times, but was stranded on four wickets on all of those occasions. Now, Khan has immersed himself into Pakistani politics, where he puts his high educational credentials to good use, doing the people’s work.