Top 10 run scorers for India in ODIs
Indian cricket has produced quite a few batting maestros who have etched their names in the annals of the game as prolific run scorers. Indian batsmen have been known to be elegant stroke-makers who make batting look pleasing to the eye. They are very strong off their legs and possess nimble footwork to play spin well.
Over the years, India's strength in ODIs lay in their strong batting which always boasted of some master blasters. Most of the ODI batting records are held by one or the other Indian batting giant. In the 80, we had Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip Vengsarkar, Kris Srikkanth, Sandeep Patil, Mohinder Amarnath and Kapil Dev forming a good batting lineup.
The 90s had world class stroke-makers in Sachin Tendulkar, Mohammad Azhar, Navjot Sidhu, Ajay Jadeja and Vinod Kambli. With the turn of the millennium, Indian batting was one of the most formidable units with lethal openers like Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Sourav Ganguly. The middle order was compact and well organised with Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif and Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
The Indian ODI team has witnessed a purple patch in the last five seasons courtesy a well-settled opening combination in Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma. The middle order is spearheaded by the prolific Virat Kohli who has good company from Ajinkya Rahane, MS Dhoni and Hardik Pandya.
The emergence of talented youngsters like KL Rahul, Manish Pandey, Mayank Agarwal and Rishabh Pant augers well for Indian cricket in the future. Prodigious teen batting sensations Prithvi Shaw and Shubmam Gill have impressed one and all in the junior circuit and can be potential stars in the making for the future.
So, in a nutshell, we have been blessed to have a string of batsmen who scored heaps of runs and contributed immensely to the team's wins both at home and abroad. It would be interesting to compile a list of the top 10 run getters for India in the limited overs arena.
10. Suresh Raina
Suresh Raina has been quite a successful batsman for India in the limited overs arena. The hard-hitting left-hander has excelled in the role of a finisher providing the team with the late flourish down the order. The aggressive middle-order batsman has closed many a game batting with either Yuvraj Singh or MS Dhoni.
Raina certainly packs a punch with his big hitting and hugely favours the mid-wicket region on the leg side. The power hitter is a dangerous customer down the order as he scores runs at a brisk pace by hitting boundaries on a consistent basis.
ODI Record for India
Matches: 226
Runs: 5615
Avg: 35.31
100s: 5