Top 5 ODI innings of 2019
2019 was a big year for ODI cricket. The ICC Cricket World Cup was played this year, and it saw some stupendous performances with the bat. But great batting wasn’t limited to the tournament alone; there were other great performances too throughout the season, from both established and emerging batsmen.
What made the 2019 World Cup unique was the fact that it was played on some sporting wickets, as opposed to the flat tracks many expected. This made the task of scoring runs tougher for the batsmen, and hence saw players of the highest quality rise to the top.
When making a list of the five best innings of 2019, one must be careful to analyse ODI innings in their entirety. Just the number of runs scored isn’t enough to make a knock superior. Similarly, the idea of a great ODI innings shouldn’t be limited to those which are explosive and full of fours and sixes.
With that in mind, let’s count down to the five finest knocks by batsmen this year in 50-over cricket.
5. Ashton Turner (84* off 43 vs India, Mohali)
The five-match series between India and Australia saw an amazing comeback by the visiting team. They fought back from a position where they were 0-2 down and looking set to lose a third match, to eventually winning the series.
A large part in this turnaround was played by an unheralded Ashton Turner.
In the fourth match of the series, India had set a massive target of 359 for Australia to chase. When the Aaron Finch-led team lost their most capable big-hitter Glenn Maxwell, they were 229/4 and needed 130 runs to win in 83 deliveries.
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That’s when Turner turned the game in his team’s favour.
He was up against arguably the best ODI bowling attack in the world – Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal. But the 26-year old made them look like an associate nation’s bowling line-up as he walloped them for 5 fours and 6 sixes. Even the master of the death overs, Bumrah, couldn’t stop the onslaught.
Australia ended up winning with as many as 13 balls remaining. It was an innings that left the Indian fans gobsmacked and their team scratching their heads as to what had hit them.