Top 10 ODIs of all time
The first ever One Day International (ODI) was played between Australia and England at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on 5 January 1971. In 43 years of ODI cricket since, there have been plenty of great ODIs that instantly come to mind. In recent years, though, there has been a bit of cynicism surrounding the future of ODI cricket especially due to the boom in popularity of T20 cricket. The nature of ODI cricket is such that almost a dozen close matches are played every year. With that being the case, choosing top 10 ODIs wasn’t an easy task. Here are the criteria on the basis of which I have come up with the below 10 matches.1. The weight that the match carried was given paramount importance. There have been many great ODIs played in bilateral series, but those have been largely ignored because of the run-of-the-mill nature of many of those games.2. Matches where the odds were heavily stacked against one team that finally managed to emerge triumphant have been given consideration.3. Matches that turned out to be memorable as a result of individual records have been avoided, as well, which is why the match where Sachin Tendulkar scored the 1st double hundred in ODI cricket history has been overlooked. Here are the top 10 ODIs of all time:
#10 England vs India at Lord\'s, England (13 July 2002)
The Natwest Final between England and India at Lord’s in 2002 is one of the most cherished ODIs of all-time from an Indian perspective. Chasing England’s total of 325/8 from 50 overs, thanks to hundreds from Marcus Trescothick and Nasser Hussain, the Indian openers went all guns blazing and reached 100 within the first 15 overs.
But the end of the fielding restrictions brought England back into the game, and they had India at 146/5 not too later and on the brink of another defeat in a final.
The duo of Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif, however, played with gumption belying their years and put on a partnership of 121 for the 6th wicket, taking India to within touching distance of the target before the former fell for 67 to put the match back in England’s favour once again.
Kaif ensured no further lapses from his end and took the Indians to a famous 2-wicket victory in the final over with some valuable support from the lower order.