Joe Root’s 254 at Old Trafford, Manchester against Pakistan prompted former England skipper Michael Atherton to pick the top 10 innings played by English batsmen, with a Graham Gooch century adjudged the best ever. t2 takes a cue and picks the top 10 innings by an Indian with the willow!
1.VVS Laxman
281 vs Australia,Calcutta (2001)
— Sourav Ganguly
VVS Laxman, with Rahul Dravid for company, staged a miraculous fightback to prevent a humiliating innings defeat and turn it into one of the greatest wins for Indian cricket. With India forced to follow-on at Eden, Laxman came in to bat on
Day 3 with India still trailing by 222 runs and by the time Glenn McGrath finally sent him back, it was Day 5, with India leading by 383 runs! A Very Very Special innings from a Very Very Special batsman which turned the tide of an innings, a Test, a series and some.
2.Kapil Dev
175 vs Zimbabwe, Royal Tunbridge Wells (1983)
One of the best innings ever. He hit good length balls out of the ground. It was not just tremendous hitting but calculated hitting. Kapil was Kapil that day — Balwinder Singh Sandhu
The Indian captain walked in with India reeling at 9/4. Soon, they were 17/5. Then began The Kapil Dev Show. He kept the scoreboard ticking and then tocking along till his century in the 49th over. After that, the Haryana Hurricane hit the idyllic ground, with bat in hand, without a TV camera in sight. He smashed 75 runs in the last 11 overs, hoisting India to 266 for eight from 60 overs. If VVS Laxman led the best fightback in Test cricket, Kapil Dev’s knock is unmatched in ODI history. It won India the match and ultimately the World Cup, changing the scape of Indian cricket.
3.Sachin Tendulkar
143 vs Australia, Sharjah (1998)
Chasing a revised total of 276 in 46 overs (237 to qualify for the final), Sharjah saw two desert storms in one evening. The most destructive one came off Sachin Tendulkar’s bat. Batting like a man possessed, he took India to the finals with an unforgettable 143 off 131. Smashing sixes and fours at will, Sachin brought the world’s best bowling line-up to its knees. This one vaulted India into the finals (which was won by another century from The Batman) and Sachin into the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen in the game of coloured clothing.
4.Sunil Gavaskar
96 vs Pakistan, Bangalore (1987)
It was one of the most difficult pitches I have ever seen — the ball was turning square, bouncing awkwardly and sometimes keeping low.... Sunil played an incredible innings. Both teams knew that the match would be over if he was out, which was what eventually happened — Imran Khan
The Little Master might have scored 35 centuries for India, but his 96 in his last innings for India was arguably his best knock. It was the fifth day on a vicious turner with Pakistan’s left-arm spinner Iqbal Qasim and off-spinner Tauseef Ahmed making all other Indian batsmen hop, skip and jump. Gavaskar played as if on a different pitch, with sure feet and soft hands. He finally fell and with him fell India, losing the game by 16 runs. No other batsman we know could have played such an innings.
5.Rahul Dravid
233 vs Australia, Adelaide (2003)
It was deja vu as Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman pulled India out from the jaws of defeat. AGAIN. Only this time, Rahul Dravid was in the lead, with Laxman playing the supporting role. He hooked and pulled India from 85/4 to a solid total of 523, triggering a superb comeback in the second innings to steer India to a memorable overseas win.
6.Virat Kohli
133 vs Sri Lanka, Hobart (2012)
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India were chasing 321 to win, but they needed to do it under 40 overs to qualify for the tri-series final. Even in the age of T20 cricket, chasing a score at over 8 runs per over in ODI cricket isn’t easy by any means. But if Sri Lankan bowlers were expecting Blues, they got a dose of Heavy Metal. Virat Kohli’s fearless and aggressive batting, with Viv Richards written all over it, won India the match under 37 overs. He massacred the Sri Lankan bowlers, most notably hitting Malinga for 24 runs, and finishing with 133 off 86. There’s been no stopping Virat Kohli since.
7.Sourav Ganguly
141 vs South Africa,Nairobi (2000)
Ganguly had just picked up the reins of a limping Indian team, and this was one of the knocks which set the tone for the years to come. Dada defined ‘leading from the front’ as he opened the innings only to see his partners come and go. He stood unbeaten like a rock against a bowling line-up of Allan Donald, Shaun Pollock, Lance Klusener and Jacques Kallis. The skipper helped India post a total of 295 and win the game.
8.Gautam Gambhir
97 vs Sri Lanka, Mumbai (2011)
An innings overshadowed by MS Dhoni’s legendary 91, which ended with a World Cup-winning six. But it was Delhi boy Gautam Gambhir, a man with a knack of turning up on the biggest stage, who held the innings together. After Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag fell, it was Gambhir’s cautious yet classy innings that set the platform for MSD’s final flourish.
9.M.S. Dhoni
113 vs Pakistan, Chennai (2012)
He isn’t India’s best batsman by a distance, but the best when his team needs him the most. That was the case when Dhoni walked in with half of the side back in the dugout for all of 29 runs. In a game of cricket, MSD was also playing chess. He kept rotating the strike with Suresh Raina before a calculated onslaught in the final 10 saw India pile up 95 runs and post 227 on the board, with MSD scoring half the runs. In the end it wasn’t enough, but watching MSD at the crease that day was a masterclass in restraint and then aggression.
10.Virender Sehwag
309 vs Pakistan, Multan (2004)
Sehwag’s blitzkrieg against Pakistan wasn’t in a pressure situation and it was on a flat batting track, which offered very little to Shoaib Akhtar and Co, but it was an innings which can only be termed as extraordinary. It was savagery at its very best as Sehwag played a T20 game even before the format was invented. The final nail? He brought up his triple-century, the first Indian to do so, with a six.
Which is the best innings by an Indian batsman? Tell us at t2@abp.in
