What is the top 10 test cricket individual innings history of cricket?

 There have been many exceptional performances in the history of cricket. But I'd like to include such performances that either won the team a game or saved a game from improbable situations.

Some of the knocks that I've included consists of partnership knocks as it would become unfair to degrade one's inning by praising the other.

Note : The order of the list is according to the timeline and not as per the rankings.

1. Arthur Morris (182) and Sir Donald Bradman (173*) at Headingley vs England (1948)

It was the prestigious Ashes series in England. Australia were chasing a target of 404 in 1948. In that era, it was almost impossible to even imagine of chasing such a target. But the exceptional batting performances from Arthur Morris (182) and Sir Donald Bradman (173*) meant that Australia chased a target of 404. This epic run chase remained the highest for 28 years.

2. Hanif Mohammed (337) at Bridgetown vs West Indies (1957)

WI had scored a mammoth 579 runs in the first innings. In reply to this, Pakistan were reduced to just 106 in their first innings. It seemed that WI's win was the only probable result. But the legendary Hanif Mohammed played a marathon inning of 337 which lasted for over 900 minutes. Till date no batsman has batted for more period in a test inning than this man. This helped Pakistan to achieve an improbable draw.

3. Sunil Gavaskar (102) and Gundappa Vishwanath (112) at Port of Spain vs West Indies (1976)

India were chasing a target of 403 against world champions WI in their own backyard. The bowling lineup had the deadly Michael Holding in its attack. But Sunil Gavaskar’s (102) and Gundappa Vishwanath's (112) helped India chase a mammoth 403. Mohinder Amarnath also played his part with a brilliant 85. It remained as the highest successful 4th innings score in tests till 2003.

4. Sir Ian Botham (149*) at Headingley vs Australia (1981)

Australia had posted 401 in their first innings. England in reply were reduced to just 174 and were asked to follow on and were soon reduced to 41/4. No team had went on to win a test match after being asked to follow-on till then. And this man just changed the complexion of the game with his 149*(148). England posted 356 and gave a target of 130 to chase. Australia got all-out for 111 and lost the match. England became the first ever team to win a test match after being asked to follow-on.

5. Sir Gordon Greenidge (214*) at Lord's vs England (1984)

It was one of the most brutal inning one could ever see in test cricket. The England attack had the likes of Bob Willis, Sir Ian Botham, D Pringle, N Foster and G Miller. Sir Gordon Greenidge hit 214*(242) including 29 fours and 2 sixes that helped WI chase a mammoth target of 342. He striked at 88.42 in an era where bowlers dominated the game.

6. Brian Lara (153*) at Bridgetown vs Australia (1999)

A classic example of one-man show. WI were chasing a target of 308 against a legendary bowling attack of McGrath-Gillespie-Warne. Brian Lara's 153* helped WI chase this target with just 1 wicket left. It was a classical show of good play of pace & spin and handling the pressure.

7. Vvs Laxman(281) and Rahul Dravid(180) at Eden Gardens vs Australia (2001)

Australia were on a winning streak of 16-consecutive tests. They had posted 445 in their first inning and dismissed India for just 171. After being asked to follow-on, VVS Laxman's (281) and Rahul Dravid’s (180) just changed the complexion of the game. They batted an entire day (day4) against the likes of McGrath-Gillespie-Warne. India went on to post 657 and eventually won the match by 171 runs.

8. Ramnaresh Sarwan(105) and Shivnarine Chanderpaul (104) at Antigua vs Australia (2003)

WI were chasing a target of 418 runs, which was never achieved before. Shivnarine Chanderpaul's (104) and Ramnaresh Sarwan's (105) against the likes of Brett Lee, Shane Warne, Stuart Macgill helped WI chase the highest ever test total at that time. It's a record till date.

9. Ab De Villiers (106*) and Graeme Smith (108) vs Australia at Perth (2008)

SA were chasing a target of 414 runs. Graeme Smith's (108) and Ab De Villiers'(106*) against the likes of Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson, Peter Siddle, Jason krejza helped SA chase a target of mammoth 414 runs. JP Duminy and Jacques Kallis too played their part with their fifties.

10. Brendon Mccullum (302) at Wellington vs India (2014)

India had posted 438 runs in their first inning. NZ were reduced to just 192 and were asked to follow-on. They were further reduced to 94/5 when only one result seemed to be possible. But Brendon Mccullum played the inning of his life and saved the match for NZ. His 302(559) helped NZ achieve an improbable draw against India. BJ Watling and James Neesham too played their part by scoring centuries for themselves.

These are my choices of some of the best knocks in test cricket. There are many such knocks which have been great. Do mention such knocks if you know in the comments section.

Image credits - Google.

What were some great innings in cricket that were overshadowed by a better innings in the same match?

 Ricky Ponting 164 vs South Africa 2005

This was one of the greatest matches ever played in ODI cricket when for the first time a team managed to score above 400 in ODI. As people were wondering about this mammoth total, the indexpected happened. The total was chased down by SA and for the first time we say a score of 434 chased down successfully.

For Australia, Ricky Ponting played a masterclass innings of 164 runs off 105 balls with 13 fours and 9 sixes ably supported by Gilchrist, Katich and Hussey who all scored fifties. But this outstanding innings was topped by Herschelle Gibbs who scored 175 runs off 111 balls with 21 fours and 7 sixes making another record - highest number of runs scored with boundaries - 126 (record at that time). He was able supported by Graeme Smith and Mark Boucher who scored fifties to end in the last ball chase and SA won over Australia. We saw two great centuries in the same match.

Charles Coventry 194 not out, Zimbabwe vs Bangladesh

Before this match hardly anyone knew who Charles Coventry was. And to be honest his record is pretty poor with only one century and 3 fifties across all formats. He has a batting avergof 24 despite having a not out innings of 194* to his credit. So when he scored these many runs, people were amazed. He broke the record of Saeed Anwar of 194 (Anwar got out while Coventry remained not out so superseding him on the chart). But alas his great innings couldn't seal victory for Zimbabwe as Bangladesh won the match courtesy another major century by Tamim Iqbal who scored 154 runs in the match. Interestingly, except these two players, no other player from both the teams scored a 50 in this match. Both the players were collectively awarded the Man of the Match award but Charles Coventry’s innings remains the highest individual score in a losing cause. Also Tamim Iqbal’s 154 was the highest individual score by a Bangladeshi player at that time (broken by Litton Das now) so in the same match both the teams scored their highest individual scores by a player.

Kumar Sangakara 138* vs India, 2005

Kumar Sangakara scored a brilliant century against India in the 3rd ODI against India, which helped Srilanka post a very good total of 298 runs. In the response India had a poor start as Sachin Tendulkar got out for just 2 runs. And then entered MS DHONI. He was promoted up the order to accelerate the innings. And then we saw the carnage of Dhoni as he belted the Srilankan bowlers out of the park and out of the game. India won the match by 6 wickets and Dhoni sealed the victory with a six. MS Dhoni scored 183* which became the highest score by a wicketkeeper batsman and second highest Individual score from India at that time. The match is remembered for Dhoni’s heroics and Sangakara’s century got overshadowed by Dhoni’s century. Interestingly this was one of the first instances when the wicketkeeper batsman of both the teams scored centuries in the same match.

Which great innings is ruined by a horrible ending in a cricket match?

 

Gautam Gambhir- When the Man of Crisis almost saved India’s day-

It was the Commonwealth Bank Series of 2008. India was facing Australia in a high voltage group clash.

Australia skipper R. T. Ponting won the toss and elected to bat first,on what appeared to be a flat SCG pitch.

A magnificent 124 from Punter,supported by attacking fifties from Matt Hayden and Andrew Symonds(Roy) pummelled the Aussie total to 317/7 in the stipulated 50 overs.

Chasing this total,India were off to a shaky start,having lost openers V. Sehwag and S. R. Tendulkar cheaply. No. 4 batter R. G. Sharma and star all-rounder Yuvraj Singh too failed to impress,as India were reduced to a precarious 51 for 4 in 10.2 overs.

But one man was looking absolutely calm and cool- Gautam Gambhir.

He tried to forge a partnership with skipper M. S. Dhoni.

As Dhoni was playing an extremely slow knock on that day(36 off 66 balls),Gambhir had to take up the role of the attacker.

If a batsman plays 11 full overs himself,and scores only 36 runs in those,then I guess you guys can well understand how high the required run rate becomes,especially when your team is chasing a 300+ total. And simultaneously,it puts a lot of pressure on the batter who’s batting alongside you.

Whatever,Dhoni’s struggle was finally ended by Lee,as he edged one to the keeper.

Finally,Gambhir found an able ally in the form of R. V. Uthappa.

They shared a quickfire 69 run stand in just 52 balls. But the required run rate had gone very very high by then.

Gautam Gambhir,the dashing Gautam Gambhir scored 113 off just 119 balls,with the help of 9 sweetly timed 4s and 1 huge 6. He reached his 100 off 109 balls.

Unfortunately,trying to up the anté,he stepped out of his crease,and misread a very ordinary delivery from Brad Hogg. He was stumped!!😑

After his dismissal,India collapsed completely.

Uthappa continued to heave mighty blows,while I. Pathan and Harbhajan too contributed small cameos,but those weren’t enough to chase down 317.

India ended on 299,handing Australia an 18 run win.

However,the match could have had a different result,had so many balls not been wasted by a single batsman in the middle overs.

Whatever,this innings of Gambhir was a great knock. Unfortunately,it ended in an unfortunate stump out.

Scorecard-

AUS vs IND Cricket Scorecard, 10th Match at Sydney, February 24, 2008

Live Cricket Scoreboard: Get Australia vs India 10th Match, cricket scorecard, Commonwealth Bank Series 2007/08 dated February 24, 2008.

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/commonwealth-bank-series-2007-08-291340/australia-vs-india-10th-match-291368/full-scorecard

Apologies- I couldn’t find an image of the toss of this match. Hence I had to enclose an image of the toss of the CWC 2011 Quarter final clash. My heartiest apologies for the inconvenience.

Why are Sachin Tendulkar’s Sharjah innings so famous?

 Ah! Being a cricket fan it's always a joy to talk about Sachin's Sharjah innings.

Let's go point by point.

1. Target: The target set by Aussies were 284 and 273. While it may not be a big deal today, but that was a daunting task way back in 1998. The average score in a 50 over match used to hover around 225–230. Hence, in such circumstances, any score above 250 was a tough nut to crack.
2. Batting under lights: While with the development of cricket, it might have become easier to chase in a day-night match. But during that time, all the team used to prefer to bat first in a day-night match.
3. Intent: In the match just before the finals, India had to score 254 to reach the finals. The score was later revised to 236 in 46 overs. While others were focused on getting the score of 236, there was one man who was playing to win the match, Sachin Tendulkar.
4. Single handed effort: Sachin scored 55% and 49% runs of the team in those two matches which clearly states that it was him vs the Aussies. On a pitch were other Indian batsmen were finding it tough to survive, Sachin was playing at more than run-a-ball.

5. The Opposition: Windies in 70s and Aussies in 90s were the team who could beat any team at any ground. If you are playing against the Australian side in the late 90s, it was assumed that you are going to lose the match. The Opposition had a formidable bowling attack in Shane Warne, Kapsrowicz, Fleming and Tom Moody. Sachin targeted their prime bowler Warne and ensured runs keep coming throughout the Indian batting.

6. Shots: He played every shot in the book. He cut, pulled, flicked and drove everything that came in his way. He came down the track and hit a fast bowler for a six over his head. This was something that was pretty unimaginable at that time. I believe these innings opened the floodgates to a plethora of attacking shots in the cricket history.

This innings was more about having the belief that Sachin had in himself. It was a single-handed superhuman effort from the ultimate cricketer world will ever see.

What are some of the best innings of Virender Sehwag?

 If a cricket historian twenty years from now were to glance at the score-card for the Chennai Test, 2008, it would take a bit for him to understand that why was Virender Sehwag chosen as Man of the Match for an inning of 83 despite Andrew Strauss two centuries in the match and Sachin's unbeaten match winning century in the fourth inning.

India v England, First test, Chennai, 2008.

It was a test which made England Captain Kevin Pietersen swallow the most bitter pill of his life.

It was a test held a month after Mumbai attack. Indian cricket fans needed a reason, no matter how little it was, to smile about.

On 11 December, 2008, Peterson won the toss and decided to bat.

Andrew Strauss showed how good he was against spin. He scored 123 as England made 316.

In a reply, Indian top order showed no resistance at all and they were reeling on 137 for 6 before a partnership between the captain Dhoni and Bhajji helped their team to reach to a respectable score of 241.

England was on top with a handy lead of 75. Andrew Strauss was unstoppable again in the 2nd inning. Paul Collingwood came on the top of his game too and they both defied everything Indian spinners threw at them. Both made 108.

They both batted together for 73 overs and chips looked down for Team India. When Strauss got out, the score was 257–4.

With one and half days to go in the match, a declaration from Peterson was the going to be the most vital decision of the match.

He waited more and more.

At 311–9, two hours left in the fourth day of play, Kevin Peterson called it off.

India got a target of 387 to chase in a fourth inning. A huge ask for any side in the world.

Let me remind you all that the highest score chased in the fourth innings to win a match in India was 276, by the West Indies in Delhi in 1987.

In Chennai, India's 155 for 8 in the third Test against Australia in 2001 remained the highest.

As the history suggested, it looked like a win for England already. A few Cricket experts, specially Englishmen, were a bit disappointed about the late declaration. They thought that Indian batsmen might pull off a draw from here if batted cautiously.

History was indeed a witness that even a draw from there would be a great escape for Team India.

But there was a man, to whom history didn't matter. Situation of the game didn't matter. Condition of the pitch didn't matter. Quality of the opposition didn't matter. What mattered the most for him was the faith in himself — The name is Virender Sehwag.

On the eve of 14th December 2008, Sehwag and Gambhir walked out there in the middle with a humongous task on their heads. They had 29 overs to see through the fourth day.

In the very first over of Anderson, Sehwag cracked two boundaries. The message from him was very clear, no blocking marathon for earning a draw.

He had decided to go for it.

Under the fading light on fourth day of the play, in a fourth inning of a test match, amidst the pressure of saving the match, against bowlers like Anderson, Harmison , Panesar and Swann, India's score reached 80 in just 10 overs with Sehwag on 61 off 39 balls.

That’s what Sehwag was capable of.

Look at this image. Just a Virender Sehwag kind of scenario.

(What a player he was!)

When he got out, India was 117 in 23 overs.

83 runs, 68 balls, 11 fours, 4 sixes.

It was kind of an inning which left the opposition clueless. They were horrified. They couldn't understand what was going on.

Pietersen couldn't have imagined that he would end up in a situation like this. He had happily declared the inning to wrap up the match, but just an hour later every bit of his happiness looked fading away.

He was like, ‘how could someone play like this when situation and condition of the game demnaded otherwise?’

They couldn't even smile when Sehwag got out. They were too horrified to celebrate.

By the time he got out, he had set a motion to an extraordinary run chase.

The next day, with a required run rate around 2.7, Sachin's century and Yuvi half century, India pulled off the highest chase ever on their own turf which would have been inconceivable without Sehwag's inning.

Despite Strauss's two epic centuries and Sachin's absolute masterclass in the fourth inning, Sehwag's 83 was voted for the Man of the match award.

The fact that he had scored big hundreds in quick time all over the world wasn’t enough to persuade the pundits. They thought that Sehwag’s big scores didn’t often lead to Indian victories. That day every doubt was put to bed. That day every sceptic was silenced. All it took was an inning of just 68 balls.

What's the best innings played by Rohit Sharma in International cricket?

 As Uthappa, provided a regulation to Graeme Smith, while trying to loft Morkel down the ground, Millions hearts skipped a beat in synchronization and why not? The batsman who rescued the ship against arch rivals Pakistan was now made a goner. But the night was perhaps not meant to be his.

61–4 in 10.3 overs, against the Mighty South African’s on their own turf.

But the question is how did we reach there?

It all started in the 5th over of India’s innings, as Gambhir lost his patience against a disciplined Pollock & played a shot which would’ve continued to haunt him forever, if not for the eventual results.

A ball later, debutant Dinesh Karthik flicked one straight into the hands of Albie Morkel and walked away without troubling the scoreboard. Tell you what, in the very first ball of the next over the dangerous Virender Sehwag nicked one off Ntini, behind the wicket & Boucher grabbed onto an absolute screamer.

3 wickets, in a space of 4 balls. With two of the most dependable batsman back in the hut.

Uthappa played a few elegant strokes but in a matter of a few deliveries, he was gone too.

With the South African Pace battery wrecking havoc with their intimidating bowling, and almost the last recognized pair of India batting, well, more often than not, wars would have been surrendered against the odds with little resistance, but a certain 20 year old stood there, trying to tackle everything that came in his way.

That Guy was Rohit Sharma.

A certain youngster playing his first game, who had become the talk of the town, as pundits called him the next big thing in Indian cricket, seeing his prowess in U-19 and domestics.

But there’s a hard fact about Cricket, or any competitive sport for a matter of fact. Each day is a separate one, each game brings forth it’s own unique set of challenges. And when you come across such uphill tasks—Your Past records, your reputation, none of them matter even a bit, all that matters is how you manage to stand still against the storm, absorbing all the mighty blows that come in your way.

And if you fail, all those Pundits who applauded you, would the be the first ones to come after you, with all guns blazing, questioning your worth.

Rohit took his time, got beaten by a few good ones, but didn’t rush.

It was as if he was in deep meditative mode, allowing himself to soak in all the pressure. But it was all a matter of time, before he broke his silence smoking Van der Wath for two back to back boundaries in the 10th over.

The Youngster was underway and the Durban’s canvas was ready to painted by Rohit’s eye pleasing display of stroke making for the next hour or so.

His stroke making was impeccable, there was a sort of lazy elegance in it. Whenever the Proteas gave him even a bit of room and he would pounce onto it.

Once he got set, even the good deliveries weren’t spared. Not many youngsters, are talented enough to dispatch, two similar type of deliveries in different parts of the ground, Rohit did so, in the last two balls of the 14th over, that too against Ntini—one of the best in the business.

It didn’t seem, even for a moment that this young lad was playing his 1st international game, his cricketing sense & pressure soaking ability made it seem, as if he were an experienced campaigner. With Skipper Dhoni(45 off 33), he stitched a partnership of 85 runs & took India to a respectable total, A total which would give their bowlers, the confidence to fight on.

And Guess how he concluded the innings?

With a typical Hitman-sque pull, which the fans would witness more often than not for the rest of his career.

His 50 was up, and as he walked out after the conclusion of the Indian innings, he was applauded and cheered by thousands of Indians, at the Durban, who danced in ecstasy.

Ravi Shastri who was in the Commentary Panel went on to say’

'India might have found a new player in the making’

And years hence, it seems how spot-on was he, Perhaps Rohit’s innings under pressure gave Shastri the sign of What-was-to-be.