Indian Team scores of 300 and more in ODI

There is debate on whether the advent of T20 has sounded death-knell of the One dayers…. Interestingly, it is not actually One dayers but limited overs Cricket – as informed followers well know – the inaugural World Cup in 1975 was 60 overs a side and stretched for days… in fact in 1983 too, India played an defeated mighty West Indies in the first match, which went for days….

Statistically, it was on 13^th July 1974 that India played its first ever One Day International  at Headlingley, Leeds, England. India made a very good score though they did not last the quota of 55 overs.. they were all out for 265 in 53.5 overs.  Brijesh Patel with 82 off 78 balls with 2 sixers and 8 fours was the top scorer; Wadekar made 67 off 82 with 10 fours.  India lost that match by 4 wickets probably due to inexperience.

Limited over matches (60 overs; 55 overs and now mostly 50 overs matches) are exactly 40 years old.  When it rained and the third Test at Melbourne was a near wash out, officials decided to have a limited over match of 40 overs each (8 ball over) and thus the first ODI was played on 5 January 1971 between Australia and England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.  Australia won the game by 5 wickets.  Cricket has travelled a long way…

For long scores of 220-230 were considered good enough to defend and scores of 250+ were considered – sure win totals….. and we cried when India made mess of sub 200 totals too….. countries upped the ante and scored 300+ -  India was late.  Their first score of 300+ came 22 years after their first One dayer. That was on 15^th April 1996 at Sharjah when India batting first made 305/5 and won against arch rivals Pakistan. 

The heavy bats, strategies, smaller grounds and will, determination and  stronger minds have changed the way Cricket has been played !!

If you are to wonder – how many 300+ scores India has made since.. it is  ‘73’…….

Span	Mat	Won	Lost	Tied
1974-2013	832	418	373	6
1996-2013	73	59	13	1

~ and those have come in the following manner :

Vs Australia 6; Vs  Bangladesh -2; Vs Bermuda- 1; Vs. England- 10; Vs Hongkong 1; Vs Kenya 2; Vs. Namibia 1; Vs Newzealand 5; Vs. Pakistan 12; Vs. South Africa 5; Vs. Sri Lanka 16; Vs. West Indies 7; Vs Zimbabwe 5 = Grand total of 73.      

Here is the top 10 scores of India

Score	Overs	RPO	Opposition	Ground
418/5	50	8.36	v West Indies	Indore
414/7	50	8.28	v Sri Lanka	Rajkot
413/5	50	8.26	v Bermuda	Port of Spain
401/3	50	8.02	v South Africa	Gwalior
392/4	50	7.84	v New Zealand	Christchurch
387/5	50	7.74	v England	Rajkot
376/2	50	7.52	v New Zealand	Hyderabad (Deccan)
374/4	50	7.48	v Hong Kong	Karachi
373/6	50	7.46	v Sri Lanka	Taunton
370/4	50	7.4	v Bangladesh	Dhaka

With regards – S. Sampathkumar. 

3^rd Oct 2013.