Team India are on a fantastic ‘winning run’ at the moment. As they bid to take South Africa in their own backyard, the latter have every right to fear the number 1 ODI team! Here’s the reason why:
Team India are on a fantastic ‘winning run’ at the moment. As they bid to take South Africa in their own backyard, the latter have every right to fear the number 1 ODI team! Here’s the reason why:
- In ODIs, India is currently ranked number one in the world while in Test cricket they are just behind the top country — South Africa — who they will take on in a two-Test series next month.
- India won the Champions Trophy for the first time in an outright manner (India were joint winners back in 2002) when they beat hosts England by five runs in July.
- India registered 22 victories out of 31 ODIs in this calendar year. India’s best performance in a year is 24 wins, which came back in 1998. Thus, three more triumphs and India will set a new record for the most wins in a year. (India has three games in South Africa to achieve that.)
- With the win at Kanpur, India have now registered their 50th victory over West Indies (in 112 ODIs). The West Indies thus became the third nation to lose 50 or more matches to India after Sri Lanka (78 defeats in 143 games) and Pakistan (50 in 125 outings). India thus became only the fourth country after Australia (6), Pakistan (4) and West Indies (3) to register at least 50 wins against three or more teams.
- The top three spots in the ODI runs list in 2013 is occupied by Indians: Virat Kohli (1237 runs at 56.22 in 31 matches), Rohit Sharma (1159 runs at 55.19 in 25 games) and Shikhar Dhawan (1150 runs at 54.76 in 23 ODIs). This gives an idea of just how dominant India’s top three batsmen have been.
- The five centuries scored by Shikhar Dhawan in just 23 matches is the most by any player during this calendar year. All his five centuries in a career lasting 28 ODIs have been recorded in this year only, making him the quickest to do so in the least number of matches, leaving aside the previous fastest in 33 ODIs by Netherlands’ RN ten Doeschate.
- Virat Kohli has crossed the 50-run mark seven times in his last nine outings in ODIs. His precious nine scores read: 68 not out, 61, 100 not out, 68, 115 not out, 0, 86, 99 and 19.
- Ravindra Jadeja became only the third Indian after Anil Kumble (61 wickets in 1996) and Ajit Agarkar (58 in 1998) to claim more than 50 wickets in the ODIs this year. He, along with Pakistan’s Saeed Ajmal, are the only two bowlers to have accomplished this feat in 2013.
- For the first time ever, India has registered six successive Test victories, making a clean sweep of both the home series against Australia (4 matches) and West Indies (2). Further, three of these Tests were won inside three days!
- The in-form Indian opening pair of Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma has strung together six century partnerships in ODIs this year and can surpass the current world record (which they share with compatriots Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar who did it in 2007) for the most three-figure stands by a pair in a year, if they manage to post one more century stand in three games in South Africa.
- Rohit Sharma has enjoyed an incredible year. After guiding Mumbai Indians to victories in both the IPL and CLT20, he bagged the coveted Man of the Series awards in both the ODI series against Australia and the Test series against West Indies. He also became only the third player in ODI history to post a double century in an innings and the fifth to have scored back-to-back centuries in the first two innings of a Test career.
- Three Indian players made their entry into international cricket most memorable: Shikhar Dhawan, who notched up the highest score for India (187 against Australia), Rohit Sharma scoring back-to-back hundreds in his first two Tests career versus West Indies and Mohammed Shami claiming nine Test wickets against West Indies.
- The spin duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja holds the top spot in the list for the most wickets in a winning cause in international matches in 2013. The former has captured 70 victims while the latter has 68 wickets. They have three ODIs and two Tests in South Africa to further enhance their tally. It is already a record for an Indian pair in any year.
- Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s series-turning innings of 224 against Australia in the Chennai Test made him the first Indian wicketkeeper to score a double century.
India in ODIs
Played 31
Won 22
Lost 8
No Result 1India in Test
Played 6
Won 6
