5 feats yet to be accomplished in ODI cricket

One Day International (ODI) as the name suggests gets completed in a single day, with both the competing teams allotted a fixed number of overs in their respective innings.

The advent of ODI cricket was almost by accident. After the first three days of the 1971 Ashes Test match between Australia and England in Melbourne was washed out due to rain, the two teams agreed to play a limited-overs game of 40 'eight-ball' overs each.

Compared to Tests played over five days and four innings, ODIs are a relatively new format which came about barely 50 years ago. India (987), Australia (949), and Pakistan (927) lead the tally of most games played amongst a group of 24 nations and 3 special XIs to have played ODI cricket. On that note, let us have a look at 5 as of yet unaccomplished feats in this format of the game.

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#1 Century by a player at number 8 or lower

Chris Woakes during his innings of 95 not out against Sri Lanka in 2016.

Unlike Tests, where each of the batting positions except no. 11 has had a hundred, in ODIs no player batting at no. 8 or further down has reached a three-figure score. England all-rounder Chris Woakes' unbeaten innings of 95 against Sri Lanka in a tied ODI game against Sri Lanka in Nottingham in 2016 is the highest score achieved by a player coming out to bat at no. 8 or lower.

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#2 50 ODI centuries

Sachin Tendulkar

Amongst a plethora of other records, Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar holds the records of most runs (18426), most centuries (49), and most fifties (96) in ODIs.

Also see – World Test Championship Schedule

Tendulkar scored his 100th international century (51 in Tests, 49 in ODIs) against Bangladesh in an ODI in Mirpur in 2012 which the visitors lost by five wickets. The all-time ODI top-scorer leads present Indian captain Virat Kohli (43) in the most centuries list. In List A cricket, Tendulkar (with 60) is the only player to have scored 50 centuries, but 11 of those innings did not come in ODIs.

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#3 100 fifties in ODIs

Tendulkar made his 96th ODI fifty in what turned out to be the final ODI in 2012 against Pakistan

Like in the case of centuries, Tendulkar also owns the record for most fifties (96) in ODIs. He scored his 96th and final fifty against Pakistan in an Asia Cup match in Dhaka in 2012, which eventually turned out to be the final ODI of his career.

Although 35 different players have scored more than a 100 fifties in List A cricket, no one has managed to accomplish the same in ODIs alone. This feat looks likely to stay unconquered for quite some time as the three closest players to Tendulkar in terms of most ODI fifties have all retired from the game.

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#4 500 dismissals by a wicket-keeper

MS Dhoni adding a dismissal to his tally

A dismissal by a wicket-keeper includes either a catch or a stumping. Only four wicket-keepers in ODI history have accomplished 400 plus dismissals. Kumar Sangakkara (482) of Sri Lanka leads Australian Adam Gilchrist (472), former Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (444), and South African Mark Boucher (424) for most dismissals by a keeper.

Steve Rhodes (661) leads a group of 8 wicket-keepers to have effected 500 or more dismissals in List A cricket.

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#5 Scoring an ODI century in 4 different decades

Shoaib Malik

Pakistan all-rounder Shoaib Malik joined an exclusive club of only 8 players to have played international cricket (Tests, ODIs, T20s) in 4 different decades when he took the field against Bangladesh in a T20 in Lahore in 2020.

Of the octet, only Malik, Tendulkar, and Sanath Jayasuriya have played ODIs in four different decades, with only the Mumbai batsman scoring an ODI century in three different decades. The feat of scoring an ODI hundred in 4 different decades remains one of the elusive feats in this format of the game.