A blast from cricketing history: Six times legends went berserk in ODIs in the 1980s

#6 Viv Richards – 181 (125 balls) – West Indies vs Sri Lanka (13th Oct 1987)

Still a rookie team in 1987, Sri Lanka had the misfortune of coming across a determined Viv Richards. In the company of Desmond Haynes, King Viv dismantled the Sri Lankan bowling attack as West Indies hacked their way to then highest ODI score, 360/4 in their 50 overs.

The fans that had thronged to the Karachi National Stadium were given an exhibition of power-hitting as Viv Richards cracked 16 fours and 7 sixes (unprecedented in those days), dispatching bowlers to all parts of the ground.

His last 81 runs came of a mere 33 balls, and but for an untimely dismissal this could have very well been ODI cricket’s first ever double century, a good 23 years before it actually happened. Now, if that’s not an innings well ahead of it’s time.

Viv Richards was truly a pioneer of ODI batting.