New Zealand vs India 2020: Shreyas Iyer goes past Ian Chappell to create new world record

Shreyas Iyer scored another half-century against New Zealand in the third ODI at Mount Maunganui and continued with his purple patch. In his short ODI career of 17 games so far, Iyer has scored eight half-centuries and one century and has surpassed Ian Chappell to create a new world record.

The 25-year-old is now the batsman with the highest percentage of 50+ scores in ODIs with nine in 16 innings at a percentage of 56.25%. The record was earlier held by Ian Chappell, who had eight fifties in 16 innings.

Also see – ICC Women’s T20 world cup schedule

Highest percentage of 50+ scores (min. 10 innings):

56.2% (9/16): Shreyas Iyer (IND)

50.0% (8/16): Ian Chappell (AUS)

50.0% (5/10): Aaqib Ilyas (OMN)

44.5% (8/18): Anshuman Rath (HK)

43.7% (7/16): Rassie van der Dussen (SA)

Ever since the conclusion of the 2015 ODI World Cup, India have tried a number of batsmen at the number four position, like Ajinkya Rahane, Dinesh Karthik, Ambati Rayudu, Vijay Shankar, MS Dhoni, etc., and the instability in the middle-order cost them dearly in the 2019 World Cup semifinal.

However, since then, Shreyas Iyer has been provided with consistent chances at number four and he has almost nailed his position down with some fantastic performances, averaging a whopping 56.80 (which is more than the other batsmen who played at that position). It seems that India have finally found the right candidate for the vacant number four slot.