Top 10 brutal innings in ODI cricket

1. Shahid Afridi (102 vs Sri Lanka, 1996)

When you get to bat for the first time in only your second international game, you tend to be a bit watchful. You want to score as many runs as you can while staying in for as long as possible.

Shahid Afridi, the teenage leg-spinner, ignored the first thought in favour of the second, and to his credit, it worked well.

The 16-year old launched into the Sri Lankan attack from the word go, sending his second ball into the stands. From then on, the pinch hitter turned the game completely in his side’s favour.

With veteran batsman Saeed Anwar watching from the other end, Afridi completely cut loose, singling out the left-arm spin of Sanath Jayasuriya for special treatment. In the two overs that the Sri Lankan bowled to him, the teenager plundered 41 runs without so much as the blink of an eye.

He repeatedly danced down the track against the spinners, even flummoxing the old fox Muttiah Muralitharan, and used his powerful forearms to devastating effect.

When he was finally dismissed, Afridi had scored exactly 102 runs from just forty balls, having reached his maiden ODI hundred in 37. He smashed 11 sixes, most of which landed in the car park, and half-a-dozen boundaries, as Sri Lanka bled runs like gushing waterfalls.

For the record, Anwar also chipped in with another century, lifting Pakistan to beyond 350. Aravinda de Silva’s three-figure knock brought the Lankans close, but the mountain of runs was too steep to climb, and they eventually fell short by 82 runs.