Top 5 series deciders in one-day cricket

Series deciders in ODIs are some of the most intriguing matches in the game. The method by which an opposition levels any series before trailing from a considerable margin is always interesting to watch.

Series deciders also determine how well a team learns from their past mistakes and how they can quickly adapt to turn the tables on their opposition. Such matches also determine how well a team can dig in to take the opposition to the limit in spite of being the underdogs.

Some series deciders result in more excitement while the others culminate in one-sided affairs after making the series exciting early on. Here, we look at five of the most interesting series deciders in One-day internationals.

5. Pakistan vs South Africa, 5th ODI at Lahore, 29th October 2007

South Africa had a successful start against Pakistan by winning the Test series early on. The action moved to the five-match one-day series. South Africa took off from where they left by making a scintillating start to the one-day series by winning the first match by 45 runs.

Pakistan clawed their way back to win the next two one-dayers. After South Africa had clinched the fourth one-dayer, the last was set for a slugfest.

South Africa, in the last one-day, batting first had put on a mediocre score of 233. Shoaib Akhtar was the star bowler for Pakistan with three wickets. A hard fought innings of 86 by Jacques Kallis, a half-century from Gibbs and an invaluable contribution from Duminy gave the South African team something to bowl at.

After early losses, Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf stitched a partnership of 107 which brought Pakistan right back in the game. At the end of 30th over, Pakistan hit the self-destruct button and handed over the momentum to South Africa. Younis Khan fell to Shaun Pollock and Mohammad Yousuf fell to JP Duminy after four overs.

Shoaib, Misbah Ul-Haq and Shahid Afridi threw their wickets away when it was needed for them to just hang in there for a while and build a stable partnership. The rest of the batsmen fell in a space of three overs and Pakistan got bowled out for 219 and South Africa won the series by a 3-2 scoreline.

4. India vs Australia, 5th ODI at Margao, 6th April 2001

Prior to the one-day series, India turned things around massively in the Test series after the 1st test. The 2nd Test in Kolkata witnessed one of the historic partnerships in Test cricket from Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman after being forced to follow-on. The partnership of 376 combined with Harbhajan Singh's six-wicket haul scripted India to one of their famous Test wins. India ultimately went on to win the series by winning the third as well.

India carried the psychological advantage by making a winning start to the one-day series as well. Australia won two one-dayers comfortably as well to remain in contention to win the ODI series. The fifth one-dayer was down for a slugfest.

India, electing to bat first had scored a competitive 265 on the back of Ganguly's attacking half-century and VVS Laxman's patient century. Gilchrist, at the top, took the attack to the opposition and along with Matthew Hayden crusaded to an opening partnership of 70 in ten overs.

The departure of Ponting, Waugh, Lehmann, and Symonds for low scores had put the responsibility on Michael Bevan. And Michael Bevan didn't disappoint. Michael Bevan, being one of the best finishers in the game along with Ian Harvey put on an unbeaten partnership of 67. The partnership sealed the game and the series for Australia with Bevan remaining not out on 87 from 113 balls.

3. Australia vs West Indies, 5th ODI at St. Lucia, 25th March 2012

Australia unexpectedly faced a monumental challenge against the West Indies. Australia toured West Indies after a successful tri-series win against India and Sri Lanka.

The first two games were low-scoring ones with either team taking each. The third one-day which was yet another low-scoring thriller which resulted in a tie. Chasing a paltry score of 220, West Indies lost five wickets for just 78 runs. However, they fought admirably well but Australia kept the fight coming and bowled West Indies for 220.

The fourth game was comprehensively taken by West Indies. Kieron Pollard scored an impressive and a destructive century and was dismissed in the third last delivery of the innings for 102. If that was a special innings from Pollard, there was another important one from Darren Sammy which led West Indies to a match-winning total of 281.

Australia's batsmen had put on a string of good starts, however, David Hussey and Bret Lee were the only ones with substantial scores to their names. Lack of partnerships resulted in Australia losing by 42 runs.

West Indies walked into the decider leading the series by 2-1. Australia had a strong start to their innings, batting first with both Warner and Watson scoring half-centuries. Peter Forrest chipped in with yet another fifty of his own. Boundaries being deserted in the death overs meant that Australia ended up with 281 from their fifty overs.

West Indies had another poor start to their innings with none of their top-order batsmen making it count. West Indies had crumbled to 118-7, staring at a massive defeat. The skipper Sammy along with Andre Russell sparked an enormous turnaround by adding 101 runs for the eighth wicket.

Andre Russell fell for 41 with West Indies still needing 62 runs to win. Darren Sammy kept the runs coming, however, with the tail in, West Indies were unraveling fast. West Indies needed 31 off 18 deliveries when Sammy heaved one into the leg side only to find Hussey.

Australia survived a mighty scare and a brave innings from Sammy. Sammy's quest to resurrect the innings was successful but his scintillating innings couldn't prevent Australia from drawing the series.

2. Zimbabwe vs Sri Lanka, 5th ODI at Hambantota, 10th July 2017.

Zimbabwe may be an underdog team, however, in this very series, they played like a champion team. The series started with Zimbabwe gunning down the highest chase in a one-day match in Sri-Lanka with Solomon Mire scoring his first century. The next two one-dayers were clinched by Sri-Lanka quite comfortably.

The third one-day was again taken by Zimbabwe narrowly. In the series finale, Zimbabwe's spectacular bowling performance restricted Sri Lanka to 203.

Zimbabwe, in pursuit of 204, had a brilliant start. Hamilton Masakadza and Solomon Mire racked up an opening stand of 92. Just when it looked, Zimbabwe were cruising to a historic series win, their batting order was crumbling in a spit. Sikandar Raza was the last hope for Zimbabwe and he repaid the same.

An unbeaten but a jittery eighth wicket partnership between Sikandar Raza and Graeme Cremer got Zimbabwe home with more than eleven overs to spare. The series win was a ground-breaking one for Zimbabwean cricket as this was the first bilateral series win for Zimbabwe against Sri Lanka. Hamilton Masakadza was named the man of the series for 258 runs from five matches.

1. Australia vs South Africa, 5th ODI at Johannesburg, 12th March, 2006.

The greatest ever series decider was played between Australia and South Africa on 12th March 2006. The match alone had records tumbling one by one and is still remembered as the greatest ODI match ever played.

Australia and South Africa have had some fierce rivalry over the years with the audience witnessing some of the greatest matches, including the 1999 World Cup semi-final. South Africa, in the five-match series had won the first two matches quite comfortably. Australia had clawed their way back to win the next two.

Australia had started the fifth one-day tremendously well. A mammoth opening partnership by Gilchrist and Katich followed by the run-machine Ricky Ponting's century had put Australia on the driver's seat. The late rally by Hussey and Symonds had left South Africa chase 435 which in itself had to be the record-breaking chase in order to win the series.

South Africa, chasing 435 had started weakly by losing Dippenaar in the second over itself. The partnership between Graeme Smith and Herschelle Gibbs had set the tone for the remaining overs to come. Both of them put on almost a double-century partnership to revive the innings. Australia got an important breakthrough in the form of the skipper Smith when he departed for 90. Gibbs, still being there now shared substantial partnerships along with Kallis and de Villiers. Gibbs had departed in the 32nd over for an outstanding innings of 175.

Mark Boucher and Johan van der Wath combined with Telemachus had kept the boundaries and the runs coming. The match was down to the final over with South Africa requiring seven runs with two wickets in hand. The first four deliveries fetched six runs for South Africa and a wicket for Australia in the third delivery.

With one run requiring from the final delivery, Boucher hit a boundary to win the series and the greatest match of all.

Glenn McGrath and Shaun Pollock were sorely missed by Australia and South Africa respectively, resulting in a run-fest. Ricky Ponting and Herschelle Gibbs were awarded the joint winners for the man of the match.