Top five ODI knocks by a Pakistan batsman against India

1. Saeed Anwar (194 runs off 146 balls – Chennai, May 1997)

2-2-6-6-6-4 : it is a number that former India Test captain Anil Kumble is not likely to forget in a hurry. The crowd at Chennai also did something that was then unheard of in matches involving the two sides – it gave a standing ovation to a man whose innings became the stuff of folklore and wrote a glittering chapter in the annals of cricket.

Saeed Anwar, a long-standing prolific opening batsman for Pakistan, battled not only India’s bowlers, but also the energy-sapping humidity due to the extreme temperatures that Chennai is well known for. The resulting loss of fluid and exhaustion caused cramps, necessitating the use of opening partner Afridi (who had been dismissed early) as a runner. The Indians figured that they had a chance of getting the entrenched opener out given his physical discomfort.

They were wrong.

The left-hander proceeded to play an innings of controlled aggression, hammering 118 runs in boundaries, including the 24 runs he scored off Kumble – three consecutive sixes in that over reflected not only his skill, but also a measure of his dominance over the bowling. Venkatesh Prasad, who was a nemesis for left-handers in those times, conceded plenty of runs in his spell; such was the fluency of Anwar’s batting.

In the process, the veteran left-hander went past Viv Richards’ 189 to set a new record for the highest individual score in ODIs. He top-edged a sweep off Tendulkar to fine-leg in the 47th over, but his 194 had already pushed Pakistan to a mammoth total of 327. And though India made a fist of the chase, with Dravid scoring his maiden ODI century, they fell short by 35 runs.

What this game showed was the level of cricket on offer throughout, and impressed by the tenacity shown by a weary Anwar, the crowd accorded him a standing ovation. For millions of Indian fans though, it was yet another surrender to the arch-rivals that they would take some time to get over. Terrific stuff!