3 instances of two Indians scoring 100s in the same ODI against Pakistan

Off late, no records have seemed difficult for the Indian openers to break in ODIs. And with a brilliant performance against Pakistan in their second ‘Super Four’ game in the ongoing Asia Cup 2018, they added yet another feather to their big cap of records. Both Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma scored centuries and shared a 210-run stand for the first wicket.

Rohit Sharma scored an unbeaten 111* runs while Shikhar Dhawan scored 114 runs. This is only the third instance where two Indian players scored a century each in the same ODI match played against Pakistan. Let us revisit all these three instances

Sachin Tendulkar – Navjot Singh Sidhu in Sharjah (1996)

Having opted to bat first, India lost debutant Vikram Rathour very early. Sachin Tendulkar and Navjot Singh Sidhu then launched a rescue act with a 231-run partnership for the second wicket. En route to this big partnership, the duo scored centuries each – Sachin scored 118 off 140 deliveries while Sidhu scored 101 off 117 deliveries. This was the first instance for India to register two centuries in the same ODI match played against Pakistan.

Mohammad Azharuddin played a cameo in the end scoring an unbeaten 29* runs off just 10 deliveries. Courtesy of all these knocks, India finished with 305 for 5 in their 50 overs. This was the first time in the Indian cricket history that they registered a 300+ total in an ODI. Their previous best ODI team total was 299 for 4 against Sri Lanka.

Pakistan, in reply, were bowled out for just 277 runs, giving India a 28-run victory. Having scored a century with the bat and picked up 2 wickets with the ball, Sachin Tendulkar received the ‘Player of the Match’ award in this game.

Virender Sehwag – Rahul Dravid in Kochi (2005)

Virender Sehwag

It was a complete sloppy batting performance by the Indians apart from Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid, who stood out from the others, scoring a century each. Sehwag scored 108 runs off 95 deliveries while Rahul Dravid scored 104 runs off 139 deliveries. The third best score in India’s scorecard in this game was 23 Extras! Courtesy the two centuries from Dravid and Sehwag, India crawled to 281 for 8 in 50 overs.

After posting such a total, India did not seem to have a chance even during the innings break. But a brilliant bowling performance from Sachin Tendulkar got them home and by a huge margin!

Chasing 282 to win, Pakistan crumbled to 194, giving India an 87-run victory. Sachin picked up 5 wickets while Lakshmipathy Balaji, Zaheer Khan, and Ashish Nehra shared the other five wickets.

Noticeably, Zaheer Khan bowled a five-ball over in this match against Pakistan. In the sixth over of the match, the standing umpire India’s Arani Jayaprakash called it as ‘Over’ after Zaheer Khan delivered just five deliveries.

Shikhar Dhawan – Rohit Sharma in Dubai (2018)

Shikhar Dhawan

After all the hype going into the Asia Cup 2018 tournament, both the India versus Pakistan battles resulted in two lop-sided affairs, both in favour of India. India defeated Pakistan by a margin of 8 wickets in the first game while in the second game, they registered a 9-wicket victory.

In the second clash between these two arch-rivals in the tournament, Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma set the tone upfront stitching a 210-run stand for the first wicket while chasing 238 runs for victory. Rohit scored an unbeaten 111* while Dhawan departed run-out after scoring 114 runs.

Pakistan opted to bat first and courtesy a half-century from Shoaib Malik, got to 237 for 7 in their 50 overs. India, in reply, chased down the target with 9 wickets in hand. This is the first instance for India to beat Pakistan by a margin of 9 or more wickets in an ODI. During this game, Rohit Sharma (in 181 innings) became the fifth fastest to 7000 ODI career runs.

The 210 run opening partnership between Dhawan and Rohit is also the highest opening stand for India in ODIs against any team while chasing. India’s previous best for the opening wicket while chasing was the unbeaten 201* run stand between Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag against New Zealand in Hamilton in 2009.