Indian cricket has scaled new peaks since the time it started playing ODI cricket. Out of the 868 matches played till Christmas of 2014, trying to identify 50 ODIs is a big task. Being an Indian fan, I will focus on the wins alone - did you expect anything else? This made my answer easy but it was relative - 437 wins and 50 wins to highlight meant that I need to pick 11% of the overall wins that India has managed.
With the World Cup around the corner, I thought that it was the right time to focus on the best Indian wins to bring positive energies to the Indian team. If the teams can replicate these victories in their campaign, they will do well to retain the Cup. 28 years separated the two World Cup wins and we don't wish to wait so long for the next one.
Indian journey in the ODI field has not been smooth sailing over the years. There have been great highs as well as forgetful lows. But, as I mentioned earlier, I will focus on the wins only. The losses are meant for another day and post-mortem has been done quite often. I am not sure if one will remember all these wins but the idea here is to jog everyone's memory back the ages.
40 years and 50 wins is not really easy and in some cases, I have combined couple of matches into one entry as they are related to each other. For instance, the Sachin Tendulkar matches in Sharjah against Australia (even though one match was lost, I have combined the two matches as one). Whether it was 1998 when the Indian team won their highest-in-a-year 24 matches or the earlier stages when they won just one match in a year, all of them were considered.
There are few statistics that are staggering to say the least. For example, did you know that for the last eight years, barring 2012 (when India played only nine ODIs), the highest Indian score has been a minimum of 380 runs! Four of the last six years have the Indian team surpassed 400 runs in an innings. Staggering isn't it? I know that most of you will immediately jump at this stat and say that these were achieved in batting-friendly sub-continental pitches. My argument is that other teams have also played on the same pitches - let it be South Africa or Australia. Why have they not been able to post the same?
Anyway, let us revisit the 50 wins and rejoice. May the Indian team win the World Cup 2015!
With the World Cup around the corner, I thought that it was the right time to focus on the best Indian wins to bring positive energies to the Indian team. If the teams can replicate these victories in their campaign, they will do well to retain the Cup. 28 years separated the two World Cup wins and we don't wish to wait so long for the next one.
Indian journey in the ODI field has not been smooth sailing over the years. There have been great highs as well as forgetful lows. But, as I mentioned earlier, I will focus on the wins only. The losses are meant for another day and post-mortem has been done quite often. I am not sure if one will remember all these wins but the idea here is to jog everyone's memory back the ages.
40 years and 50 wins is not really easy and in some cases, I have combined couple of matches into one entry as they are related to each other. For instance, the Sachin Tendulkar matches in Sharjah against Australia (even though one match was lost, I have combined the two matches as one). Whether it was 1998 when the Indian team won their highest-in-a-year 24 matches or the earlier stages when they won just one match in a year, all of them were considered.
There are few statistics that are staggering to say the least. For example, did you know that for the last eight years, barring 2012 (when India played only nine ODIs), the highest Indian score has been a minimum of 380 runs! Four of the last six years have the Indian team surpassed 400 runs in an innings. Staggering isn't it? I know that most of you will immediately jump at this stat and say that these were achieved in batting-friendly sub-continental pitches. My argument is that other teams have also played on the same pitches - let it be South Africa or Australia. Why have they not been able to post the same?
Anyway, let us revisit the 50 wins and rejoice. May the Indian team win the World Cup 2015!
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