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A Match of Many Records

July 20, 2021 11:55 IST

A 'second-string Indian team', as described by former Sri Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga, proved too strong for Sri Lanka in the first One-Day International.

Led by Shikhar Dhawan, the young Indian side chased down a victory target of 263 with 7 wickets and 80 balls to spare.

IMAGE: Shikhar Dhawan, right, celebrates taking the catch to dismiss Sri Lanka's Bhanuka Rajapaksa during the first ODI in Colombo on Sunday, July 18, 2021. Photograph: Dinuka Liyanawatte/Reuters

The match witnessed some important milestones being set and new records being made. Rajneesh Gupta takes a look at some of them.

Shikhar Dhawan led India for the first time in his 143rd match. Only two players have appeared in more ODIs before captaining India for the first time in a One-Day International.

 

Most matches before captaining India for the first time in an ODI

MtsPlayerOpponentVenueDateResult
217 Anil Kumble England Chennai 25-01-2002 Won
171 Rohit Sharma Sri Lanka Dharamsala 10-12-2017 Lost
142 Shikhar Dhawan Sri Lanka Colombo RPS 18-07-2021 Won
138 Rahul Dravid Zimbabwe Rajkot 14-12-2000 Won
129 Ajay Jadeja Kenya Bangalore 20-05-1998 Won
119 Sachin Tendulkar Sri Lanka Colombo RPS 28-08-1996 Lost
111 Krish Srikkanth West Indies Sharjah 13-10-1989 Lost
111 Sourav Ganguly West Indies Singapore 05-09-1999 Lost
104 Virat Kohli Sri Lanka Kingston 02-07-2013 Lost
100 Gautam Gambhir New Zealand Guwahati 28-11-2010 Won

 

Prithvi Shaw gave India a dazzling start as India raced away to 57 in the first five overs of their innings, with Prithvi scoring 43 of them. The young lad got out in the sixth over, but his innings of 43 off 24 balls (Strike Rate: 179.16) is one of the most whirlwind innings by an Indian opener in this format.

In fact, only Virender Sehwag has managed a better strike rate in an innings of 40 or more for India while opening the innings!

Highest strikerate in an ODI by an Indian opening batsman
(min.40 runs)

SRPlayerRunsBallsOpponentVenueDate
218.18 Virender Sehwag 48 22 Sri Lanka Colombo RPS 09-08-2005
185.00 Virender Sehwag 74 40 Pakistan Visakhapatnam 05-04-2005
184.37 Virender Sehwag 59 32 Bangladesh Mirpur 12-06-2008
179.16 Prithvi Shaw 43 24 Sri Lanka Colombo RPS 18-07-2021
177.27 Virender Sehwag 78 44 Hong Kong Karachi 25-06-2008
170.73 Robin Uthappa 70 41 West Indies Chennai 27-01-2007
170.37 Krish Srikkanth 46 27 Sri Lanka Mumbai 17-01-1987

 

Shikhar Dhawan celebrated his elevation to the captaincy by scoring a match-winning unbeaten knock of 86. Only one Indian player -- Sachin Tendulkar -- has scored more runs on ODI captaincy debut for India. Take a look:

Highest scores on ODI captaincy debut (for India)

ScorePlayerAgainstVenueDate
110 Sachin Tendulkar Sri Lanka Colombo RPS 28-08-1996
86* Shikhar Dhawan Sri Lanka Colombo RPS 19-07-2021
67 Ajit Wadekar England Leeds 13-07-1974
50 Ravi Shastri Pakistan Indore 27-01-1987
50 Ajay Jadeja Kenya Bangalore 20-05-1998
49 Kapil Dev Sri Lanka Amritsar 12-09-1982

 

During the course of his innings Shikhar aggregated his 6,000 runs in this format, thus becoming the tenth Indian and 63rd player in the world to accomplish this feat.

Dhawan's feat of taking only 140 innings makes him the fourth quickest to reach this mark.

Fastest to 6,000 runs in ODIs

InnsPlayer
123 Hashim Amla (SA)
136 Virat Kohli (Ind)
139 Kane Williamson (NZ)
140 Shikhar Dhawan (Ind)
141 Viv Richards (WI)
141 Joe Root (Eng)
147 AB de Villiers (SA)
147 Sourav Ganguly (Ind)

 

Sri Lanka is one of Shikhar's most favourite opponents. He has now aggregated 1,069 runs against them with four hundreds and six fifties.

It took Shikhar only 17 innings to aggregate 1,000 runs against the island nation, making him the fastest among all batsmen to reach this landmark against Sri Lanka.

Fastest to 1000 ODI runs vs Sri Lanka

InnsPlayer
17 Shikhar Dhawan (Ind)
18 Hashim Amla (SA)
20 Sourav Ganguly (Ind)
21 Quinton de Kock (SA)
22 Brian Lara (WI)
22 MS Dhoni (Ind)

 

Ishan Kishan, making his ODI debut, played a scintillating innings of 59 runs off 42 balls. Earlier this year, Ishan had scored 56 off 32 on his Twenty20 International debut against England.

Ishan is now one of the only two players to have scored a fifty on both T20I and ODI debut, joining the ranks with South African Rassie van der Dussen.

Players scoring a fifty on both ODI & T20I debuts

PlayerDebutScore (Balls)
Ishan Kishan T20I debut : v Eng, Ahmedabad, 14-03-2021 56 (32)
ODI debut : v SL, Colombo RPS, 18-07-2021 59 (42)
Rassie van der Dussen T20I debut : v Zim, East London, 09-10-2018 56 (44)
ODI debut : v Pak, Port Elizabeth, 19-01-2019 93 (101)

 

It took Ishan only 33 balls to race to his fifty, which makes it the second fastest fifty by a player on his ODI debut.

Interestingly, the record is held by another Indian -- Krunal Pandya -- who scored a 26-ball fifty against England earlier this year.

Fastest ODI fifty by a debutant

BallsPlayerScoreForVsVenueDate
26 Krunal Pandya 58* India England Pune 23-03-2021
33 Ishan Kishan 59 India Sri Lanka Colombo RPS 18-07-2021
35 Roland Butcher 52 England Australia Birmingham 22-08-1980
35 John Morris 63* England New Zealand Adelaide 01-12-1990
37 Ben Hollioake 63 England Australia Lord's 25-05-1997

 

By a strange quirk of fate, it was also Ishan's birthday. A total of 30 players (including four other Indians) have scored a fifty on their ODI debut. Ishan is the only one to do so on his birthday.

Indian players scoring a fifty on their birthday

PlayerScoreOpponentVenueDateBirthday
Vinod Kambli 100* England Jaipur 18-01-1993 21st
Navjot Sidhu 65* West Indies Mumbai WS 20-10-1994 31st
Sachin Tendulkar 134 Australia Sharjah 24-04-1998 25th
Yusuf Pathan 50* England Indore 17-11-2008 26th
Ishan Kishan 59 Sri Lanka Colombo RPS 18-07-2021 23rd

 

India have now registered 92 wins against Sri Lanka in the ODIs, which is the joint-most for a side against a particular opponent.

Australia (v New Zealand) and Pakistan (also v Sri Lanka) have also recorded 92 wins. India may soon have the record on their own.

Most wins against a particular opponent in ODIs

WinsMatchesForVs
92 138 Australia New Zealand
92 155 Pakistan Sri Lanka
92 160 India Sri Lanka

 

13 teams have played ODIs against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka with a combined tally of 90 wins and 155 losses.

India are the only team to have registered more wins than losses vs Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka! (29 wins and 27 losses in 62 games now).

 

 

RAJNEESH GUPTA