Pakistan Wins 5th ODI To Win Digicel Series 3-1

            Pakistan has won the final match of Digicel Series and also the Digicel Series 3-1. West Indies needed to win this final match to finish the bilateral series 2-2 but they failed to do so. Pakistan who was leading 2-1 prior to this match won the final match comprehensively by 4 wickets. Pakistan skipper again proved why he is the best batsman in the Pakistan batting line up even at the age of 39+ years.

Pakistan Wins Digicel Series 3-1

Toss : Pakistan won the toss and decided to field first.

West Indies Batting

West Indies opened their innings with the openers Charles and D Smith. But they lost the wicket of Smith and next in Darren Bravo in quick time within the score of 44. Samuels added 54 runs with the opener Charles before Charles got out scoring 43. Chris Gayle failed again and scored only 21 runs. Gayle was followed by the set batsman Samuels and Simmons quickly. West Indies could score only 170 runs losing 5 wickets in 45^th over.

Dwayne Bravo Scored Quick 48 runs

Captain Bravo came at no. 7 and added quick runs in last overs with the former skipper Darren Sammy. Dwayne Bravo scored quick 48 runs from only 27 deliveries while Sammy scored 29 runs in 18 balls together they added 23 runs. Bravo top scored in West Indies inning with 48 runs and he hit 5 boundaries and 3 lusty sixes to help West Indies to put up a respectable total of 242 runs on the board.    

Bowling

Md. Irfan picked up 2 Wickets for 24 Runs

Pakistan bowling looked a lot balanced and disciplined than earlier matches of the series. Junaid Khan picked up 3 wickets while Irfan and Ajmal picked up 2 wickets each. Md. Irfan bowled beautifully in his spell of 10 overs with the bowling figure of 10-1-34-2.

Pakistan Batting

Pakistani openers Jamshed and Shahzad gave a slow but steady start to the Pakistan team. Run out of the Jamshed at team score of 44 bring Hafeez in the middle who also gets out by the score of 51. Next man came in Pakistan skipper Misbah and he put up a healthy partnership with the Shahzad. Shahzad scored his first fifty in the series but he couldn’t last long and get out at the score of 64. Next came in H Sohail but he couldn’t last long too and gets out scoring only 17 runs. 

Ahmad Shahzad playing a Shot

Umar Akmal came in no. 5 to help his skipper to chase the target. Umar Akmal scorers quick 37 from 28 balls and put up partnership of 66 runs before getting out. This partnership virtually ended the match for the West Indies. Misbah completed another fifty in the ODI series and gets out just before the finishing of the game.  Afridi and Ajmal complete the formality and Pakistan wins the match by 4 wickets. Ahmad top 

scored for Pakistan in this win with 64 runs.

Bowling

West Indies bowlers failed again to contain the Pakistani batsman. Apart from the Tino Best, every bowler went for runs. Tino Best picked up 3 wickets for 48 runs while 1 wicket each was picked up by J Holder and  Sammy.

Man of the Match

               Pakistan Skipper was awarded Man of the Match as well as the Man of the Series. Misbah Ul Haq excelled in the series both as a batsman as well as the Pakistan skipper. He was top scorer in the Digicel Series with 260 runs at the average of 65.00. 

               West Indies team has their chances in the match as well as in the series. But West Indies team failed to capitalize on the opportunities and they lost the series 1-3. Pakistan had some good results in their favor after the series of bad results in South Africa and Champions Trophy.

 

Best ODI Batsmen in Cricket of All Time

               Cricket is second most popular game on the planet and this game is governed by the ICC. It is known by all there are three different formats of the game namely they are Test, ODIs and  T20. Earlier I have written articles about the batsmen who are leading run scorers in Test format, ODI format and T20 format. ODI cricket started way back in 1975 since then there has been number of batsman so here we are going to take a look on the top 10 batsman in ODI Cricket format of All time.

10. Javed Miandad

Javed Miandad is considered as the best ODI Cricket batsman played for the Pakistan cricket team. He was very good player both in defense as well as in the attacking form of the cricket. He played most of his match as the middle order batsman. He was popularly called as the Pakistani run machine. Javed Miandad had very good record for an ODI cricket batsman of his time.

Javed Miandad Playing a shot

Batting Record :

Matches	Runs	Average	St. Rate	50s	100s	Best Score
233	7381	41.70	67.01	50	8	119*

9.Desmond Haynes

Desmond Haynes of West Indies is regarded as the one of the greatest opener in the history of cricket. His pairing with the Greenidge is regarded as one of the best opening pair in ODI cricket. He played most of his cricket when the West Indies cricket was on top in the world. Haynes was one of the reasons why West Indies succeeded to stay so long on top in international cricket.

Desmond Haynes-West Indies Great

Batting Record :

Matches	Runs	Average	St. Rate	50s	100s	Best Score
238	8648	41.37	63.09	57	17	152*

8. Saeed Anwar

Saeed Anwar was left handed opening batsman from Pakistan held the record of the highest score in an inning of ODI cricket match for very long time before it was broken by Sachin Tendulkar. He was highly successful opener and regarded as the one of the greats in ODI cricket. He played most of his cricket for Pakistan as the specialist opening batsman in ODIs.

Saeed Anwar- Greatest Pakistan Opener

Batting Record :

Matches	Runs	Average	St. Rate	50s	100s	Best Score
247	8824	39.21	80.67	43	20	194

7. Kumar Sangakkara

Kumar Sangakkara is left handed wicket keeper-batsman from Sri Lanka and he is at 7th position in the list of top 10 ODI cricket batsman of all time. He has very good career average and he has contributed a lot to the Srilanka as well as to International cricket. He is one of the most successful Sri Lanka ODI cricketer.

Kumar Sangakkara- Wicket-Keeper Batsman

Batting Record :

Matches	Runs	Average	St. Rate	50s	100s	Best Score
351*	11632	39.69	76.29	77	16	169

6. Brian Lara

West Indies cricketer Brian Charles Lara was left handed batsman very famous for his unorthodox stance of batting and still being highly successful in ODI cricket. He has been considered as the toughest batsman to bowl in the ODI cricket. He carried the whole West Indies cricket team on his shoulder for very long long time. He was always compared with the Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting and Jacques Kallis as the best ODI cricket batsman. 

Brian Lara- Greatest Left Handed Batsman

Batting Record :

Matches	Runs	Average	St. Rate	50s	100s	Best Score
299	10405	40.48	79.51	63	19	169

5. Sourav Ganguly

Left handed Indian opening batsman Sourav Ganguly considered as the "God of Off-side" as he was just too strong on the off side. He was very dangerous for spinners to bowl against him as he used his feet very effectively to hit them for massive sixes. His opening pair with Sachin Tendulkar is considered as the best opening pair in the ODI cricket history of all time.

Sourav Ganguly-Greatest Indian Skipper

Batting Record :

Matches	Runs	Average	St. Rate	50s	100s	Best Score
311	11363	41.02	73.70	72	22	183

 

4. Jacques Kallis

South African right handed middle order batsman Jacques Kallis has very good record in the ODI format of the cricket. He is considered as one of the best batsman at number 3 position in ODI cricket history. He was a highly useful medium fast bowler too and won many matches for South Africa with his all-round abilities. He is regarded as the greatest batsman in the history of the South African cricket as well as the greatest All-rounder in ODI cricket history.

 

Jacques Kallis- Greatest South African Player  

Batting Record :

Matches	Runs	Average	St. Rate	50s	100s	Best Score
321	11498	45.26	72.97	85	17	139

3. Vivian Richards

West Indies cricketer Sir Vivian "Viv" Richards is considered as the most dangerous batsman in the history of ODI cricket to bowl. He had unmatchable hitting skill to even a very good bowl. He played most of his cricket when ODI cricket came into the picture still he has incredible batting record. He is also considered as the most feared batsman in history so he at 3rd position in our list of best ODI batsmen of all time.

Sir Vivian Richards- Master of ODI

Batting Record :

Matches	Runs	Average	St. Rate	50s	100s	Best Score
187	6721	47.00	90.20	45	11	189*

2. Ricky Ponting

Australian right handed batsman Ricky Ponting batted at the number 3 in most of his international cricket career. He was equally strong against the spin bowlers as well as against pace bowlers. He has very good record to support his 2nd position in the all time great ODI batsman list. He is only skipper to win two ODI Cricket world cups. He is also rated as the greatest skipper in the history of ODI cricket.

Ricky Ponting- Greatest ODI Skipper

Batting Record :

Matches	Runs	Average	St. Rate	50s	100s	Best Score
375	13704	42.03	80.39	82	30	164

1. Sachin Tendulkar

Sachin Tendulkar the right handed Indian opening batsman is at the top position of best ODI cricket batsman. He has unmatchable batting record like he is the first one to score 200, highest ODI runs etc in the ODI cricket history. It is said that he has the best stance and has the capacity to hit a ball in six different areas of the ground. He is also the highest run scorer, highest century scorer in the history of ODI cricket. He is referred as the "God of Cricket".

Sachin Tendulkar-Best ODI Cricket Batsmen of All Time

Batting Record :

Matches	Runs	Average	St. Rate	50s	100s	Best Score
463	18426	44.83	86.23	96	49	200*

              While preparing the list of Best ODI batsmen of all time, the criteria has been Average, Runs, Matches and Strike Rate of the batsmen in his international ODI career. Sir Vivian  Richards is an exception as in his era the number of matches played were very less as compared to today, so he has been given slight benefit for that.

              What do you think of this list ? Have I missed someone to include in the top 10 ODI batsman of all time list ? Feel free to drop your comment and suggestion in the comment box.