Vivian Richards 189*

[Richard]

Any comparison's utterly fruitless, IMO. Richards' and Kapil's knocks stand palpably well clear of anything in the 1970-1989 ODI era, and there's plenty of candidates in the 1990-current-day one.

Have always tended to go for the Bevan innings against West Indies in 1996/97 myself.

 

[vic_orthdox]

YouTube - Vivian Richards against England

Some vision from that knock, and a few others. Some of those shots are ridiculous, and so before their time. He's just so clean, I'm scared of bowling at him just watching that.

 

[Jono]

God I love Viv.

Have always tended to go for the Bevan innings against West Indies in 1996/97 myself.

Haha the last ball 4? Great knock, but find it funny if Richard is referring to that considering Bevan was dropped. First chance average and all.

 

[vcs]

I remember my Dad describing to me the last ball six he hit in the '79 WC final (about 1:03 on that video). He was in awe of that shot. Ridiculous stroke.

 

[Jono]

YouTube - Vivian Richards against England

Some vision from that knock, and a few others. Some of those shots are ridiculous, and so before their time. He's just so clean, I'm scared of bowling at him just watching that.

I always love the look on Botham's face, and hands on hips, when Viv clips him in that Old Trafford 84 match for 6 when there are two guys out there specifically for that show. It's classic.

 

[Burgey]

Apparently (and it may well be in the clip, I've not watched it yet) Botham said to him when he played one of those shots "Thta's just not fair you know?" or something like that.

The man was amazing. Arguably as far ahead of his time in LO batting as Bradman was his in Test match batting.

 

[Jono]

Botham and Viv played for Somerset and were pretty good mates, so it wouldn't surprise me if he said that to him lol.

 

[robelinda]

Brilliant knock that 189*, obviously. Steve Waughs 120* must be 2nd, though sometimes I rate in number one. The other Viv knock which was just amazing wa sthe 153 in 79 at the MCG, boy o boy it just doesnt get much better. Gotta rate Punters 140* and Gilly's 149 too, world cup finals are the ultimate.

 

[ankitj]

I don't think there's any 'probably' about it. Clearly the best ODI knock IMO.

Some knocks while chasing are worthy of a mention. 175 by Gibbs in that epic 434 chase, for example.

 

[Altaican]

Brilliant knock that 189*, obviously. Steve Waughs 120* must be 2nd, though sometimes I rate in number one. The other Viv knock which was just amazing wa sthe 153 in 79 at the MCG, boy o boy it just doesnt get much better. Gotta rate Punters 140* and Gilly's 149 too, world cup finals are the ultimate.

Wow.... I was about to mention Viv's 153* (off 130 balls) at the MCG against Lillee. Thommo and Hogg as an equally great knock. Viv was actually unfit (ankle injury) during that knock. But boy, he just smashed that great attack. One banner during that knock read "Viv, you bat... we'll listen" A man far ahead of his time.

 

[robelinda]

Wow.... I was about to mention Viv's 153* (off 130 balls) at the MCG against Lillee. Thommo and Hogg as an equally great knock. Viv was actually unfit (ankle injury) during that knock. But boy, he just smashed that great attack. One banner during that knock read "Viv, you bat... we'll listen" A man far ahead of his time.

Great minds and all! That Viv knock was amazing, everyone I know who has seen it rates it very highly. Problem is not many internet guys these days wouldve seen any of those knocks unless they are on you toob. Not gonna be the case always. Injured Viv = super innings.

 

[Jono]

Some knocks while chasing are worthy of a mention. 175 by Gibbs in that epic 434 chase, for example.

I love that Gibbs knock, but compare the bowling attacks and the flatness of the pitch. Viv's was still better.

 

[smash84]

Some knocks while chasing are worthy of a mention. 175 by Gibbs in that epic 434 chase, for example.

So true Ankit. Knocks while chasing are under so much pressure. That Gibbs knock was something..........it was unbelievable stuff really.......along with Steve Waugh's innings in super six 1999 WC....Miandad 1986 Sharjah Cup final with that last ball six.....Tendulkar 2003 WC vs Pakistan against Wasim, Waqar, Shoaib, and Saqlain.............just awesome stuff

I tend to rate chasing knocks really high on my list of ODI innings. The pressure is much greater in a chase IMO.

 

[Cevno]

For me the Kapil's 175 Knock is slightly better because it was a DO or Die situation for India. The top 5 wickets had fallen for 17 and he was captain of the side with added responsibility.
Scored at a faster rate than Richards too,though the bowling attack was inferior.

 

[robelinda]

Steve Waugh's ton was do or die too, against the best or one of the best pace attacks in the world cup, captain and chasing too. Ive seen Kapil's ton and it was a fine display, not sure where to rate it myself, i'm not a believer that a great innings cant be played against a minnow- Gilchrist and Ponting both hit fabulous tons in that test series in Bangladesh when the side was in deep poop. I think i'd rate Kapil's number 3, maybe....

 

[Cevno]

So true Ankit. Knocks while chasing are under so much pressure. That Gibbs knock was something..........it was unbelievable stuff really.......along with Steve Waugh's innings in super six 1999 WC....Miandad 1986 Sharjah Cup final with that last ball six.....Tendulkar 2003 WC vs Pakistan against Wasim, Waqar, Shoaib, and Saqlain.............just awesome stuff

I tend to rate chasing knocks really high on my list of ODI innings. The pressure is much greater in a chase IMO.

In terms of pressure the two knocks by Richards and Kapil have to be up there too.

If they would have got out ,there teams would have been wrapped up for nothing and it would have been match over.In Kapil's case he was the captain of the team as well,and the Match was also do or die in the world cup.So he had a big burden.

In terms of chasing knocks,THOUGH Sachin's twin knocks at Sharjah in 1998 against the Aussies in the Finals and to qualify have to be up there too. His 175 against Australia at Hyderabad in 2009 was as good as Gibbs for me ,with the only difference being that South Africa managed to win after Gibbs got out ,while India bottled it after Sachin.

 

[Cevno]

Steve Waugh's ton was do or die too, against the best or one of the best pace attacks in the world cup, captain and chasing too. Ive seen Kapil's ton and it was a fine display, not sure where to rate it myself, i'm not a believer that a great innings cant be played against a minnow- Gilchrist and Ponting both hit fabulous tons in that test series in Bangladesh when the side was in deep poop. I think i'd rate Kapil's number 3, maybe....

The Steve Waugh innings was fantastic,but compared to Viv and Kapil-

1)Waugh had more support from his teammates(Ponting)

2)He got a massive reprieve thanks to MR.Gibbs.

3)Wasn't as Swashbuckling as the other two as well in terms of the pace.

As for scoring against Minnows,let me tell you India was also somewhat of a minnow back then.And it put India into the semi final ,which nobody gave a chance of and the rest is history.

 

[smash84]

In terms of pressure the two knocks by Richards and Kapil have to be up there too.

If they would have got out ,there teams would have been wrapped up for nothing and it would have been match over.In Kapil's case he was the captain of the team as well,and the Match was also do or die in the world cup.So he had a big burden.

In terms of chasing knocks,THOUGH Sachin's twin knocks at Sharjah in 1998 against the Aussies in the Finals and to qualify have to be up there too. His 175 against Australia at Hyderabad in 2009 was as good as Gibbs for me ,with the only difference being that South Africa managed to win after Gibbs got out ,while India bottled it after Sachin.

Those Sharjah knocks were classy acts. Boy did he pummel the Aussie attack or what. But that WC2003 knock still sticks in my mind for some reason. Maybe because it had all the Pakistani big guns in the oppostion.

Regarding Sachin's 175, it was indeed a great knock but Gibbs knock had no precedence in ODIs. SA had been asked to chase the highest ever score in ODIs and they did.

And Steve Waugh's Australia were under fire too in that world cup and they had lost the top 3 wickets very cheaply. They had a long way to go and South Africa had a top notch bowling attack. That was a very very tough situation. For that I would rate it higher than Kapil's. Not to say that Kapil's wasn't a top notch innings. But I thought the pressure on Waugh was greater because they were chasing and South Africa had a very good bowling attack. And had they lost that match they would not have qualified for the semis either (if I remember correctly)

 

[robelinda]

The one thing about Sachin's sharjah knocks was the aussie attack was close to woeful. Sachin did play well but not that amazing, the first ton with the storm was great but it didnt win the match, but got India into the final, of a completely meaningless tournament it has to be said.

 

[Cevno]

And Steve Waugh's Australia were under fire too in that world cup and they had lost the top 3 wickets very cheaply. They had a long way to go and South Africa had a top notch bowling attack. That was a very very tough situation. For that I would rate it higher than Kapil's. Not to say that Kapil's wasn't a top notch innings. But I thought the pressure on Waugh was greater because they were chasing and South Africa had a very good bowling attack. And had they lost that match they would not have qualified for the semis either (if I remember correctly)

Kapil was in the same situation and when he came in India were at 17/5.

India also had to win that match and also do better than Australia(i think) to qualify for the final.So they had to both win and do better than the other team.

Australia also had a habit of winning matches and belief in themselves at the time ,while India at the time 9 out of 10 times in that situation used to give up and crumble. So it was a knock which also put a lot of belief in the Indian team along with the win against the windies.