Revealed: Longest innings (by balls) in an ODI match and it’s not Dravid who tops the list

We have often heard commentators saying that the batsmen must play through the innings and main for the Top 3 batsmen as by doing so they can anchor the innings of the whole team well. At times, the idea of anchoring the innings can back fire as well if the batsman who plays through the whole innings is not timing the ball well and struggling. But today, we will take a look at longest innings by a player in an ODI match in terms of balls, though there is 1 Indian in the top 5. It isn’t Rahul Dravid though:

Stats updated till 4th February, 2015

Glenn Turner of New Zealand tops the list of players to play most number of balls in ODI innings with 201 balls against East Africa in his innings of 171*. This is the only time when a player has played more than 200 balls in ODI innings, though we cannot ignore the fact that this was a 60 over game.

Two Indians have also made it to the top 10 list and the result has been both negative and positive. Firstly, it is the most criticised innings by Sunil Gavaskar of 36* against England in the 1975 World Cup where he played 174 balls.

The positive result came lately when Rohit Sharma played 173 balls to score 264 runs, the highest individual score in ODI history. These two Indians also have a record to their name; Sunil Gavaskar for lowest score for a player who has played more than 150 balls and Rohit Sharma for most runs for a player who has batted for more than 150 balls.

However, players who are known as slow starters like Rahul Dravid and Jacques Kallis are no where close in this list.