New Zealand batsman Tom Latham scored a magnificent century in the first ODI of the three-match series against Team India on Friday, November 25 at Eden Park in Auckland. The left-hander struck 19 fours and five sixes for his career-best ODI score of 145* in just 104 balls.
The Kiwis reached their target of 307 in 47.1 overs thanks to Latham’s superb innings, giving them a significant 1-0 series lead.
When it comes to the 50-over format, the sight of Team India’s bowlers seems to bring out the best in Latham, despite the fact that he has established himself as a reliable batter in the New Zealand squads for the Test and ODI formats.
The southpaw has scored 846 runs in 18 One-Day Internationals against the Men in Blue, scoring two hundred at an average of 65.07After 115 ODIs, Latham has an overall average of 36.36.
In October 2016, he scored 79* in his very first ODI against the Indians in Dharamsala. He scored 103* off 102 balls at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium a year later.
The case of Latham is not unique. In at least one of the game’s formats, numerous left-handed batters have had exceptional success against Team India. An overview is provided here.
#5 Salman Butt
Despite his talent, former Pakistan opener Salman Butt had a mediocre international career that ended abruptly after the spot-fixing scandal in 2010. In 33 Tests and 78 ODIs, Butt averaged 30.46 and 36.82, respectively. He was, however, a different animal when it came to playing one-day matches against Team India.
The former cricketer scored 992 runs in 21 one-day internationals against India at an average of 52.21. In the format, the Men in Blue were the target of five of his eight shots. In November 2004, when he played his first ODI against India at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens, he scored 108*.
#4 Shivnarine Chanderpaul
The legend of the West Indies, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, had a stellar Test career that included 30 hundred and 11,867 runs at an average of 51.37. However, in the longer format of the game, Chanderpaul had a remarkable record against Team India. He played 25 Tests against India and scored 2171 runs at an excellent average of 63.85.
Against Team India, he scored seven of his 30 Test runs. In 1997, he scored an unbeaten 137 at Bridgetown. In 2002, he scored 140 in a Test match against India in Georgetown, which was the same as his score at Eden Gardens later that same year.
#3 Saeed Anwar
Saeed Anwar, a former Pakistani opener, enjoyed playing against India as well. In 50 ODIs against the Men in Blue, he averaged 43.52, up from 39.21 in 247 matches. He scored four hundred in 2002 against the bowlers for Team India.
In 1997, he scored 194 in Chennai, setting a long-standing record for the highest individual ODI score. At the end of his international career, he was well past his prime. However, in his most recent one-day match against India, he scored 101 at Centurion in the 2003 World Cup match.
#2 Sir Alastair Cook
The former captain of England, Sir Alastair Cook, was another left-handed player who was extremely challenging for Team India’s bowlers to dislodge during Test matches. In the longer format, Cook had a stellar career, scoring 12,472 runs in 161 matches at an average of 45.35 and scoring 33 hundred.
Cook had an even better Test record against Team India. He scored 2431 runs with seven tons in 30 matches, averaging 47.66 runs per game. His vocation’s best Grade of 294 additionally came against India. In 2011, the 773-minute marathon in Birmingham was run off 545 balls.
#1 Sanath Jayasuriya
The former captain of Sri Lanka adored batting against India. By the time Jayasuriya’s career came to an end, Team India fans had grown pretty used to seeing the left-handed batsman slam Indian bowlers. Jayasuriya averaged 40.07 runs in 110 Test matches, but he scored 67 runs in 10 matches against India.
He scored a career-high 938 runs against the Indians, including 340 in Colombo in 1997. In the subsequent Test of the same series, he scored 199 at the same location.
In the ODIs, Jayasuriya also enjoyed batting against the Men in Blue. Against India, he scored seven of his 28 ODI runs. In 89 matches, he scored 2899 runs at an average of 36.23.
In the 2000 Coca-Cola Champions Trophy final in Sharjah, Jayasuriya scored his career-high ODI score of 189 against his favorite opponent.
Jayasuriya’s presence appeared to have had a similar effect on India’s pace-bowling duo of the 1990s, Javagal Srinath and Venkatesh Prasad, just as Sachin Tendulkar was a nightmare for Australian legend Shane Warne.