10 instances where left-arm pacers shattered India's batting line-up in ODIs

India are one of the batting powerhouses having the potential to set targets as well as chase down mammoth ones with some outstanding performances on the 22 yards. They currently have a famed top-order including the likes of Shikhar Dhawan, skipper Rohit Sharma, and Virat Kohli in their arsenal who have made stellar individual contributions by successfully making their bat do the talking on countless occasions, especially in One-Day Internationals. However, there have been a few occasions when the Indian top-order has struggled and even the middle and the lower-order batters succumbed under pressure with way too much weight on their shoulders. On many occasions, left-arm pacers of the opposition have decimated India’s batting line-up in the 50-over format. Without further ado, here’s a look at 10 of them: 10. Trent Boult Trent Boult. (Photo by Gareth Copley-ICC/ICC via Getty Images) New Zealand pace spearhead Trent Boult has the ability to single-handedly destroy any batting line-up and even the Indian batters had to suffer his wrath on one occasion. This happened during the fourth match of their home bilateral series against the Men in Blue which was played in Hamilton in January 2019. Boult registered a fifer with his incredible left-arm pace that left the Indian batters totally clueless on what seemed to be a perfect bowling track. Skipper Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni did not play in that contest and once Boult accounted for openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan, the untested middle-order failed to make any impact and the visitors were skittled for just 92 in the 31st over. Trent Boult finished with figures of 5/21 from his 10 overs including four maidens as the Kiwis registered a comprehensive win by eight wickets. 9. Mustafizur Rahman Mustafizur Rahman. (Photo Source: Getty Images) Mustafizur Rahman has been Bangladesh’s go-to bowler ever since he first burst onto the scene at the highest level after the 2015 World Cup. The left-arm pacer is known to rattle any batting line-up with his cutters and it was no different for the Indian batters who miserably failed to pick him during the 2015 tour of Bangladesh. After he decimated the Indian team with match-winning figures of 5/50 in the first ODI of the series, which happened to be his ODI debut, Rahman showcased an even better performance in the second game in Mirpur in June 2015 where he was literally unplayable for the Indian batters and accounted for six of them. The speedster picked up the wicket of Rohit Sharma and then came back to rattle the middle and lower order, dismissing the then skipper MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, and Ravichandran Ashwin. Mustafizur finished with figures of 6/43 as Bangladesh went on to register a six-wicket win to seal the ODI series. 8. Mitchell Starc Mitchell Starc. (Photo Source: Twitter) Mitchell Starc is known for his ability to bowl yorkers at will and he finished as the leading wicket-taker of the 2015 and 2019 editions of the ODI World Cup. He even dismantled a strong Indian line-up while they were well on course of posting a mammoth total in a tri-series game at the MCG in January 2015. Starc bamboozled centurion Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni, Axar Patel, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar to finish with figures of 6/43 including two maidens as India were restricted to 267/8. The Aussies chased this down by four wickets riding on a brilliant 96 from opener Aaron Finch. 7. Mitchell Johnson Mitchell Johnson Celebrates After Taking Wicket of Gautam Gambhir. (© Hamish Blair/Getty Images) Mitchell Johnson was one of the lethal fast bowlers in his prime and went on to win many matches for Australia with his left-arm pace. Johnson has also decimated the Indian line-up when he was yet to attain fame and fortune in international cricket. Batting first in the fifth ODI in Vadodara in October 2007, India were rattled for just 148 as Mitchell Johnson’s figures read 5/26 at an economy of 2.6. He picked up the wickets of Yuvraj Singh, Robin Uthappa, skipper MS Dhoni, Irfan Pathan and Murali Kartik. Australia registered a convincing nine-wicket win in just the 26th over. 6. Chanaka Welegedara Chanaka Welegedara (Photo Source: Twitter) Chanaka Welegedara kept the Indian batters guessing during a tri-series in Bangladesh in January 2010 in Mirpur as his incredible bowling spell deprived India of posting a total well in excess of 300. More importantly, that spell also helped him in registering his career-best ODI bowling figures. Welegedara dismissed the likes of Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Virender Sehwag, Suresh Raina, and Zaheer Khan as India were restricted to 279/9. All the batters got out to unplayable deliveries of the left-arm seamer. Sri Lanka got past the line by five wickets with two overs to spare and earned four crucial points in the tri-series featuring Bangladesh. 5. Doug Bollinger Doug Bollinger (Photo Source: Twitter) While the lethal left-arm pacers Mitchell Starc and Johnson troubled the Indian batters with their incredible bowling spells, India found another threat in one more Australian left-arm pacer who also happened to be on top of his game back in the day. He was Doug Bollinger. Like the two two Mitchells, Bollinger also ran through India’s batting line-up as some of the biggest names of the game looked utterly clueless. Electing to bat first in the sixth ODI in Guwahati in November 2009, India were bundled out for 170 as Doug Bollinger destroyed the famed batting line-up with his brilliant spell, dismissing Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, and Harbhajan Singh to finish with 5/35 including four maidens. The Aussies got past the finishing line by six wickets to win the ODI series 4-2 with the last game being washed out. 4. Bruce Reid Bruce Reid. (Photo by Patrick Eagar/Popperfoto via Getty Images/Getty Images) While the left-arm pacers have been bothering the Indian batters quite often for over a decade, the issue was also there even in the 1980s during the era of some of the world-class bowlers with Australian legend Bruce Reid in the category. Even Reid once destroyed India with his fifer at the Adelaide Oval in January 1986. Chasing a stiff 263, Bruce Reid accounted for the likes of Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip Vengsarkar, Mohammed Azharuddin, Kapil Dev, and Chetan Sharma as India were bundled out for 226 and went down by 36 runs. Bruce Reid finished with brilliant figures of 5/53 from his 10 overs at an economy of 5.30. 3. Richard Collinge Richard Collinge (Photo Source: Twitter) Former New Zealand left-arm pacer Richard Collinge was yet another thorn in the eye of the Indian batting order, but this incident dates back to the 1970s when bowling was highly competitive and batters had to bat without much protection against the lethal fast bowlers of that era. Collinge made the famed Indian batting line-up look unsettled in the first ODI in Christchurch back in February 1976. Richard Collinge picked up the wickets of Parthasarthi Sharma, Mohinder Amarnath, Syed Kirmani, Madan Lal, and Srinivas Venkataraghavan to finish with figures of 5/23 from his seven overs including a maiden as India were bowled out for 154. New Zealand comfortably won that match by nine wickets as they chased down the target in the 31st over. 2. Reece Topley Reece Topley. (Photo by Mike Egerton/PA Images via Getty Images) Reece Topley recently jolted the Indian batting line-up with a match-winning six-wicket haul to help England register a series-levelling win over India by a huge margin of 100 runs at the ‘Mecca of Cricket’ Lord’s in July 2022. Topley’s spell in that contest also exposed India’s constant vulnerability against the left-arm pacers. Chasing a manageable total of 247 to seal the series on a good batting surface, the Men in Blue were restricted to just 146 as Topley ran through the Indian batting order, dismissing Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Suryakumar Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Prasidh Krishna. The budding English pacer was adjudged the Player of the Match for his match-winning figures of 6/24 from his 9,5 overs at an economy of 2.44, including two maidens. 1. Chaminda Vaas Chaminda Vaas. (Photo by Santosh Harhare/Hindustan Times via Getty Images) Iconic Sri Lankan fast bowler Chaminda Vaas was a force to reckon with during his prime in the 1990s and 2000s and has bamboozled many world-class batters with his pace, swing and variations. Even the Indian batters find a place in this category and they happened to be his victims during the Coca-Cola Champions Trophy final in October 2000. Chasing a mammoth 300, India were never in the contest as they lost wickets like nine pins to get bundled out for a paltry 54. Chaminda Vaas accounted for half of the Indian side by dismissing skipper Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Vinod Kambli, and Zaheer Khan to finish with figures of 5/14 from his 9.3 overs at an economy of 1.47 including a maiden. Sri Lanka lifted the trophy with a mammoth 245-run win.

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10 instances where left-arm pacers shattered India's batting line-up in ODIs

Over the years, Indian batters have struggled against the left-arm pacers.

7. Mitchell Johnson

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