5 Biggest ODI chokes while chasing a target in the 21st century

The One-Day International cricket has seen a lot of changes over the decades and many new-age rules have been adopted since the start of the 21st century. The importance of chasing increased with the frequency of successful chases rising globally. Even huge targets of 350+ have been chased down in recent times which was considered to be a winning score even 15-20 years ago.

The modern-day matches saw the chasing team winning even from toughest of positions. However, there are few occasions when the team chasing fell a couple of runs short despite being in the best situations even until the penultimate ball of the innings.

Here we look 5 best instances in the 21st century ODIs where the chasing team lost from a winning position:

5. Australia vs Sri Lanka in Dambulla, 2004

Australia’s tour of Sri Lanka began with an 84-run win in the first game of 5-match ODI series. However, in the 2nd ODI, Sri Lanka made a good start with each of their top four scoring over 37 runs. The Lankans were placed at 192/2 in the 38th over but lost their remaining 8 wickets for only 53 runs. Chasing a target of 246, Australia decided to open the innings with Michael Clarke by pushing Adam Gilchrist to the middle-order after the wicketkeeper top-scored in the first match with a 64-ball 66.

Clarke, however, got out on the 3rd ball of the chase before Australia scored their first run. But Matthew Hayden and Ricky Ponting added 148 for the 2nd wicket in little over 30 overs. Australia’s total read 148/1 after 31 overs and was only 98 runs away from taking 2-0 lead. From a solid position, the Aussies slipped to 192/5 by 42nd over as they lost 4 wickets for 44 runs in 62 balls. Australia were still on the top as they needed 54 from 52 balls with Andrew Symonds and Michael Bevan at the crease.

The duo tried to ensure they remained unbeaten till the end as they kept rotating the strike. A six by Bevan in the penultimate over off Muttiah Muralitharan brought down the equation to 8 runs from the last over. Chaminda Vaas bowled tight lines as only three runs came from the first five balls with the 3rd and 4th balls of the over to Symonds being dot balls. Australia could only get 3 runs on the final ball when five runs were needed and lost the game by 1 run; the narrowest loss in an ODI for the chasing team despite losing only 5 wickets.