5 Brilliant centuries while chasing, in a losing cause

5 Brilliant centuries while chasing, in a losing cause: Arvinda De Silva’s 107 in the ’96 WC final, Sachin’s desert storm, Herschelle Gibbs’ 175 vs Australia are the first few memorable centuries people would think of if you’d ask them “what are the best centuries in successful chases?” A lot of people though, often forget those valiant efforts that don’t end up on the winning side. We shall look at a few of those brilliant centuries where batsmen gave all that they could and yet couldn’t cross the finishing line but scoring memorable centuries in the process.

Here goes the list of 5 Brilliant centuries while chasing, in a losing cause:

5. James Faulkner, 116 off 73 balls v/s India at Bengaluru, 2013.

This game would always be remembered for Rohit Sharma’s 1^st double century, an innings where he accelerated better than an F1 driver. He went from 100 off 114 balls to 209 off 158 balls, hitting 16 massive sixes and almost batting out Australia of the game. Riding of Rohit’s innings and fifties from Dhawan and Dhoni, India went on to score a formidable 383.

The Australian top order flopped during the chase, their top 5 batsmen only accounted for 76 runs, the match at this point was out of Australia’s reach. They would need a miracle to pull this one off. In came James Faulkner, who had made a reputation of himself as a brilliant finisher during the series after punishing Ishant Sharma for 30 runs in an over a couple of prior to this game. This situation though, was tricky. When he came in to bat, the Aussies needed 252 runs off less than 30 overs, Faulkner did seem like he would succumb to the scoreboard pressure.

Playing his natural game and scoring runs at a healthy rate Faulkner was the only glimmer of hope for his team. He was losing partners quickly, with 211/8 in 30.1 overs, the game was all but done. But as they say, it’s not over till it’s over. Faulkner continued the hitting, from what looked like a late frustrated hitting, the innings quickly turned into a promising one, his partnership with Clint McKay of 115 runs, where McKay scored only 18, gave the Aussies more than a chance. They believed they could win this one. If Faulkner batted the entire duration of the innings, 58 from 5 overs seemed achievable. As fate would have it, Faulkner who was hitting boundaries at will, fell for a full toss and with that it was curtains on the Australian innings. India won the game by 57 runs and the series 3-2.

This innings of Faulkner was truly one of the best low order batting you’d ever see during the course of the innings he also scored the then fastest century by an Australian a record which was broken by Glen Maxwell. This series was fruitful for him and he rose in stature in the International Cricket one of the better all-rounders.