Across 2007, Sachin Tendulkar breached the 90-run mark seven times in ODIs – never unbeaten – but managed a hundred only once, thrice dismissed on 99. Twice he crossed 90 in Tests but missed out on triple figures once – again, dismissed. Simon Katich tasted triple disaster with dismissals on 92, 99 and 98 in 2009; Murali Vijay suffered a similar fate, having missed out on three away Test hundreds with 97 in Durban, 2013; 95 at Lord’s, 2014 and 99 in Adelaide, 2014.
But there have been men who guided their teams past the finishing line only to have stayed contended with an undefeated 90-something. The 21st century has seen at least six such significant contributions, including 99 not out. And to go in descending order, here they begin:
#6 MS Dhoni: 92* – Indore, 2015
A man under pressure responded in handsome style on a pitch where it was assured runs would flow, and they did, but primarily from only one man. MS Dhoni stood tall amidst all his teammates as India collapsed from 102/3 to 165/7.
He remained firm on a good batting track, smearing seven fours and four sixes in his 86-ball innings, and especially targeted the raw pace of young Kagiso Rabada, taking four fours and a six off him. Each time the South African bowlers thought they had put the brakes on an otherwise dead batting display, Dhoni rose to the occasion to remind them of his presence.
His strike rate never dipped, though a cluster of wickets fell around him, as Dhoni remained busy in running singles and twos. Three other sixes came off the spinners as India ended on 247/9. When South Africa batted, his bowlers responded to his efforts as India levelled the series 1-1 courtesy of a 22-run win and Dhoni took home a twentieth Man of the Match award.
#5 Misbah-ul-Haq: 93* – Napier, 2011
Pakistan’s incumbent Test captain Misbah-ul-Haq played another of his typical ODI innings where he built in the beginning and smashed later. New Zealand posted 262/7 in whose reply the tourists ran into trouble at 84/3. Misbah arrived and added 89 with another veteran Younis Khan, in which the latter contributed 53.
He got only eight singles in his first twenty deliveries and his first boundary took as many as 44 balls to come. With three overs remaining and the target 24 runs away, Misbah went after the medium pace of Scott Styris, whom he first slapped for a six over mid-wicket and next chose mid-on to add four more to his tally, which took him to 92.
He took a single next ball and faced only another delivery – a dot. A Sohail Tanvir bashing in the next over gave Pakistan the game with two overs remaining. They won by 2 wickets and Misbah finished as the Man of the Match, having batted at a strike rate of 102, with seven fours and one maximum.
#4 Mitchell Johnson: 96* – Johannesburg, 2009
Always a brutal force with the ball, it was the turn of the tailender Mitchell Johnson to fire against South Africa that afternoon. Centurion Marcus North found an able ally in Australia’s number nine, who not only supported him to get to a debut test hundred, but also partnered him in an eighth-wicket stand of 117.
Initially, Johnson was relatively quiet but exploded immediately after North left. Off-spinner Paul Harris was clobbered for 26 in a single over, eighteen of which came from sixes and the rest from fours. Johnson jumped from 84 to 96 with three more boundaries off a Dale Steyn over, but Morne Morkel accounted for two scalps in consecutive deliveries in the following over which bowled Australia out, leaving an unfortunate Johnson stuck at the other end.
As if the hammering was not enough, he returned with the ball and struck four times each in both innings, walking away with an easy Player of the Match verdict and landing his side a win by 162 runs in the first test of the series.
#3 Rahul Dravid: 92* – Bristol, 2007
The most defensive batsman in the world broke all barriers and stunned the world when he got rid of his quiet approach and showed England’s bowlers his aggressive side. On a small ground and with India 0-1 down in the series, Rahul Dravid plundered them to all parts with exceptional – and clean – stroke play.
All it took Dravid was 63 balls to smash 92 – with eleven fours and a classical six lofted over square point – which pushed India’s score to 329/7. His fifty came up from 43 deliveries with boundaries cut, flicked and driven all over.
With two overs remaining, India’s captain was eleven away from a hundred but faced only two more balls to miss out on a memorable century, though eventually be chosen the Man of the Match for smashing at a strike rate of 146. On a fine batting surface in Bristol, England fell short by nine runs in an engrossing encounter as India levelled the series on an evening when Sachin Tendulkar fell for 99.
#2 Kevin Pietersen: 91* – Bristol, 2005
The County Ground in Bristol witnessed absolute destruction of Australia’s bowling line-up from a rising English star when he insulted the opposition bowlers to gallantly steer England’s ship in a tricky run chase. In pursuit of 253, Kevin Pietersen arrived at 119/4, with his captain Michael Vaughan standing.
Vaughan’s patient 57 played second fiddle to Pietersen’s cataclysmic knock, as the latter, after a sedate start which saw him score only 25 from his first 34 balls, flew his way to 91 essential runs from a mere 65 deliveries. He tonked eight fours and four dreadful leg-side sixes in an astonishing display of power-hitting missing from English cricket in those days, and ensured that Stephen Harmison’s maiden – and only – ODI five-for didn’t go down the drain.
The outstanding effort earned Pietersen his third Man of the Match award inside four months in one-day cricket, while England gained five vital points for a three-wicket win in a tri-series – also involving Bangladesh – whose final, contested between these two arch-rivals, turned out to be a tie.
#1 Andrew Hall: 99* – Leeds, 2003
A first ball duck in the first innings and a magical knock in the second defined this Test match for number eight Andrew Hall. With South Africa only 35 ahead after the first innings and the series tied 1-1 after three Tests, Hall’s match-turning blows to England’s bowling attack snatched the advantage from the hosts.
South Africa dragged their score to 365, adding 146 after Hall’s advent. A partnership of forty-nine with debutant Monde Zondeki after seven down and fifty-four with Dewald Pretorius for the last wicket changed the course of the match, courtesy of Hall. Seventy-two runs – in the form of 15 fours and 2 maximums – came from boundaries in a knock off 82 balls.
Hall took a single off the fourth ball of the hundredth over to not expose Pretorius to Andrew Flintoff’s pace from the beginning of the next over, but saw his stumps rattled from the non-striker’s end in the very next delivery. Pretorius was bowled and Hall left stranded on 99 before SA won by 121 runs.
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