5 innings that took their teams to massive ODI totals

Cricket is as much of a team game as it can possibly be. But sometimes one player's day is all it takes for teams to seal the deal.

Tuesday evening became one to cherish for the Englishmen and one to forget for the Aussies. Australia put the host to bat, far from any notion of what was to follow. The English batted the Men from Down Under out of the game in 2.5 hours, when they had already reached the 300-mark in the 34th over.

If it were a heavyweight-boxing match, Australia would have already been in the infirmary after the first innings, courtesy the maverick of Alex Hales and Jonny Bairstow, both of whom plundered the inexperienced Australian bowling attack on an unforgiving track at Trent Bridge.

However, this isn't the first time individuals have drubbed bowling line-ups single-handedly to propel their nations to record-breaking ODI totals.

Here are the five individual performances that feature most proficiently in the highest ODI totals of all-time:

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#5 Faf du Plessis (133 retired hurt off 115 balls)

The player from Pretoria has had a merry time against India. The South African skipper made his debut against India where he scored 60-odd runs.

No Indian fan can forget how he batted India out of the WT20 2012 where India could manage to win by only one run and Pakistan qualified on the back of a superior net run-rate.

So, when he got a chance to bat at the beautiful Wankhede track, Faf Du Plessis left no stone unturned that day scoring 133 off 115 balls following De Kock's 109 off 87 balls at the top of the order.

Faf eventually retired hurt but not before ensuring that the Proteas reached a massive 438, their second-highest total in ODIs then and eventually scoring his first ODI hundred.

India folded for a meagre 224 when no player could reach the three-figure mark individually.

#4 AB de Villiers (149 off 44 balls)

AB de Villiers scored the fastest ODI 100

A man from another planet is supposed to be perambulating on Earth; a man going by the name of AB De Villiers.

This innings needs no reminder to any cricket fan of this generation. An ill-fated Caribbean bowling attack was found lying in the way of a De Villiers tornado.

The Proteas batsman whacked his way into records books scoring the fastest ODI hundred off just 31 balls and eventually getting South Africa to a score of 439 in New Wanderers, Johannesburg.

Courtesy a record 16 sixes in the innings, De Villiers pounded 149 runs off 44 balls. His unbelievable strike-rate of 338.64 will remain unmatched in this particular list.

The dent he left on the visitors in the first innings ensured his team registered a comfortable 148-run win.

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#3 Sanath Jayasuriya (157 off 104 balls)

Sanath Jayasuriya took the Netherlands to the cleaners in 2006 in his innings of 157 off 104 balls

It comes as no surprise that one of the most intrepid opening batsmen of all-time, Sanath Jayasuriya features here.

Sanath Jayasuriya took the Netherlands to the cleaners in 2006 in his innings of 157 off 104 balls. The Sri Lankan burned his way through the bowlers and through some pretty staggering records.

Apart from helping Sri Lanka post their highest One Day International total of 443, the opener posted his fourth score of over 150 in ODI cricket and he is currently the only player to do so other than Sachin Tendulkar who has achieved it five times. It was also his second successive score of 150 plus, another first in ODI cricket.

Needless to say, Sri Lanka won that game and won it by a handsome margin of 195 runs.

#2 Alex Hales (171 off 122 balls)

Hales smashed the highest score for an English batsman versus Pakistan at Trent Bridge in 2016

An aggressive opener was all England needed to shatter the notion of them being a conservative batting side not fit for limited overs cricket and Alex Hales came calling.

With a destructive range of shots, Hales smashed the highest score for an English batsman versus Pakistan at Trent Bridge in 2016. The swashbuckling opener's 171-run heroics pummeled England to the highest ODI score ever then.

Joe Root, Jos Buttler and Eoin Morgan also scored half-centuries in the 169-run win as England scored a massive 444 runs.

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#1 Alex Hales (147 runs off 92 balls)

England v Australia - 3rd Royal London ODI

If I can do it once, I can do it again, says Hales creating havoc once again at his now favourite hunting ground of Nottingham.

If the man-in-form Jonny Bairstow laid the foundation with his 92-ball 139, Hales took the match to the grave for the Australians.

His fierce cuts and pulls ensured England reached a record-smashing total of 481 runs. 16 fours and five sixes were hit by Hales and even though he was demoted to No. 3, the usual opener proved his mettle by scoring 147 runs.

England notched their biggest victory in terms of runs -242 and handed Australia their biggest defeat.

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Which of these knocks were the most exciting? Sound off your opinion in the comments section below!