Highest successful run chases in all the three formats of the game

Back in the day, the basic tenet that teams around the world followed was to bat first and put runs on the board. The first five World Cup finals bore testimony to the aforementioned fact where each time the side batting first won. However, with the pitches being flattened around the world, the belligerent Sri Lankans buoyed by Sanath Jayasuriya and Kaluwitharana at the top changed that notion in 1996 when they chased in the finals and were crowned World Champions.

However, one person that helped shatter that notion forever was Australia's Michael Bevan. Bevan, blessed with an astute game sense and an overwhelming self-confidence pulled out some of the most breathtaking chases, none more special than his New Year heist of 1996 against the West Indies. Bevan was the chief custodian in changing the notion towards chasing in the cricketing world and come the 21st century, we have witnessed teams transcending the levels of what can be achieved while chasing, the highest chase across all formats achieved this millennium bores a testimony to it. As Australia set the new benchmark of the highest ever scores chased in a T20I against New Zealand at Eden Park, here's a look at the highest successful run chases in all the three formats till date:

Tests:

418 by West Indies against Australia, St.Johns, Antigua 2003

Successful Fourth innings run-chases are a rare commodity and few expected the West Indies, a side on the decline, to achieve the highest successful run-chase in the history of Test cricket especially against the rampaging Australians. Abiding by their unpredictability, the West Indies showed a glimpse of their former self and made history by chasing down 418 runs, a feat that left even their ardent fans puzzled and unable to fathom the magnanimity of the event that they had just witnessed.West Indies had already lost the series 0-3 and the economy of a first-ever whitewash against the marauding Aussies loomed largely when they were set an improbable 418 runs by Steve Waugh's team. With the first Innings of both teams ending at 240, the match was basically reduced to the second innings shoot-out. Aussie openers, Justin Langer (111) and Mathew Hayden (177) led the charge with a 242 run stand to help their team post 417 in the third innings.

The Fourth innings of a Test match are notoriously difficult with the pitch showing signs of wear and turn and is at its most unreliable. Yet, gritty hundreds by Ramnaresh Sarwan (105) and Shiv Chanderpaul (104) coupled by handy cameos from lower down the order by Banks (47) and Vasbert Drakes (27) assisted the hosts topple 27 years record of highest successful run chase (406) in the history of Test cricket, a feat previously achieved by India in April of 1976. Few teams have come close to shattering the record, none closer than South Africa in 2013, where they in a bizarre turn of events decided to play out a draw, 8 runs adrift of the what would have been a World record chase of 458.

Result: Australia (240, Justin Langer 42) & (417, Matthew Hayden 171) lost to West Indies (240, Brian Lara 68) & (7-418, Ramnaresh Sarwan 105) by three wickets.

ODIs:

9-438 by South Africa against Australia, Johannesburg 2006

Australia was at the receiving end yet again, this time on the wrong side of the World record chase in one-day internationals in a match that is widely regarded by pundits and commentators as the greatest one-day international of all times.

March 12, 2006, was a watershed moment in the history of one day cricket as it saw a team breaching the 400 run mark in the allotted 50 overs. It was the decider of the 5-match ODI series between Australia and South Africa at the Bullring when Australia's skipper Ricky Ponting decided to take matters in his own hand as he powered his way to a brutal 164, an innings glittered with 8 sixes helping Australia post 4-434 in the allowed quota.

At the halfway mark, the sight of South Africa getting even close to the target would have been unimaginable among the most ardent local fans, but then magic happened. After Boeta Dippenaar (1) had fallen cheaply, captain Smith (90 off 55 balls) and Herschelle Gibbs (175 off 111 balls) led South Africa's charge as they accumulated 187 runs in just 21.3 overs to keep the hosts afloat with the required run-rate. If Ponting's assault was brutal, Herschelle Gibbs knock was a complete annihilation that pulverized the bowlers into submission.

Gibbs fell for 175, however his assault had lasting effects on the Aussie bowling evident from the cameos played by Mark Boucher (50 off 43 balls) and Van der Wath (35 off 18 balls). One of the everlasting memories of that Wanderers game was Mark Boucher hit the winning four over mid-on off Brett Lee and the people crying in the stands, failing to fathom of what they had just witnessed.

Result: South Africa (8-438, Herschelle Gibbs 175) beat Australia (4-434, Ricky Ponting 164) by two wickets.

T20I:

5-245 by Australia vs New Zealand, Eden Park, Auckland 2018

In a week where we are celebrating the thirteenth anniversary of T20I, the two sides that kick-started that revolution was involved in another historic encounter at Eden Park as the Aussies set the new benchmark for the highest T20I chase, a feat previously achieved by the World Champions Windies when they chased down 236 against the Proteas back in 2016. With 222 sixes struck on the ground T20I previously, the Eden Park lived up to its reputation as the batsmen from both sides made a mockery of the art of six-hitting. Guptill and Munro set the ball rolling with a belligerent opening stand worth 132 in just 10.4 overs. Guptill en route to his second hundred in the shortest format of the game also became the highest run-getter (2250 runs in 74 matches), a record previously held by his fellow Kiwi Brendon McCullum.

The opening blitz that powered New Zealand to 6-243 was taken to magnanimous proportions by a rampaging duo of Short and Warner who amassed 121 runs, powered by eight sixes among them in just 8.3 overs.All the bowlers were reduced to a bowling machine virtually ushering them out of the occasion. Ben Wheeler (1-64 in 3.5 overs) ran the risk of conceding the highest runs for a bowler in T20I history, only to be saved by the waste height no balls that propelled him out of the attack.The opening blitz was ably supported by the middle order as cameos from Glenn Maxwell (31 off 14 balls) and Finch (36 off 14 balls) steered the Aussies to a record-breaking chase of 245.

Result: New Zealand (6-243, Martin Guptill 105) lost to Australia (5-245, D'Arcy Short 76) by five wickets.