The ACA-VDCA stadium at Visakhapatnam, set on the coast of the Bay of Bengal, is one of the most picturesque grounds in the country. Sporting a wicket that is good to bat on, the stadium started hosting international matches in 2005 with a marquee clash between India and Pakistan. Over the years, it has hosted a number of memorable matches, most of them being high-scoring encounters with a tight finish. With the fifth and final ODI between India and New Zealand to be held at Visakhapatnam, we take a look at the five best knocks by Indians at the venue:
#5 Suresh Raina (71* off 47 balls vs Australia, 2010)
The rain-marred ODI series between India and Australia in 2010 could salvage only one full match out of India. The hosts, chasing a steep target of 290, stumbled to 35-2, before a young Virat Kohli steered the chase with a responsible knock. Yet, with quick runs required in the latter part of the innings, Suresh Raina, a proven performer in the middle order took the task upon himself.
With the equation reading 118 off 98 balls, Raina took the onus of going for the big shots, clearing the infield in his favourite areas: the cover region and the midwicket boundary. He picked his gaps, ran hard, and helped usurp the target in no time. His 71 off just 47 balls helped clinch the match with seven deliveries to spare.
#4 Yuvraj Singh (95 off 83 balls vs Sri Lanka, 2007)
In the lead-up to the 2007 World Cup, the Indian team underwent a sustained run of form, winning back to back series against Sri Lanka and West Indies. With the first ODI bearing no result and either side winning a match each in the second and third one, the fourth and final match at Vizag turned into a decider against the Lankans.
Batting first, the Lankans scored a competitive 259, largely on the back of Chamara Silva’s century. Virender Sehwag and Sourav Ganguly gave a solid start to the Indian team, with Robin Uthappa following them with a stroke-filled fifty after Ganguly started suffering from cramps. However, they stumbled to 118-3, with the game still in balance.
Yuvraj Singh, who went on to have a superb 2007, then combined with Uthappa, and later Ganguly, to give India a final push. His 95, studded with three sixes, motored the team to a win with 36 balls to spare.
#3 Virat Kohli (117 off 123 balls vs West Indies, 2011)
A swashbuckling knock from Ravi Rampaul at No.10 powered West Indies to a healthy 269 after the team had crumbled to 149-8. India suffered two early blows in the form of Parthiv Patel and Virender Sehwag. Virat Kohli, who came in at No.4, applied himself beautifully in the middle, combining with then middle-order batsman Rohit Sharma to steer India’s chase.
Kohli, making full use of West Indies’ poor fielding efforts, stitched a 163-run partnership with Rohit Sharma (who scored an unbeaten 90) to get India back on track. Captain Darren Sammy was liberal with the field setting, spreading his players across the ground instead of applying pressure. Kohli extracted most of his runs square of the wicket, keeping the run-rate under check along with Rohit. In the end, the chase turned out to be an easy one.
#2 Virat Kohli (118 off 121 balls vs Australia, 2010)
Before he became the chase-master that he is, Kohli was a youngster trying to cement his place in an Indian batting order rich in talent. He often found himself in tricky situations and needed to perform to stay in contention, as was the case against Australia in 2010 when he came in to bat at 0-1 with the target being 290.
What followed was a matured knock from the 21-year-old in his 35 ODI. keeping his defence intact, yet not sparing the loose deliveries. He paced his innings brilliantly and ran hard between the wickets, attributes that now make him the best in the business. He fought off cramps to get to his third ODI hundred, celebrating in an animated fashion.
#1 MS Dhoni (148 off 123 balls vs Pakistan, 2005)
If Dhoni had not performed in this match, he probably would never have become the legend that he is now. It was a make-or-break match for the young Dhoni, whose unconventional batting style had not reaped any results in his first four innings, and he needed to hit form to stay in the team.
Incidentally, this was the first match at the ACA-VDCA stadium. Dhoni, promoted to No. 3 as a pinch-hitter, blazed his way to his first international century, thrashing the visiting bowlers to submission with his unorthodox strokes. The spinners, Shahid Afridi and Arshad Khan, were treated with disdain, as the team powered on to amass 356, a target that proved to be 58 runs too much for the Pakistan team. As for Dhoni, there was no looking back. The knock gave him a perfect launchpad to realise his potential at the highest level.
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