167.

Mitchell Johnson produced his second-highest impact performance of this year's IPL by taking 3-27 off his 3 overs against CSK to bundle them out for a paltry score of 79 runs. With that performance Johnson also pipped past Harbhajan Singh as Mumbai Indians' second-highest impact bowler of the tournament (after Ojha).

 

 

 

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166.

Ambati Rayudu produced the highest Pressure Impact performance of IPL 2012 (alongwith Kieron Pollard) against RCB in a match where Mumbai Indians were reduced to 51-5 in 9 overs chasing a target of 172 runs.With 81 runs off 54 balls, Rayudu not only absorbed pressure for his team but also made sure that he stayed till the end to see Mumbai Indians home in this terrific encounter.

 

 

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165.

Shikhar Dhawan’s debut Test innings (187 off 174 balls) was most remarkable for its strike rate – for which he earned a considerable Strike Rate Impact . Not for nothing was this the fastest century by a debutant in the history of Test cricket. This also happened to be the second highest Batting Impact performance of the series (behind Pujara's 204).

 

164.

Cheteshwar Pujara’s innings of 204 in the 2nd Test match against Australia actually registered a higher impact than Dhoni’s blistering innings of 224 in the 1st Test match. Pujara edged ahead primarily because of how poorly Australia batted (thereby reducing the overall base of the match) and also due to the considerable amount of pressure he absorbed (Pressure Impact) after India were initially reduced to 17-1 in the first innings.

 

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163.

MS Dhoni walked in at 196-4 (no mathematical pressure yet but it could have easily have kicked in if India had lost a couple of wickets then) – still 184 behind Australia’s score, match wide open at that stage. He comprehensively did a Gilchrist (fittingly against Australia) and was the only batsman to eventually get a Strike Rate Impact in the match (a rarity in Test cricket).

 

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162.

In a display of breathtaking fast bowling at Johannesburg, Dale Steyn ripped apart the Pakistani batting line-up and gave them the ignominy of the third side to be dismissed below 50 in the last 18 months in South Africa (in Tests). This also happens to be Steyn's best bowling figures in a Test innings in South Africa.

 

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161.

Kevin Pietersen produced one of the most memorable and entertaining knocks in his Test career in the 2nd test match against India at Mumbai when he scythed through a spin-heavy attack on a turning track to wrest the initiative from the Indians almost single-handedly. Even on Impact charts, he emerged as the highest impact player of the match (ahead of Monty Panesar) mainly because it made sure that England weren't left chasing much in their second innings.

 

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160.

An old documentary on 45 years of Indian cricket (1932-1976). Despite the romantic slant (which gives a somewhat misleading picture of its real import), and the old-style narration (sometimes dreary), there is no doubt about the value of documenting these moments.

 

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159.

Marlon Samuels' batting in the final (78 off 56; Batting IMPACT 10.36) is the highest impact performance in T20 Internationals history in a Series/Tournament context (and easily the highest impact batting performance of this tournament). Not only did he have to stabilize the innings from 14-2 (with the massive figure of Gayle gone), he also registered a substantial Strike Rate IMPACT of 2.04 (making 1.4 runs off every ball when the match average was barely 1) and he did it at the most crucial juncture in the game.

 

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158.

West Indies may have beaten England but the credit of this becoming a match that lasted till the last over goes to Eoin Morgan.Morgan’s innings (71 off 36) had everything – Pressure IMPACT (0.26), Partnership-Building (0.63), the second-highest Runs Tally IMPACT (4.55) and by far the highest Strike Rate IMPACT (1.32).

 

 

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157.

Imran Nazir(who is Pakistan’s highest impact T20 batsman) played a whirlwind knock of 72 off 36 balls (highest Strike Rate IMPACT in the match) to dismiss Bangladesh from the T20 World Cup. He had a high Partnership-Building IMPACT alongwith Mohammad Hafeez and also had the highest Chasing IMPACT to emerge as the highest impact performer for Pakistan in the match.

 

 

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156.

Harbhajan Singh took 4-12 off his 4 overs (Match IMPACT 7.51), to emerge as the highest impact player of the match against England.Harbhajan came into the attack with England at 39-2 and reduced them to 60-8 which resulted in him having the highest Pressure-Building IMPACT in the match, he also had the highest Economy Rate IMPACT in the match.

 

 

 

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155.

Jacques Kallis with his spell of 4-15 in 4 overs knocked Zimbabwe out of the T20 World Cup 2012 and in the process also registered his highest ever Bowling IMPACT (14.44) in the T20 format.

 

 

 

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154.

Shane Watson did his reputation of being the best Australian T20 player no harm by turning in an all-round performance (51 off 30; 3-26 in 4 overs) of the highest quality against the Irish and setting up Australia’s first win of the 2012 T20 World Cup. He opened with both bat and ball for Australia and finished the match single-handedly both times.

 

 

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153.

One of the most under-rated bowlers in the T20 format of the game (maybe because he was found wanting in the Test arena), Ajantha Mendis is infact the highest impact bowler in the world when it comes to T20Is and turned in yet another superlative bowling display in this inaugural game of the T20 World Cup 2012 against the Zimbabweans with phenomenal figures of 6-8 off his 4 overs.

 

 

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152.

Virat Kohli was identified by Impact Index in January 2012 as the greatest chaser in ODI history. The observation was derided then till Hobart, and then later Bangladesh. Earlier this week, against New Zealand, he proved he could do the same in Test cricket too.

 

 

 

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151.

One of the great ODI innings in recent times helped South Africa gain an upper hand (1-0 lead) in the ongoing ODI series against England.Amla's evident superiority in this innings got South Africa to a match-winning total of 287 and his excepional Runs Tally IMPACT (proportion of runs scored in the innings) also helps one understand how he emerges as the highest impact batsman for South Africa in their entire ODI history.

 

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150.

Chasing 253 in this CB Series final encounter, England were struggling at 15-3 after the first 6 overs when Paul Collingwood stepped in and along with Ian Bell launched a recovery act of the highest quality. He showed all the qualities of a great ODI batsman and eventually chased down the intimidating target with 4 wickets and 3 balls to spare to give England their first CB Series victory in Australia.

 

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149.

In a stage as big as the 1975 World Cup final, Clive Lloyd walked in to bat with his team in dire straits at 50-3 only to produce the highest impact batting performance of his career (in a series context). Despite being under considerable pressure, this was also Lloyd's highest Strike Rate IMPACT performance in his entire ODI career.

 

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148.

Brett Lee's highest impact bowling performance in a match context came against the South Africans in this VB series group encounter in 2006. Chasing 246, the South Africans were treated by Lee's barrage of fast and accurate bowling and by the time he finished, he had accounted for five of the top 7 South African batsmen to virtually knock them out of the match.

 

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147.

Chasing a modest target of 173 runs against West Indies in this World Series group encounter, Australia were reeling at 38-6 before Michael Bevan alongwith the tail-enders produced a comeback of epic proportions to see them through; scoring 4 runs off the last ball to win the match. This innings also happens to be the 2nd-highest Batting IMPACT performance by an Australian in their entire ODI history (match context).

 

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146.

Andrew Symonds’ highest impact performance (all-round) in a series context came against the Sri Lankans in this VB Series final encounter. Coming in at 10-3, Symonds alongwith Ponting launched a counter-attack of the highest quality propelling Australia to a massive score of 368. Symonds also picked up two wickets while bowling to register this performance as the 2nd highest impact all-round performance for Australia in their ODI history after Gary Gilmour's effort in the 1975 World Cup semi-finals.

 

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145.

Coming in to bat at 82-3, chasing 265 against India in this ICC Champions Trophy final encounter in 2000, Chris Cairns delivered a performance of the highest quality and produced one of his two series-defining performances (SD) in his career with the bat to see New Zealand through the chase and their first ever victory in a ICC multi-nation tournament (their only one so far). 

 

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144.

Remarkably,5 out of Shane Bond's top 10 impact performances in ODIs are against the greatest team of his era- Australia.Here is his highest impact performance against them in the 2003 World Cup where he took 6-23 off his 10 overs to reduce Australia to 84-7 only to see his side lose by a margin of 96 runs.Undoubtedly,one of the most remarkable bowling performances in the annals of World Cup history. 

 

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143.

In reply to New Zealand’s fighting total of 200, Australia started on the worst note possible and were reduced to 6-2. Shane Bond, along with Kyle Mills, dominated the proceedings so much that Australia faced 73 dot balls in the first 15 overs. Watson, though, bid his time and by the time he finished, his knock of 105 off 129 balls had won Australia the match along with the ICC Champions Trophy for the second consecutive time.

 

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142.

Chasing 214 to win in this classic World Cup semi-final, South Africa were 48-0 after 12 overs when it took a moment of brilliance from Warne, a delivery reminiscent of the Gatting dismissal to get rid of Gibbs.In a span of 8 balls he had accounted for Gibbs, Kirsten and Cronje and in his last spell got rid of Jacques Kallis to boost the Australians even further.

 

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141.

At a stage as big as the 1979 World Cup final, Viv Richards stepped in and rose to the occasion magnificently. Coming in when West Indies were under a bit of pressure at 22-1, he attacked the English bowling disdainfully and helped West Indies to a total of 286. In reply, England could muster up only 194 runs which eventually meant a second consecutive world title for West Indies – till now, their last.

 

 

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140.

On a pitch where India made heavy weather of scoring 216 (perhaps weighed down with the series at 1-1), Ijaz Ahmed finished the match off (with Afridi) before a relatively weakened Indian attack knew what hit it.

 

 

 

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139.

In Pakistan’s happy hunting ground yet again, Sri Lanka chased a seemingly gettable 212 in the Coca-Cola Cup final, but Akram and Razzaq had Sri Lanka at 40-3 before Mahmood came on to bowl – he took the next 5 wickets and finished off the match swiftly, as Sri Lanka collapsed for 123 in 36 overs.

 

 

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138.

Chasing 259, Australia were jolted early by Praveen Kumar’s triple strike and were reduced to 32-3 in the first 9 overs. They never really recovered from that position and even though Michael Hussey and James Hopes led a spirited fight-back, Kumar had done enough to seal the series in India’s favour which till date remains their only ODI series win in Australia.

 

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137.

After Jayasuriya had initially played a breathtaking knock of 125 runs to boost the Sri Lankan total to 275 runs, Mendis drove in all the final nails in the coffin to wrest away the initiative Sehwag had generated for India. Mendis prised open the entire Indian middle-order alongwith the wicket of Sehwag and by the time he had finished India were tottering at 154-8 off 32 overs with their chances of winning the Asia Cup gone.

 

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136.

With Sri Lanka faltering at 66-4 in 12 overs, the much needed change of course in their innings was provided by their veteran opener.  Jayasuriya steadied the ship alongwith Dilshan and in his usual aggressive manner gave the Sri Lankan innings a much needed thrust to take them to a total of 275 runs.  In reply, India fell short by a margin of 100 runs which resulted in an Asia Cup win for the Lankans.

 

 

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135.

Chasing 300, India had earlier been tormented by a Jayasuriya classic and to their misery and dismay had to endure the brilliance of Chaminda Vaas’ bowling display in the second half. Vaas took out the Indian top four in his first spell of 4 overs to reduce them to 18-4 before coming back to finish off the match to give a thumping 245 runs victory to Sri Lanka.

 

 

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134.

In an exhibition of brutal hitting, Sanath Jayasuriya blasted open the Indian bowling attack in this final encounter of the Coca Cola Champions Trophy in 1999. Jayasuriya’s knock came at a time when Sri Lanka were struggling at 116-4 off 28 overs and propelled them to a score of 299 runs. Jayasuriya’s innings till date is not only the highest individual score by a Sri Lankan batsman in an ODI innings but is also the highest impact batting performance in the history of ODI cricket.

 

 

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133.

In this 1st final of the Silver Jubilee Independence Cup at Dhaka, Pakistan after electing to bat first managed to post a competitive total of 212 runs in a fog reduced 46 overs match. India in reply, rolled off to a blazing start with Tendulkar being the main initiator. By the time he was dismissed India needed only a further 54 runs to win off 21 overs. Undoubtedly, one of Tendulkar’s most unheralded ODI innings.

 

 

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132.

After being reduced to 18-3 in the first six overs, the Indian innings got its much needed boost through Azharuddin’s blistering counter attack against a dominant South African bowling attack in this Hero Cup semi-final encounter. Even though India posted only 195 runs on board (with Azharuddin scoring 46% of it) it proved to be enough for them to seal the deal against the South Africans.

 

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131.

Chasing 226, West Indies were at 101-4 on a sluggish track before Anil Kumble put them out of their misery with a six-wicket haul. Kumble accounted for the last 6 West Indian wickets within a space of 26 balls and in the process conceded only 4 runs. His overall figures of 6-12 till date remains the best individual performance by an Indian bowler.

 

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130.

Though chasing in crunch situations has never been Sachin Tendulkar’s forte, this particular innings will undoubtedly go down as one of his best while chasing (other than the Sharjah one) for India’s cause. With India struggling at 87-3 chasing 240 against a disciplined Aussie bowling attack, Tendulkar not only held and scored from one end but also guided a young Rohit Sharma on the other. His contribution led to India winning the 1st CB series final and eventually the series.