Summer Cricket
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Summer 2018: A breeding ground of cricketing records

Alvina Ahmed·
International
·2 Comments·

Who knew a summer that promised action for football junkies also had some excitement in store for cricket fans in Pakistan and across the globe…

So far, so good. A summer that had offered excitement for football fans with the FIFA World Cup has delivered more than it was expected to. With records breaking in almost every series, the last few months have been a treat for the cricketing world as well. Be it individual players or entire teams, there have been records for everybody. Let’s have a look at some of the best records we have witnessed being made so far this summer.

It’s only fair to begin this with the England vs. Australia series. In the third ODI of the memorable series, England created a record by posting a total of 481-6 on the board. This was the highest ever Men’s ODI total. Australia lost that match by 242 runs, setting themselves up for their worst ever loss. By the end of the series, Australia had created two more records. One by losing four back-to-back bilateral series and the second by making the last match their 8th consecutive loss in international cricket.

While Australia slumped under the weight of these unwanted records, England rejoiced – registering their first ever whitewash against Australia. As if that was not enough, the Australian team also fell to a new low after 34 years by falling to number 6 in the ICC ODI rankings. Hardly ever do we get to see a team as strong as Australia’s look so helpless. This series and the records created will definitely be remembered for long.

Time to move on to the tri-series between Pakistan, Australia, and Zimbabwe. Another record was created in the very first match of the series. Pakistani all-rounder Shoaib Malik became the third member of the 2000 runs club in T20I. When Malik hit 37* in that match, he also became the first Asian batsman to eclipse that milestone. What a well-deserved honour for a man who has been incredibly consistent since his comeback. Team Pakistan also created some records by beating Australia in the final of the tri-series. Not only did Pakistan win a series against Australia after 28 years, while recording their highest ever run chase in a T20I, but also claimed their ninth successive T20 series win. Surely, a series Pakistan will proudly look back upon.

With the talk of 2000 T20I runs, Virat Kholi and Rohit Sharma must not be ignored. Just a few days after Shoaib Malik, these two Indian batsmen also joined the 2000 T20I runs party. Kohli also became the fastest to cross the mark, taking only 60 matches and 56 innings for the remarkable feat.

Pakistan is currently playing an ODI series against Zimbabwe in Zimbabwe, and the team is already on top – leading the series 4-0 and putting up record numbers. In the recently concluded 4th ODI, Pakistan smashed quite a few records with their excellent batting. Pakistan managed to register their highest-ever ODI total of 399-1, and also managed to create a record for the highest-ever opening partnership total of 304, courtesy of Fakhar Zaman and Imam-ul-Haq.

Fakhar Zaman, or rather the Fantastic Fakhar, also made us all proud once again. The opener beat Saeed Anwar’s record and became the first Pakistani to score 200 runs in an ODI match. Fakhar also became the least-capped man ever to score an ODI double ton. He achieved the milestone in just his 17th innings. By all means, the batsman is still a newcomer and is already impressing fans and pundits alike with his glorious batting. At the moment, he totally deserves the title of Fakhar-e-Pakistan.

There is still plenty of cricket left to played this summer – so let’s wait and see how many more old records are rewritten!