Top 5 highest ODI scores posted by Indian cricket team

Only the South Africans can better India in terms of the number of scores above 400 in ODI cricket, but not even the Proteas can knock India off the perch when it comes to scores over 350. India's score of 381 barely manages to get into the top 5 scores posted by the 2011 World Cup winners.

This is the only time in their ODI history that India have managed a score above 400 against a top top team. But this match will never be remembered for that achievement. There was something much bigger than a mere score of 400 that was at stake in that game. THAT game will be in history for eternity and a day due to the efforts and accomplishments of one man - Sachin Tendulkar. It is a match that every Indian can tell you exactly where they were and what they were doing. Some rank it right up there with the Master Blaster winning the World Cup.

What was so impressive in the Tendulkar innings was the fact that there was no slogging, just old-fashioned placement and timing. In his entire innings, he scored just three sixes but scored a then record hundred runs from boundaries alone. By his own admission, Dale Steyn has said that Tendulkar gave him the worst feeling as a bowler because he always seemed to know where the bowler would bowl.

The second match on our list is one that not many people will remember as a match but when you say the name Rohit Sharma, it will all come back. The shots, the rush and the sheer disbelief that it was even humanly possible to score 264 runs in a single innings of a match. But Sharma did it, not with just raw power but with all the talent and grace he possesses in abundance. A year earlier, he had scored 209 against Australia in Bengaluru creating the record for the most sixes hit in a single innings. This time, however, it was the record for boundaries that was shattered with the ball crossing the rope 33 times during the innings.

India started the game against Sri Lanka with Ajinkya Rahane and Sharma at the crease but were restricted to 59/2 after the departures of Rahane and Ambati Rayudu. Virat Kohli came in and built a 202-run partnership with Sharma but that ended due to some confusion running between the wickets when Sharma was still at 152. With 12 overs left in the Indian innings, Sharma took the offensive route scoring 112 runs in just 47 balls with 14 boundaries and 6 big ones. The 264 took India's innings past 400 as they set Sri Lanka a target of 405.

India vs Bermuda - 413/5 (Port of Spain, 2007)

India had been shocked in their opening game of the tournament when they were beaten by Bangladesh by 5 wickets at the same venue. The Caribbean jinx appeared to be ongoing when Robin Uthappa was caught brilliantly by Leverock in the slips. Virendra Sehwag stepped in amidst extreme pressure having failed to score a hundred in 54 innings and the press had already begun sharpening their knives. But the Delhi lad put on a show that India expected from him as he smashed an impressive 114 in 87 balls to set up India for a big score. Yuvraj Singh and Sachin Tendulkar scored 83 and 57 off just 46 and 29 deliveries respectively to take India past 400 for the first time in their history. 

Although India crashed out of the World Cup in the next game, the memories of the Bermuda game will remain in memory for quite a while not just as an Indian record but also for the incredible catch by Mr. Leverocks.

India vs Sri Lanka - 414/7 (Rajkot, 2009)

After beating New Zealand on their home patch, India were thrashed 4-2 by Australia in a home series. Questions were again being asked about whether the team had what it took to win the 2011 World Cup that India were to host two years later. Usually, when a team scores such a high score, the games tend to be one-sided affairs. However, Sri Lanka pushed India to the limit, and were favorites to win the game at one point during the game, but failed to score 11 runs in the last over.

India went on to win the series quite comfortably in the end, but what good is a cricket series without some controversy? In the last ODI of the series, scheduled at the Feroz Shah Kotla Ground in Delhi, the match had to be abandoned due to lack of pitch preparation which resulted in uneven bounce that injured some of the Sri Lankan players. Although the Kotla eventually got the permission to host games in the 2011 World Cup, at that point in time, it looked like that was a mere dream.

West Indies hold the unwanted record of conceding the most runs against both India and South Africa. Against the slightly weakened Indian team that had decided to rest a few players after a tiring English series, it was Virender Sehwag who once again left a mark on the game raising questions about his absence from the first team as he became only the second Indian behind the great Sachin Tendulkar to score a double century and taking the record of highest ever score to his name then. 

India sent in Gautam Gambhir to accompany Sehwag at the start of the innings and the pair brought up a century of runs by the 15th over. The runs kept on coming as there was a boundary in almost every over. Sehwag brought up his hundred in the 23rd over but Gambhir lost his wicket on the very next ball through a runout. Raina joined Sehwag at the crease and took his time to settle down. Sehwag, on the other hand, kept on playing his shots with conviction and became only the second player to reach a double hundred when he smashed Andre Russell for a boundary and the record of his boyhood hero Tendulkar. He eventually was dismissed for 219 but India managed to take the score to 418/5.