When ODI cricket started in 1970s scoring was not as quick as it is today. Batsmen were quite happy to take it easy, bat whole day, not showing any urgency to score runs whatsoever.
Despite of ODIS being sixty overs those days, the scores were very low compared to today”s ODIS which consist of 50 overs per innings. Then came a slight revolution in ODI cricket when Sri Lanka”s Jaysuriya and Kaluwitharana started playing with attacking mindset in powerplay that provide a boost to overall scoring rates.
Still 220-230 was considered competitive score in 1990s and early 2000s and a 300-run game would be considered a brutal onslaught on bowling attack and it was 1 or 2/10 instance.
With the introduction of T20s the scoring rates inflated dramatically. Earlier an entire team couldn”t score 300 in an ODI, now a batsman has scored 300 in an ODI himself!
Yes! You read it right! Bilal Irshad, a 26-year old Pakistani batsman entered the record books by becoming first batsman to register a score of 300 in a recognized match. Bilal played a blistering innings of 320 off 175 balls in Pakistan Cricket Board Fazal Mehmood Inter-club Cricket Championship.
He shared a 364 run partnership with Zakir Hussain which is just 8 short of international record held by Marlon Samuels and Chris Gayle (372 vs Zimbabwe at Canberra on 24 February 2015).
His team Shaheed Alam Bux Club posted a mammoth 556 runs on the board and bowled out opposition for 115 winning by a massive margin of 411 runs.
“The top performers in this tournament will be dovetailed into our existing inter-district (currently the only feedstock system), District/Regional (Inter-District Tournament) selection process will be based on performance, emerging cricketers will be motivated to improve their skills and fitness standards,” a PCB official quoted.
Kudos to Bilal Irshad who just became the first triple centurion of Fazal Mahmood National Club Cricket Championship by scoring 320 runs pic.twitter.com/3OYLbMmgim
— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) May 24, 2017
– by Atharva Apte
