The milestone that Milind Kumar achieved when he scored a hundred against the UAE in the ICC Cricket World Cup League 2 on Monday was beyond belief. His average finished at 67.73, smashing the record for the highest batting average in a One Day International (ODI) match. The Indian-born player now ranks as the batsman with the highest average in ODIs for a minimum of 1,000 runs, thereby pushing aside Ryan ten Doeschate of the Netherlands, whose average was 67.00 from 1,541 runs. Kumar has made 22 innings and scored 1,016 runs with his highest score being 155*.
Record-breaking innings and a historic partnership by Milind Kumar
The USA after being off to a shaky start of 28/3 in the match came back strongly and scored a very impressive 292/3. Milind Kumar was not out on 137 scored from 149 balls in which he hit 10 fours and three sixes, and Saiteja Mukkamalla made 123* from 125 balls with 11 fours and a six. Their 264-run partnership for the fourth wicket, which remained unbroken, is the second-highest in ODI history, only less than the 275* that Mohammad Azharuddin and Ajay Jadeja made for India in 1998.
Besides, Milind Kumar’s hundred made him the fastest USA player to a hat-trick of three ODI hundreds as he did it in just 21 innings. Mukkamalla and USA captain Monank Patel also have three ODI centuries each, but took 36 and 48 innings respectively.
By accomplishing this milestone, Milind Kumar has also moved ahead of Indian great Virat Kohli in terms of ODI batting average (57.71) and is currently ranked 3rd among the players having more than 1000 ODI runs.
The USA bowlers were also up to the task as Rushil Ugarkar took 5/22 which helped to dismiss the UAE for a mere 49 runs. The 243-run win is the largest first-innings victory of the USA, their record margin of 169 runs against Canada in May has been bettered.
