On hot streak: The most fifties in consecutive ODIs
Scoring a half-century is always a special feat for any player playing in any format. Registering 50 or more runs in an innings only proves the cricketers’ quality and talent. But to do it consistently requires exceptional skills from the batter and one such player is Pakistan’s Javed Miandad who crossed the 50-run mark nine times in a row in ODIs to make a record that stands to this day.
Miandad achieved the feat by smashing nine successive half-centuries in the format in the year 1987 that began against India and ended against the Sri Lankans. On March 24 of that year, Miandad struck the first of the nine fifties against arch-rivals India in Nagpur. Batting at no. four, the right-handed batter scored 78 off 88 with five fours and one maximum. Pakistan won that encounter by a margin of 41 runs.
In the next match in Jamshedpur, Javed again scored 78 and remained unbeaten in a run-chase of 266 runs to seal a win for his side by five wickets. He smashed four fours and a maximum in 71 deliveries.
His third fifty came in a run-chase again, this time against the Australians in April in Sharjah. Chasing just 177, Miandad amassed an unbeaten 74 off 97, which included eight fours. The Asian giants again emerged victorious by a margin of six wickets. His fourth fifty came against England at the same venue where he mustered 60 off 101 with the help of four fours.
Man-in-form Miandad didn’t stop there as he notched up another score of 50 against rivals India. Chasing 184, he made an unbeaten 52 off 67 with five fours to win the match for Pakistan by eight wickets on April 10, 1987.
During Pakistan’s tour of England in the same year, he racked up his sixth consecutive score, this time a century as he smashed 113 off 145, which included 11 fours against the English side at The Oval.
His next two scores of 71* and 68 came against the same opponents in the same series in Nottingham and Birmingham respectively. Miandad’s ninth and record 50-plus score was registered against Sri Lanka in the opening fixture of the 1987 World Cup in Hyderabad (Sind). He smashed 103 off 100 to win the match for his side by 15 runs.
