After a span of more than 12 years, the prestigious record of most runs by an individual in an innings has been equaled. Saeed Anwer, the ace Pakistani opener who made this record of scoring 194 runs in Chennai against India back in May 21, 1997 has been equaled by Zimbabwe’s middle order batsman Charles Kevin Coventry in the 4^th ODI against Bangladesh. Coventry remained not out on 194.

He hit 16 fours and 7 sixes in his attacking innings, scoring 106 runs only from the total number of boundaries he hit in his innings. It was a records-breaking inning by the Zimbabwean batsmen, who equaled one world record and broke two others. The 26-years old young middle-order has played mere 15 ODIs so far. It was Coventry’s maiden century. Coventry also broke the world record of highest score in a maiden century.

This record was previously held by former Indian captain Kapil Dev. Kapil had scored 175 not out against Zimbabwe, back in 1983. Coventry broke another world record, which certainly won’t be very pleasing for him, is that he scored most individual runs on a losing side. Coventry’s aggressive and huge century was overshadowed by the victory of Bangladesh, who won the five match series 3-1 by chasing Zimbabwe’s 312 in the 48^th over. Banglaadesh’s Tamin Iqbal also scored a big century by scoring 154. Reaching to double-century in one-day international still remains an elusive dream, although many batsmen reaching closer to it.

The all time top five individual scorers in ODIs are;

1. CK Coventry (Zim) 194 not out vs Bangladesh in 2009
2. Saeed Anwer (Pak) 194 vs India in 1997
3. Viv Richards (WI) 189 not out vs England in 1984
4. Sanath Jayasiriya (SL) 189 vs India in 2000
5. Gary Kirsten (SA) 188 not out vs UAE in 1996

Highest maiden century;

1. CK Coventry (Zim) 194 not out vs Bangladesh in 2009
2. Kapil Dev (Ind) 175 not out vs Zimbabwe in 1983
3. Lou Vincent (NZ) 172 vs Zimbabwe in 2005
4. Glenn Turner (NZ) 171 not out vs East Africa in 1975
5. Dave Callaghan (SA) 169 not out vs New Zealand in 1994

Losing side’s highest score by an individual;

1. CK Coventry (Zim) 194 not out vs Bangladesh in 2009
2. Mathew Hayden (Aus) 181 not out vs New Zealand in 2007
3. Robin Smith (Eng) 167 not out vs Australia in 1993
4. Ricky Ponting (Aus) 164 vs South Africa in 2006
5. Chris Gayle (WI) 152 not out vs South Africa in 2004

The following table portrays a brief comparison of both Saeed Anwer and Charles Coventry’s classy innings;

Player	Runs	Balls	Strike Rate	4’s	6’s	Total boundaries	Opposition	Year
CK Coventry (Zim)	194*	156	124.35	16	7	23	Bangladesh	2009
Saeed Anwer (Pak)	194	146	132.87	22	5	27	India	1997

Stats courtesy to www.cricinfo.com

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