India were routed for a paltry total of 91 in the second one-dayer at Durban. This was after South Africa had posted a challenging total of 248, thanks to a workmanlike unbeaten 119 by Jacques Kallis. Isn’t it amazing that one Kallis scored more than the combined tally of all 11 Indian batsmen. There are only a very few instances in ODIs of a single player outscoring the entire opposition. The difference of 28 runs between Kallis’ score and India’s total is the sixth highest in the history of the game.
Ironically the best such performance had also come against India. In the Champions Trophy final at Sharjah in October 2000, Jayasuriya blasted career-best 189. India then crumbled to 54 all out. The result line could easily have read as : Jayasuriya beat India by 135 runs!
This was the second such instance for Kallis. He had perfomed the similar feat against West Indies in 2004.The following table lists the biggest differences between a single player's score and the entire opposition's total:
Note: Only the completed innings (where teams lost all 10 wickets) have been taken into consideration.
Players outscoring the opposition on two occasions