The most infamous ODI knock ever is Sunil Gavaskar's go-slow effort in the 1975 World Cup. That is the fourth longest innings played in ODIs, in terms of balls faced, but most of the others in the top-10 have made it because of the sheer size of the batsman's contribution to the team's cause.
Sunil Gavaskar (India): 36* in 174 balls(4x1) vs England at Lord's. Dennis Amiss' brilliant 147-ball 137 and contributions from Keith Fletcher and Chris Old saw England rack up an imposing 334 for 4 in the first match of the 1975 World Cup. The target was always beyond India, but for some inexplicable reason Sunil Gavaskar decided he would be better off getting some batting practice. Gavaskar didn't make any attempt at chasing down the target, even as his coach, spectators and the Indian dressing room were boiling over with frustration. In the end, England thumped India by a massive margin of 202 runs.
Robin Smith (England): 128 in 168 balls (4x16) vs New Zealand at Leeds. Smith was the rock of England's innings as he batted through most of the hosts' innings and shared useful partnerships with Graham Gooch, Alec Stewart and Derek Pringle. John Wright and Andrew Jones got New Zealand's chase off to a strong start which was then followed up by Martin Crowe's 48-ball 46 at No. 3, but the star for the Black Caps was Mark Greatbatch whose 104-ball 102* helped the visitors win in the match off the penultimate delivery of the match.
Mohsin Khan (Pakistan): 70 in 176 balls (4x1) vs West Indies at The Oval. Mohsin crawled and plodded his way in the second semi-final of the 1983 World Cup; and as a result Pakistan made only 1884 for 8 in their 60 overs. Richards' 96-ball 80 and Larry Gomes' 50* (100 balls) ensured West Indies chased down the target easily by eight wickets and with 68 balls remaining.
Bill Athey (England): 142* in 172 balls (4x14) vs New Zealand at Manchester. Martin Crowe top-scored with 93*; and Ken Rutherford (61) and Jeff Crowe (48) also chipped in as New Zealand scored 284 for 5 in 55 overs. Athey and Graham Gooch, who scored a 102-ball 91 added 193 for the first wicket, and set England firmly on the road to a six-wicket win.
Chris Broad (England): 99 in 168 balls (4x4) vs Pakistan at The Oval. Javed Miandad's 113 helped Pakistan set England a target of 233; Broad anchored the chase and had useful partnerships with Bill Athey and Allan Lamb, but was unlucky to miss out on a well-deserved century as he was dismissed with only 15 more runs needed.
Viv Richards (West Indies): 189* in 170 balls (4x21, 6x5) vs England at Manchester. This is quite possibly the greatest ODI innings ever played. Richards came to the middle following the early dismissal of Desmond Haynes, and then watched from the other end as wickets tumbled and West Indies were wobbling at 102 for 7. Richards decided to counter-attack at this stage and found an ally in Eldine Baptiste (26) with whom he added 59 runs for the eighth wicket, but West Indies were 166 for 9. 'The King' then gave an amazing display of taking the attack to the opposition as he smashed England's
Glenn Turner (New Zealand): 171* in 201 balls [4x16, 6x2] vs East Africa at Birmingham on 7 June 1975. The New Zealand skipper carried his bat through the innings as he hit the hapless East African bowling attack all over the ground. In the end, New Zealand's 309 for 5 was 181 runs too many for East Africa.
Ashish Bagai (Canada): 137* in 172 balls (4x12, 6x1) vs Scotland at Nairobi (Ruaraka). In this ICC World Cricket League Division One match, Scotland made 276 for 4. Canada's chase got off to an awful start with the early dismissal of John Davison, and were then struggling at 92 for 3 before a 100-run partnership for the fourth wicket between Bagai and Ashif Mulla (48) got them back on track; but a flurry of wickets then ensued before Canada's No. 3 got his team over the line.
Gordon Greenidge (West Indies): 106* in 173 balls (4x9, 6x1) vs India at Birmingham. In this group match of the 1979 World Cup, Gundappa Viswanath's heroic 75 helped India reach 190 when at one stage they were 77 for 5. The target of 191 was never going to be enough to test the strong West Indies line-up. Greendidge and Desmond Haynes (47) added 138 for the first wicket in their own time, but that was never going to affect the result.
Glenn Turner (New Zealand): 114* in 177 balls (4x13) vs India at Manchester on 14 June 1975. Turner continued his good form in the 1975 World Cup as he anchored New Zealand's chase of 231.
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