On This Day: Shane Watson scored career-best 185* vs Bangladesh in Dhaka

Shane Watson scored career-best 185: The former Australian all-rounder had played a record-breaking innings in Dhaka.

On this day in 2011, former Australia all-rounder Shane Watson smashed a record-breaking career-best century which powered his team to chase a 230-run target in 26 overs in the second ODI of Australia’s tour of Bangladesh at the Shere Bangla National Stadium.

Watson, then 29, was unstoppable on the given day as he spared none of the Bangladeshi bowlers while scoring 185* (96) with the help of a mammoth 15 fours and 15 sixes.

Watson, who hit three fours off Bangladesh seamer Shafiul Islam in the first over itself, expressed his objective from the word go. On the third delivery of the seventh over, Watson hit a six off Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan to pummel a 26-ball half-century.

Continuing to deal in boundaries, Watson hit one off Islam in the 20th over to register his sixth ODI century. With Australia’s required run rate being around three at that moment, the chase was all but sealed.

In the 22nd over, Watson wrecked havoc against Bangladesh spinner Sohravordi Shuvo as he hit him for four consecutive sixes. Consistent swashbuckling hitting saw him go past the 150-run mark in the 24th over. Taking the attack on Abdur Razaak in the next over, Watson hit three sixes and a four in one over before hitting two fours and a six in the following Rubel Hossain over to win the match.

It is worth mentioning that Watson broke the record of former West Indies batsman Xavier Marshall (12) by hitting the most number of sixes (15) in an ODI innings.

Furthermore, Watson (150) also went past former South Africa batsman Herschelle Gibbs’ (126) tally of scoring most runs via boundaries in an ODI innings. While both the aforementioned records have been broken since then on several occasions, Watson breaking both the records in one innings speaks highly about his spectacular knock.

Shane Watson scored career-best 185

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About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

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