Highest run chase in ODI: South Africa’s 438, Sri Lanka’s 430 and the full list
South Africa’s 438 for 9 against Australia in 2006 is still the highest successful run chase in ODI cricket. Sri Lanka’s 430 against England on 22 October 2026 is second, and seven of the top 15 have come since February 2025.
Mar 12, 2021 · Updated Oct 22, 2026
The highest successful run chase in ODI cricket is South Africa’s 438 for 9 against Australia at the Wanderers in Johannesburg on 12 March 2006, when they hunted down 434 with one wicket and one ball to spare. It has stood for more than 20 years.
It came close to going on 22 October 2026. Sri Lanka made 430 for 8 in Rawalpindi to beat England, whose 429 for 4 had been built on Harry Brook’s 202, the fastest double century in ODI history. That is now the second-highest chase ever, 22 days after India’s 406 for 2 against West Indies in Guwahati had taken the same spot. Three teams have chased 400 in a men’s ODI, and two of them did it this autumn.
Highest successful run chases in ODI cricket
| # | Team | Score | Overs | Against | Venue | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | South Africa | 438/9 | 49.5 | Australia | Johannesburg | 12 Mar 2006 |
| 2 | Sri Lanka | 430/8 | 49.5 | England | Rawalpindi | 22 Oct 2026 |
| 3 | India | 406/2 | 43.3 | West Indies | Guwahati | 30 Sep 2026 |
| 4 | Netherlands | 374/6 | 49.2 | Scotland | Dundee | 12 Jun 2025 |
| 5 | South Africa | 372/6 | 49.2 | Australia | Durban | 5 Oct 2016 |
| 6 | England | 364/4 | 48.4 | West Indies | Bridgetown | 20 Feb 2019 |
| 7 | India | 362/1 | 43.3 | Australia | Jaipur | 16 Oct 2013 |
| 8 | South Africa | 362/6 | 49.2 | India | Raipur | 3 Dec 2025 |
| 9 | Australia | 359/6 | 47.5 | India | Mohali | 10 Mar 2019 |
| 10 | England | 359/4 | 44.5 | Pakistan | Bristol | 14 May 2019 |
| 11 | India | 356/7 | 48.1 | England | Pune | 15 Jan 2017 |
| 12 | Australia | 356/5 | 47.3 | England | Lahore | 22 Feb 2025 |
| 13 | Pakistan | 355/4 | 49.0 | South Africa | Karachi | 12 Feb 2025 |
| 14 | West Indies | 352/5 | 48.2 | India | New Chandigarh | 3 Oct 2026 |
| 15 | India | 351/4 | 49.3 | Australia | Nagpur | 30 Oct 2013 |
Men’s ODIs only, complete to 22 October 2026. The score is what the chasing side finished on, which can be a few runs more than the target when the winning hit is a boundary.
Why half the list is less than two years old
Seven of the 15 biggest chases have come since February 2025. For almost nine years, from Durban in October 2016 until June 2025, South Africa’s 372 for 6 sat second behind the 438. Then the Netherlands chased 370 against Scotland in Dundee and finished on 374 for 6. India passed them in Guwahati in September 2026, and Sri Lanka passed India in Rawalpindi three weeks later, so the spot has had three owners in 16 months.
The losing side of these games tells the same story from the other end. Only four totals of 400 or more have ever lost a men’s ODI, and two of them were made in the last four weeks.
| Total | Team | Lost to | Venue | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 434/4 | Australia | South Africa | Johannesburg | 12 Mar 2006 |
| 429/4 | England | Sri Lanka | Rawalpindi | 22 Oct 2026 |
| 405/7 | West Indies | India | Guwahati | 30 Sep 2026 |
| 401/6 | New Zealand | Pakistan | Bengaluru | 4 Nov 2023 |
New Zealand’s 401 is the odd one in that table. Pakistan were ahead on DLS when rain ended the game in Bengaluru at the 2023 World Cup, so it was lost without being chased. The other three were chased in full.
India are the other thread through the list. They appear four times as the chasing side (406, 362, 356 and 351) and three more times as the side whose total was chased down, by South Africa at Raipur, Australia at Mohali and West Indies at New Chandigarh. Seven of the 15 games involved India. The Raipur chase is on our Raipur ground records page.
The 438 game: South Africa v Australia, Johannesburg, 2006
It was the fifth and final match of the series, with the score at 2-2. Ricky Ponting won the toss and batted, and made 164 off 105 balls with nine sixes. Simon Katich (79), Michael Hussey (81 off 51) and Adam Gilchrist (55) helped him to 434 for 4, the first time any side had made 400 in a one-day international.
South Africa lost Boeta Dippenaar for 1 early in the reply. Graeme Smith (90 off 55) and Herschelle Gibbs then put on 187 for the second wicket, and Gibbs went on to 175 off 111 balls, with 21 fours and seven sixes. When he was out, the chase still had a long way to go, and wickets kept falling around Mark Boucher. Johan van der Wath hit 35 off 18 to keep it alive.
It came down to the last over, bowled by Brett Lee. Andrew Hall was out to the third ball, Makhaya Ntini scrambled a single off the fourth to get Boucher back on strike, and Boucher hit the fifth for four to win it and reach 50 not out. South Africa took the series 3-2. The match aggregate of 872 runs is still the highest in a men’s ODI.
Sri Lanka’s 430: England v Sri Lanka, Rawalpindi, 2026
Brook’s 202 off 116 balls took England to 429 for 4, their fourth-highest ODI total. Sri Lanka lost two wickets in the first five overs of the reply, one of them their captain Kusal Mendis, run out at the non-striker’s end without facing a ball. Avishka Fernando (97 off 83) and Pavan Rathnayake then added 166 for the third wicket, Rathnayake went on to 130 off 106, and Dasun Shanaka hit eight sixes in 97 off 50.
Josh Tongue bowled the last over and took wickets with his second and third balls, which left seven needed off three. Asitha Fernando kept out the hat-trick by running a single, and with six needed off two, Janith Liyanage hit Tongue over long-off. Liyanage finished on 61 not out off 27 balls, and Sri Lanka won by two wickets with a ball to spare. The 859 runs in the match are second only to the 872 at Johannesburg. We have the full report from Rawalpindi, and Brook’s innings now leads our list of the fastest double centuries in ODIs.
India’s 406: India v West Indies, Guwahati, 2026
India’s biggest chase came on 30 September 2026 and it was the least tense of the three. West Indies made 405 for 7, Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma opened with a stand of 255, and Gill finished on 223 not out off 133 balls as India won by eight wickets with 39 balls to spare. Gill’s 223 is the highest score made by anyone batting second in an ODI. Our report from that night has the rest.
What is the highest run chase in an ODI World Cup?
Pakistan’s 345 for 4 against Sri Lanka in Hyderabad on 10 October 2023. Before that the World Cup record was Ireland’s 329 for 7 against England in Bengaluru in 2011, the game Kevin O’Brien won with a 50-ball hundred. For the biggest totals at the tournament, batting first or second, see our list of the highest totals in ODI World Cup history.
What is the highest total in ODI cricket?
England’s 498 for 4 against the Netherlands at Amstelveen in June 2022. Batting first, that is 60 runs more than anyone has ever chased. Our page on the highest scores in ODI cricket covers the biggest totals.
Feature photo: Twitter/ICC