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Asia Cup 2008
Twenty numbers
July 7, 2008
Cricinfo brings to you twenty key numbers from the recently-concluded Asia Cup held in Pakistan.
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In a tournament dominated by the batsmen, Ajantha Mendis' 17 wickets deservedly earned him the Man-of-the-Series prize
© AFP
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0 - Matches in which the margin of victory was less than 50 runs or five wickets.
1 - Wins obtained by the trio of Bangladesh, Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates. They played eight games altogether.
3 - Centuries by Kumar Sangakkara. Had it not been for his failures in Sri Lanka's final two games, Sangakkara could well have been the first batsman to score four hundreds in a tournament. He will have to settle for the most in an edition of the Asia Cup.
4 - Five-wicket hauls in the tournament. Ajantha Mendis bagged two, with team-mate Muttiah Muralitharan and Pakistan's Sohail Tanvir managing one. Also the number of times India and Sri Lanka have won the Asia Cup.
5.60 - The average run-rate in the tournament. India scored at 6.43 runs an over; Sri Lanka were right behind with 6.21.
6 - Maidens bowled by Iftikhar Anjum in the match against Bangladesh, equalling the record for the most by a Pakistan bowler. It came in a tournament where the best for another bowler in an innings was two, and where only 49 overs out of 1170 were maidens. Also, number of wickets Mendis managed in the final, the best bowling figures in the Asia Cup.
10 - Totals of 300 or more in the tournament, in 26 innings, a fair indication of the easy conditions for batsmen. India and Sri Lanka managed it four times each, while Pakistan and Bangladesh did it once - though Pakistan did manage 299.
11 -Dismissals effected by Mahendra Singh Dhoni behind the stumps, equalling the record for an edition of the Asia Cup. He also scored 329 runs at an average of 109. Surely, it wasn't for no reason that Dhoni was complaining about the tournament's scheduling. Dhoni played six matches, umpire Tony Hill stood in seven.
13 - Hundreds scored in the tournament, making it one for every game played. Three World Cups have seen more centuries, but it required 52 matches for the 21 tons in the 2003 World Cup.
14.8 - Balls needed by Ajantha Mendis to take a wicket on an average in the tournament. The average for all bowlers was 41.7. His 17 wickets - the most in a single edition of the Asia Cup - cost a mere 8.52 apiece.
25 - Matches Sanath Jayasuriya has played in the Asia Cup, the most for any player. He's the only one to score over 1000 runs in the tournament, and was the leading run-getter in this edition.
53.70 - The percentage of dot balls in the tournament. However, 620 fours and 86 sixes ensured the batsmen managed to score at a strike-rate of 88.47.
54.68 - The average runs per wicket for India. The corresponding figures for Pakistan was 52.08 and Sri Lanka 36.50. Hong Kong managed a lowly 13.21.
87 - Runs conceded by Tanvir against India, the most runs given by a bowler in the Asia Cup. He was just five short of Pakistan's worst in ODIs: a sudden blip for a bowler who hadn't given more than 6.5 an over in his short career till then and had taken a five-for in the previous game.
100 - Runs in boundaries for Jayasuriya during his 130 against Bangladesh. With nearly 77% of the runs coming in fours and sixes, Jayasuriya's 39th birthday was surely a walk in the park as Bangladesh's fielders did all the running.
201 - The highest stand in the tournament, a bit underwhelming given how the batsmen dominated. However, they did break Asia Cup records for wicket nos 1, 2, 4, 6 and 8.
121.69 - Virender Sehwag's strike-rate in the Asia Cup, which was up to 143.80 for this edition. In the final, his 60 came at a rate of 166.66 runs per 100 balls.
256 - India's margin of victory over Hong Kong, the biggest in Asia Cup matches and one short of the then record. India's total of 374 in that match was the highest in the Asia Cup, and at the National Stadium in Karachi.
366 - The runs added by the Sri Lankan pair of Sanath Jayasuriya and Kumar Sangakkara, 11 more than the 355 scored by Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag.
618 - The runs scored in the final Super Four match between India and Sri Lanka, the highest aggregate in an Asia Cup game. It came a day after India and Pakistan had scored 617.
© Cricinfo
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