CHAMPIONS LEAGUE - FACTS & FIGURES (PART I)

Winner (2009) – New South Wales (beat Trinidad & Tobago in final by 41 runs).

Summary of results

Team	Mts	Won	Lost	Tied	Won%
New South Wales	6	5	1	0	83.33
Trinidad and Tobago	6	5	1	0	83.33
Victoria	5	2	3	0	40.00
Cape Cobras	5	3	2	0	60.00
Delhi Daredevils	4	2	2	0	50.00
Eagles	4	1	2	1	25.00
Royal Challengers Bangalore	4	2	2	0	50.00
Somerset	4	1	3	0	25.00
Sussex	2	0	1	1	0.00
Wayamba	2	1	1	0	50.00
Otago	2	0	2	0	0.00
Deccan Chargers	2	0	2	0	0.00
TOTAL	23	22	22	1	95.65

Distribution of balls faced and runs scored in CL 2009

	Balls	Balls%	Runs	Runs%
Dot balls:	2293	43.34	0	0.00
1s:	1922	36.33	1922	32.22
2s:	305	5.76	610	10.23
3s:	12	0.23	36	0.60
4s:	578	10.92	2312	38.76
5s:	1	0.02	5	0.08
6s:	180	3.40	1080	18.11
TOTAL:	5291		5965

Runs after……..

Overs	Balls	Runs	Wkts	RpW	RpO
1-6	1656	1958	80	24.48	7.09
7-15	2465	2770	113	24.51	6.74
16-20	1147	1641	93	17.65	8.58
TOTAL	5268	6369	286	66.63	22.41

Highest team totals

Total	Teams	Venue	Date
213-4 (20 overs)	T&T v Eag	Hyderabad	18 Oct 2009
193-4 (20 overs)	CC v Ota	Hyderabad	10 Oct 2009
189-5 (20 overs)	Eag v T&T	Hyderabad	18 Oct 2009
188-2 (20 overs)	RCB v Ota	Bangalore	12 Oct 2009
184-5 (19.4 overs)	CC v RCB	Bangalore	08 Oct 2009
180-4 (20 overs)	RCB v CC	Bangalore	08 Oct 2009
178-3 (19.2 overs)	T&T v CC	Hyderabad	22 Oct 2009
175-5 (20 overs)	CC v T&T	Hyderabad	22 Oct 2009

Lowest team totals

Total	Teams	Venue	Date
84 (18.3 overs)	CC v DD	Delhi	19 Oct 2009
90-9 (20 overs)	Vic v NSW	Delhi	21 Oct 2009
91-9 (20 overs)	Eag v NSW	Delhi	09 Oct 2009
95-8 (20 overs)	Sus v NSW	Delhi	11 Oct 2009
98-8 (20 overs)	DD v Vic	Delhi	09 Oct 2009

Highest match aggregate

Total	Teams	Venue	Date
402-9 (40 overs)	T&T v Eag	Hyderabad	18 Oct 2009
364-9 (39.4 overs)	RCB v CC	Bangalore	08 Oct 2009
353-8 (39.2 overs)	CC v T&T	Hyderabad	22 Oct 2009
341-10 (38.3 overs)	NSW v T&T	Hyderabad	16 Oct 2009
332-14 (37.1 overs)	CC v Ota	Hyderabad	10 Oct 2009
310-18 (40 overs)	DC v Som	Hyderabad	10 Oct 2009

Lowest match aggregate

Total	Teams	Venue	Date
198-16 (38.3 overs)	DD v CC	Delhi	19 Oct 2009
198-11 (36.4 overs)	DD v Vic	Delhi	09 Oct 2009
221-13 (40 overs)	Way v Vic	Delhi	13 Oct 2009
223-11 (31.5 overs)	Som v NSW	Hyderabad	18 Oct 2009
225-10 (40 overs)	NSW v Sus	Delhi	11 Oct 2009

Fastest team 50

Overs	For	Vs	Venue	Date
3.4	Eag	T&T	Hyderabad	18 Oct 2009

Fastest team 100

Overs	For	Vs	Venue	Date
9.2	Eag	T&T	Hyderabad	18 Oct 2009

Fastest team 200

Overs	For	Vs	Venue	Date
18.5	T&T	Eag	Hyderabad	18 Oct 2009

Highest partnership for each wicket

Wkt	Runs	Batsmen	For	Vs	Venue	Date
1st	121	PJ Hughes & DA Warner	NSW	T&T	Hyderabad	16 Oct 2009
2nd	93	RS Dravid & LRPL Taylor	RCB	DD	Bangalore	17 Oct 2009
3rd	95	AG Puttick & J-P Duminy	CC	Ota	Hyderabad	10 Oct 2009
4th	93*	D Ganga & DJ Bravo	T&T	CC	Hyderabad	22 Oct 2009
5th	65*	LRPL Taylor & MK Pandey	RCB	CC	Bangalore	8 Oct 2009
6th	77	JC Hildreth & WJ Durston	Som	Eag	Hyderabad	16 Oct 2009
7th	53*	KA Pollard & S Ganga	T&T	NSW	Hyderabad	16 Oct 2009
	53	DPMD Jayawardena & RSSS de Zoysa	Way	DD	Delhi	11 Oct 2009
8th	50	JC Hildreth & AC Thomas	Som	DC	Hyderabad	10 Oct 2009
9th	19	R McLaren & T Tshabalala	Eag	NSW	Delhi	9 Oct 2009
10th	8*	AC Thomas & CM Willoughby	Som	DC	Hyderabad	10 Oct 2009
	8*	UWMBCA Welagedara & BAW Mendis	Way	Vic	Delhi	13 Oct 2009

Highest partnerships

Runs	Wkt	Batsmen	For	Vs	Venue	Date
121	1st	PJ Hughes & DA Warner	NSW	T&T	Hyderabad	16 Oct 2009
95	3rd	AG Puttick & J-P Duminy	CC	Ota	Hyderabad	10 Oct 2009
93*	4th	D Ganga & DJ Bravo	T&T	CC	Hyderabad	22 Oct 2009
93	2nd	RS Dravid & LRPL Taylor	RCB	DD	Bangalore	17 Oct 2009
90*	3rd	PJ Hughes & MC Henriques	NSW	Sus	Delhi	11 Oct 2009
88*	3rd	H Davids & J-P Duminy	CC	Vic	Bangalore	17 Oct 2009
81	2nd	HGJM Kulatunga & MG Vandort	Way	Vic	Delhi	13 Oct 2009
79	2nd	DA Warner & SM Katich	NSW	Eag	Delhi	9 Oct 2009
77	6th	JC Hildreth & WJ Durston	Som	Eag	Hyderabad	16 Oct 2009
76	2nd	AB Barath & LMP Simmons	T&T	Eag	Hyderabad	18 Oct 2009
75	1st	JH Kallis & RV Uthappa	RCB	Ota	Bangalore	12 Oct 2009

A world record for Suresh Raina

Suresh Raina today became the 265th player to represent India in a Test match. More importantly he did so having appeared in 98 ODIs. This is now a new record of maximum ODIs a player has appeared in before making his Test debut. Australia’s Andrew Symonds held the previous record, who had appeared in 94 ODIs before he made his Test debut in 2004. Interestingly the previous Indian record was on name of Yuvraj Singh, who could not play in this Test and hence Raina got a chance to make his Test debut!

Most ODIs before making Test debut

98 Suresh Raina (Ind)

94 Andrew Symonds (Aus)

76 Adam Gilchrist (Aus)

73 Yuvraj Singh (Ind)

66 Shahid Afridi (Pak)

60 Robin Singh (Ind)

WHEN INDIA WERE FORCED TO FOLLOW-ON

India were asked to follow on for the 32nd time in their Test history after hosts Sri Lanka skittled them out for 276 runs in the first innings of the Galle Test.

Of the previous 31 instances, India have been made to follow on 14 times on Indian soil, while 17 have come during away Tests. Here's a quick glance of what the numbers indicate and whether India will be able to save this Test.

- India have won one, lost 22 and drawn 8 of the previous 31 occasions. Of the 17 such instances on foreign soil, India have lost as many as 15. Of the 14 such instances on Indian soil, India have won one, lost 7 and drawn 6.

- England have enforced the follow-on on India on most occasions – 10, followed by West Indies (7), Australia (5), New Zealand (5), Pakistan (2), Sri Lanka (2) and South Africa (1).

- The other occasion when Sri Lanka enforced follow-on over India was in 2008 at Colombo (SSC). Sri Lanka declared their first innings at 600-6 and then bundled India out for 223 & 138.

- Lala Amarnath and Tiger Pataudi share the record of suffering this ignominy on most occasions- six apiece, followed by Sunil Gavaskar (3) and MS Dhoni (2).

- CK Nayudu, Maharaja of Vizianagram, Vijay Hazare, Ghulam Ahmed, Dattu Gaekwad, GS Ramchand, Ajit Wadekar, Bishan Singh Bedi ,S Venkataraghavan, Kapil Dev, Mohammad Azharuddin, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble and Virender Sehwag have suffered this fate once each. Ganguly is the only one to win a Test after being forced to follow-on.

- The first instance for Dhoni to suffer this ignominy was against Graeme Smith's South Africans at Nagpur in February this year.

OPENING DAY BLUES FOR INDIA

Just one day into the Galle Test and Indians are already on the backfoot, thanks to lacklustre performance of the bowlers. With 256 runs on the board and only two wickets down, only one team can dictate terms from here onwards. History tells us that India have never won a Test in which opposition has raised 200+ runs on the opening day losing 2 or fewer wickets. So Indians have their task cut out.

Last 5 instances of opponents scoring 200+ runs on the opening day
(losing 2 or fewer wickets)

Runs-W Opponent,Venue,Year        Result
256-2 Sri Lanka,Galle,2010        To be seen
291-2 South Africa,Nagpur,2010    SA- inns & 6 runs
207-1 West Indies,Basseterre,2006 Drawn
326-2 Pakistan,Lahore,2006        Drawn
323-2 Pakistan,Bangalore,2005     Pak- 168 runs

A RECORD 13TH WIN FOR AUSTRALIA

Chasing a victory target of 440 runs against Australia in the Lord’s Test, Pakistan got off to a good start. They were 152 for one at one stage and looked set to give Australia a run for their money. However, the introduction of part-timer Marcus North into the attack proved a master-stroke that turned the game on its head. North took a career best 6 for 55 and Australia won the game by 150 runs.

This was Australia’s 13^th win at a trot against Pakistan in a Test match. The sequence started with the Brisbane Test in November 1999 in which Australia romped home by 10 wickets. This sequence of 13 wins for Australia (or 13 losses for Pakistan) is a new record in bilateral contests. The previous record was of 12 consecutive wins for Sri Lanka against Bangladesh.

Here are the details of most consecutive wins in bilateral matches:

  
  
   
   
Tests
   
   
   
Winner
   
   
   
Loser
   
   
   
Period
   
  
  
   
   
13*
   
   
   
Australia
   
   
   
Pakistan
   
   
   
1999-2010
   
  
  
   
   
12*
   
   
   
Sri Lanka
   
   
   
Bangladesh
   
   
   
2001-2009
   
  
  
   
   
10
   
   
   
West Indies
   
   
   
England
   
   
   
1984-1986
   
  
  
   
   
9
   
   
   
Australia
   
   
   
West Indies
   
   
   
1999-2003
   
  
  
   
   
8
   
   
   
England
   
   
   
South Africa
   
   
   
1889-1899
   
  
  
   
   
8
   
   
   
Australia
   
   
   
England
   
   
   
1920-1921
   
  
  
   
   
8*
   
   
   
South Africa
   
   
   
Bangladesh
   
   
   
2002-2008
   
  
  
   
   
8*
   
   
   
England
   
   
   
Bangladesh
   
   
   
2003-2010
   
  
 
  
 

* unbroken sequence

One-Day Internationals: 3000 & counting!

The first of five match series between England and Australia at Rose Bowl (Southampton) marked a historic occasion for the One-Day Internationals. This was the 3000^th match in ODI history. By a quirk of fate, the 3000^th ODI was played between the sides who contested the first ever ODI in 1971.

It took ODIs nearly 10 years to complete century of matches. The first 1000 matches were completed in a span of more than 24 years. Next 1000 took a little less than 8 years and next 1000 needed just over 7 years!

Here is a chronology of ODIs’ milestone matches:

S.No.	Date	Venue	Teams	Result
1st	05.01.1971	Melbourne	Aus v Eng	Aus won by 5 wkts
100th	18.12.1980	Sydney	Aus v Ind	Aus won by 9 wkts
500th	22.01.1988	Gwalior	Ind v WI	WI won by 73 runs
1000th	24/25.05.1995	Trent Bridge	Eng v WI	WI won by 5 wkts
1500th	16.09.1999	Toronto	Pak v WI	Pak won by 15 runs
2000th	10.04.2003	Sharjah	Pak v Zim	Pak won by 8 wkts
2500th	02.02.2007	Nairobi (JSC)	Net v Scot	Scot won by 2 runs
3000th	22.06.2010	Rose Bowl	Eng v Aus	Eng won by 4 wkts

NUMBERS THAT MATTERED IN IPL2010

18864

Runs scored in the tournament

1708

Number of fours hit in the tournament

720

Number of wickets to fall in the tournament

618

Runs scored by Sachin Tendulkar - most scored by any batsman in the Tournament. This was also the maximum runs aggregated by a batsman in a single edition of IPL.

585

Sixes hit in the tournament

165

Average first innings total in the tournament

127

The highest individual score in the tournament - came off the bat of Murali Vijay for Chennai Super Kings against Rajasthan Royals.

86

Number of boundary fours hit by Sachin Tendulkar - most by any batsman

76

Runs scored by Rajasthan Royals in first six overs against Kings XI Punjab in the return encounter – most scored by any side in the tournament.

54

Number of boundary fours conceded by Irfan Pathan – most by any bowler.

37

Balls taken by Yusuf Pathan to reach his hundred against Mumbai Indians- fastest ever in the IPL history and second fastest in all Twenty20 matches.

33

Runs conceded by Punjab’s Ravi Bopara against Kolkata in one single over as Chris Gayle hit him for four consecutive sixes- most expensive over of the tournament.

28

Number of wides bowled by Dale Steyn in the tournament – most by any bowler.

27

Number of sixes hit by Robin Uthappa in the tournament – most by any batsman.

21

Number of wickets taken by Pragyan Ojha - most by any bowler in the tournament.

19

Balls taken by Robin Uthappa to reach his fifty against Kings XI Punjab – the fastest fifty in the tournament.

17

Sixes hit off the bowling of Pragyan Ojha - most conceded by a bowler in the tournament.

13

Number of century partnerships recorded in the tournament.

13

Number of wicket keeping dismissals for Adam Gilchrist – most in the tournament.

12

Number of catches taken by Andrew Symonds in the field – most by any player.

8.64

Mumbai Indians’ run-rate in the tournament- best among all teams.

7.83

Mumbai Indians’ economy rate in the tournament – best among all teams.

7

Number of no-balls bowled by S Sreesanth in the tournament – most by any bowler.

4

Number of centuries scored in the tournament. Yusuf Pathan, David Warner, Mahela Jayawardene and Murali Vijay were the lucky batsmen to do so.

Man of Match awards won by Sachin Tendulkar - most by any player.

2

Number of batsmen who got out to the first ball of the match- Manoj Tiwary and Michael Lumb suffered this fate.

Number of maidens bowled by Chaminda Vaas and Doug Bollinger - most by any bowler in the tournament. 9 others bowled one maiden each.

1

Praveen Kumar remained the only one to record a hat-trick in the tournament.

Number of matches decided by Super-Over. Kings XI Punjab came from behind to

first tie and then win the game in Super-over against Chennai Super Kings.

THE GREAT ESCAPE

England saved the Cardiff Test by the skin of their teeth. The last pair of James Anderson and Monty Panesar batted for 37 minutes to steer England to safety. Here is a glance at some of the drawn Test matches with narrowest of margins.

Last wicket pair saving an innings defeat
(by taking their side’s match-aggregate to at par or just ahead of opponent’s total)

Ahead by For       Vs            Venue      Season Stay of last wicket
0 runs   England  South Africa Manchester   1998     19 minutes
13 runs  England  Australia    Cardiff      2009     37 minutes

The Tests that ended in a draw with fielding side needing just one wicket to win

Total Target Batting side  Fielding side   Venue         Season
152-9  278   India         England         Manchester    1946
273-9  460   Australia     West Indies     Adelaide      1960-61
228-9  234   England       West Indies     Lord's        1963
206-9  308   England       West Indies     Georgetown    1967-68
339-9  360   Australia     West Indies     Adelaide      1968-69
251-9  306   West Indies   Pakistan        Bridgetown    1976-77
258-9  369   West Indies   Australia       Kingston      1977-78
197-9  335   West Indies   India           Kolkata       1978-79
230-9  247   Australia     New Zealand     Melbourne     1987-88
341-9  372   Pakistan      West Indies     Port of Spain 1987-88
223-9  288   New Zealand   Australia       Hobart        1997-98
207-9  373   West Indies   Zimbabwe        Harare        2003-04
210-9  323   England       Sri Lanka       Galle         2003-04
371-9  423   Australia     England         Manchester    2005
298-9  392   West Indies   India           St.John's     2006
282-9  380   India         England         Lord’s        2007
370-9  503   West Indies   England         St.John’s     2008-09

The Test matches that were drawn with narrowest margins, as the batting side just failed to achieve the fourth innings winning target

Diff     Batting side Target  Score  Fielding side Venue       Season
 1 run   England       205    204-6  Zimbabwe      Bulawayo    1996-97
 6 runs  India         361    355-8  West Indies   Mumbai (BS) 1948-49
 6 runs  England       234    228-9  West Indies   Lord's      1963
 8 runs  Australia     246    238-8  England       Melbourne   1974-75
 9 runs  India         438    429-8  England       The Oval    1979
10 runs  New Zealand   284    274-6  Australia     Brisbane    2001-02
11 runs  West Indies   253    242-5  Australia     Bridgetown  1964-65
11 runs  New Zealand   286    275-8  Zimbabwe      Bulawayo    1997-98
15 runs  England       124    109-7  Pakistan      Birmingham  1987
17 runs  Australia     247    230-9  New Zealand   Melbourne   1987-88

Note: The first entry in the above table is an intriguing one. It was for the first time in Test history that two teams tied on the same score and yet the match ended in a draw and not as a tie since England had not lost all their wickets. The entries in the bold are the ones also appearing in the first table, meaning either of the two sides could have won the match!

Too much cricket, really?

The suspense over MS Dhoni's participation in the Sri Lanka series will be over today, when five wise-men sit together to pick the squad for the series. However this has brought the issue of excessive cricket in the limelight again. During the Asia Cup also Dhoni had raised his concerns about too much cricket. Although Dhoni is the only Indian cricketer to speak openly, most of the Indian cricketers admit in private that the amount of cricket is taking its toll both on their body and performance.

Indian players are playing non-stop cricket this year, which started with the Test series against Australia (in fact Indians were already in Australia at the start of the year). The Test series was followed by a ODI trie-series. Soon after India were facing South Africa in India for a three-match Test series. No sooner this series was finished, the Indian Premium League started. Had the Kanpur Test gone onto scheduled fifth day, there would have been only two days time for the players to pack their kit-bags,join their respective IPL teams and start with a totally new format of cricket. The IPL was highly successful but for players it was highly draining as well as they were left to fly all across the country on every alternate day. There was no respite for the cricketers when the final of IPL was played on June 1st, since within a week India were playing a meaningless ODI tri-series in Bangladesh, then the Asia Cup.....and now series against Sri Lanka. This is a vicious circle and no one knows if there is any end to this.

Series played by Indian cricketers in the year 2008

India in Australia            20 December to 4 March
South Africa in India         26 March to 13 April
Indian Premium League         18 April to 1 June
Kitply Series in Bangladesh    8 June to 14 June
Asia Cup in Pakistan          24 June to 6 July

Note: In addition some players also appeared for their respective sides in domestic cricket.


It will be interesting to see the amount of cricket played by Indian players this year.A total of 26 players have played some kind of international cricket (Test / ODIs / T20Is) for India in the year 2008. The following table lists all such Indian players in order of total number of days spent by them on the field this year. For this purpose,we have included all 'important' matches played by them. The table below shows the number of days a player spent on the field during Tests, ODIs and T20Is and IPL. The 'other' column includes important domestic matches and matches on tour.

Indian players - No.of days on the field in the year 2008

Player           ODIs Tests T20Is IPL Other Total
MS Dhoni          19   25    1    16    3    64
Virender Sehwag   13   20    1    14    5    53
RP Singh           6   22    0    14    7    49
Yusuf Pathan       7    0    0    16   24    47
Irfan Pathan      16   12    1    14    3    46
Gautam Gambhir    19    0    1    14   12    46
Ishant Sharma     13   17    1    11    3    45
Rahul Dravid       0   25    0    14    5    44
Wasim Jaffer       0   20    0     6   18    44
Yuvraj Singh      17    8    0    15    3    43
Sourav Ganguly     0   25    0    13    3    41
Harbhajan Singh   10   21    1     3    3    38
Rohit Sharma      19    0    1    13    5    38
S Sreesanth        9   11    1    15    1    37
Sachin Tendulkar  10   19    0     7    0    36
Piyush Chawla      8    3    0    15   10    36
Suresh Raina       9    0    0    16   10    35
Praveen Kumar     11    0    1    13   10    35
Robin Uthappa     13    0    1    14    5    33
VVS Laxman         0   25    0     6    1    32
Anil Kumble        0   22    0    10    0    32
Pragyan Ojha       3    0    0    13   16    32
Munaf Patel        3    0    0    15    8    26
Manpreet Gony      2    0    0    16    8    26
Dinesh Karthik     0    0    1    13    9    23
Manoj Tiwary       1    0    0     9    6    16

MS Dhoni is there right on the top, which justifies his outburts against the BCCI. Both Pathan brothers are in top five (Yusuf's name is surprising but he has played a lot of domestic cricket when he was not performing national duty).

It is just not the number of days on the field that drains the players, add to this the frequent flights from one venue to the other, a few day's gap between two games when the players keep on sweating it out on the field and the picture becomes horrible.

Everyone will agree that this amount of cricket is simply too much, but do the players really need rest? How many cricketers actually use a welcome break to relax / spend some quality time with the family or sort out flaws in their game. Haven't we seen how most of the cricketers (Dhoni included) run to grab a chance for a commercial shoot or to cut ribbon to inaugurate a saloon whenever there is a break from the cricket? Doesn't it involve hectic travelling? But no, you won't hear any complaint from any of the players. Because it is free-money and only a fool will let go an opportunity to make free-money. 'We are tired of playing, but ads are always welcome', this is the kind of impression players are giving.

So,what is the remedy ? One may like it or not, but the Cricket will be played at this pace only, now that all the commercialism has settled in. The best thing for BCCI will be to create a pool of players and rotate the players on regular basis. This is the need of the hour.

An Ajantha Mendis Show

Ajantha Mendis turned the game on its head when it looked like that the Indians will achieve the modest victory targetof 274 quite comfortably. Introduced after nine overs, when India were cruising at 76 for one with Virender Sehwag hitting everything as per his wish, Mendis changed the projection of the game with his double strike in the first over and from there was no respite for the Indian batsmen, who looked totally dumbfounded while facing Mendis.

The fact that not even a single boundary could be hit against Mendis clearly shows how flabbergasted Indian batsmen were against a novice.

Mendis’ figures of 6 for 13 are now the third best by any bowler against India after fellow teammate Muttiah Muralitharan and former Pakistan seamer Aaqib Javed. The following table lists the best bowling performances against India:

Best bowling figures against India

Figures Bowler              Venue      Year
7-30  M Muralitharan (SL)   Sharjah    2000
7-37  Aaqib Javed (Pak)     Sharjah    1991
6-13  BAW Mendis (SL)       Karachi    2008
6-14  Imran Khan (Pak)      Sharjah    1985
6-19  SE Bond (NZ)          Bulawayo   2005
6-27  Naved-ul-Hasan (Pak)  Jamshedpur 2005
6-29  BP Patterson (WI)     Nagpur     2001

Mendis’ performance is now the best by any bowler rolling his arms over for the first time against India. West Indian pacer Patrick Patterson held the previous record. The details:

Best bowling figures on first appearance against India

Figures Bowler           Venue       Year
6-13   BAW Mendis (SL)   Karachi     2008
6-29   BP Patterson (WI) Nagpur      1987
6-39   KH MacLeay (Aus)  Nottingham  1983
5-22   AR Adams (NZ)     Queenstown  2003
5-29   AA Donald (SA)    Calcutta    1991
5-32   WJ Cronje (SA)    Cape Town   1992

Mendis’ figures are also the third best by any bowler in a tournament final as is detailed in the following list:

Best bowling figures in tournament finals

Figures Bowler           Opponent Venue        Year  Tournament
7-37   Aaqib Javed (Pak) v Ind   Sharjah       1991  Wills Trophy
6-12   Anil Kumble (Ind) v WI    Calcutta      1993  Hero Cup
6-13   BAW Mendis (SL)   v Ind   Karachi       2008  Asia Cup
6-59   A Nehra (Ind)     v SL    Colombo (RPS) 2005  Indian Oil Cup
5-14   WPUJC Vaas (SL)   v Ind   Sharjah       2000  Champions Trophy

Although it is too early to say, Mendis has shown that he has the potential to be one of the most successful bowlers on the international scene. Already he has taken two five-wicket hauls in his 8 matches. His tally of 20 wickets is second only to West Indian Ottis Gibson after exactly 8 ODIs.

Most wickets after 8 ODI matches

Wkts Bowler              Avg     SR   Econ  5W
21   OD Gibson (WI)     16.38  19.95  4.93  1
20   BAW Mendis (SL)    10.25  16.80  3.66  2
20   SE Bond (NZ)       15.65  22.30  4.21  0
19   AB Agarkar (Ind)   19.42  21.32  5.47  0
18   CG Rackemann (Aus) 16.83  23.89  4.23  0
18   SK Warne (Aus)     12.11  23.33  3.11  0

Successfully chasing a 300-target with most balls to spare

Chasing a victory target of 300 runs, India defeated Pakistan by 6 wickets in Asia Cup match with 47 balls still remaining to be bowled.
In the history of ODIs this is the second biggest victory in terms of balls remaining for a side chasing a target of 300 or more. Have a look:

 
Balls Countries  Venue     Year Target  Victory margin 
75    SL v Eng   Leeds     2006  325    8 wkts 
47    Ind v Pak  Karachi   2008  300    6 wkts 
16    Eng v Pak  Karachi   2000  305    5 wkts 
14    Ind v WI   Ahmedabad 2002  325    5 wkts 

Tendulkar breaks Bradman's world record

In the second final of CB Series, Sachin Tendulkar broke a world record that almost went unnoticed.When his score reached 9, Tendulkar became only the second batsman after Sir Don Bradman to make 5000 or more runs against a particular opponent in all forms of International Cricket (Tests, ODIs and T20-Is). On 38, he broke Sir Don's world record of 5028 runs against England. Now Sachin has 5082 runs against Australia in all international cricket.Kudos to Tendulkar on breaking Sir Don's Record.

Sir Don Bradman had made all the runs in Test matches. No one can come close to this record not even Tendulkar. But, in all international matches, Tendulkar is now the Don.

 
Most runs in international cricket against a particular country
 
Batsman            Opp  Mts Inns NO Runs  Hs   Avg  100  50  0 
SR Tendulkar (Ind) Aus  85  107  6  5082 241* 50.31  17  23  6 
DG Bradman (Aus)   Eng  37   63  7  5028 334  89.78  19  12  6 
AR Border (Aus)    Eng  90  124 25  4850 200* 48.98   8  30  4 
BC Lara (WI)       Aus  82  108  5  4714 277  45.76  12  26  9 
DL Haynes (WI)     Aus  97  123 14  4495 148  41.23  11  27  4 
IVA Richards (WI)  Eng  72   84 10  4488 291  60.64  11  26  4 
IVA Richards (WI)  Aus  88  104 10  4453 208  47.37   8  34  6 
DI Gower (Eng)     Aus  74  108  7  4063 215  40.22  11  15  4 
GA Gooch (Eng)     Aus  74  110  1  4027 196  36.94   8  25  5 

 
Tendulkar against Australia in international cricket
        Mts Inns NO Runs  Hs    Avg  100 50  0 
Tests   25   47  5  2352  241* 56.00  9   9  4 
ODIs    60   60  1  2730  143  46.27  8  14  2 
T20Is    0         
TOTAL   85  107  6  5082  241* 50.31 17  23  6 

(Acknowledgement - Ishaq Khan)

A new Indian record for Praveen Kumar

Praveen Kumar who played an important role in India's 9-run win over Australia in the second final of CB Series today, got an Indian record on his name which went unnoticed, well almost. At 21 years 154 days Praveen is now the YOUNGEST Indian to win Man of Match award in a tournament final. Praveen snatched this record from Sachin Tendulkar (who else!)

Youngest Indians to win MoM award in tournament finals
Age    Player           Tournament     Opp Venue    Season   Performance
(Yrs-Dys)
21-154 Praveen Kumar    CB Series      Aus Brisbane 2007-08  7 & 4-46
21-195 Sachin Tendulkar Wills Series   WI  Kolkata  1994-95 66,1-35 & 1 ct
21-224 Mohammad Kaif    NatWest Series Eng Lord's   2002    87*
23-41  Anil Kumble      Hero Cup       WI  Kolkata  1993-94  5* & 6-12
24-33  Rahul Dravid     Standard Bank  SA  Durban   1996-97 84

Note: All performances excepting Dravid's came in WON matches.

Sachin Tendulkar: Badshah of Finals
Sachin was at his scintillating best in the second final of CB Series after scoring a century in the first final. His 91 runs were in no way less important than Praveen Kumar's figures of 4-46. It was,however, Praveen who won Man of the Match award in the end. Tendulkar should have no reasons to complain though. He already has won more Man of the Match awards in tournament finals than any other player in ODI history. The award in the first final was Tendulkar's seventh such award in the finals. No other player has managed more than five!

Players winning most man of match awards in tournament finals
MoMs Player             For
7   Sachin Tendulkar   India
5   Aravinda de Silva  Sri Lanka
5   Wasim Akram        Pakistan
4   Sanath Jayasuriya  Sri Lanka
4   Adam Gilchrist     Australia
4   Ricky Ponting      Australia

Tendulkar on the backfoot

The 'Seniors versus youngsters' has been a hot topic of debate in Indian cricket in recent times.The youngsters may not have exactly set the stage on fire, but the fact that the seniors have not really pitched in when they needed to has not made matters simple.

The seniors, especially the batsmen, have proved to be India's biggest downfall in the ongoing CB tri-series. On the other hand, the youngsters, especially the bowlers have dished out strong performances.

The three senior most players in the squad -- Sachin Tendulkar,Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh -- have between them aggregated 327 runs in 18 innings at an average of 18.16 with just one score of 50. This is still less than Gautam Gambhir's aggregate of 359 runs (average 59.83) and just marginally higher than Mahendra Singh Dhoni's 296 (avg 74.00).

         Mts Runs  Avg     SR  100/50
Sehwag    5   81  16.20  78.64  0/0
Tendulkar 7  128  18.29  73.99  0/0
Yuvraj    6  118  19.66  81.38  0/1

Sehwag and Yuvraj have always been consistently inconsistent, but it is the form of little master Sachin Tendulkar which should be giving headache to skipper Dhoni. This is turning out to be worst series of Tendulkar's distinguished career.

Tendulkar's worst ODI series
(where he played a minimum of 5 innings)

Series/ Tournament                      Inns Runs  Avg   100/50
Commonwealth Bank Series,2007-08         7   128  18.29   0/0
v South Africa in South Africa,1992-93   7   144  20.57   0/0
v Pakistan in India,2004-05              6   145  24.17   1/0
Hero Cup in India,1993-94                6    98  24.50   0/0
C& U Series in Australia,1999-00     8   198  24.75   0/1

This is not that runs have suddenly dried up for Tendulkar. If one take a look at his performance in year 2007, he hardly contributed anything while chasing a target. But this did not become a talking point as he compensated by scoring heavily in the first innings of the match. Unfortunately, he has not been able to run freely even in the first innings in this tournament.

The following two tables reveal some shocking stats. Upto the end of the year 2006, Tendulkar's performance in the first and second innings of the match were almost identical. But since the start of 2007 his performance while chasing a target has gone down the hill. That Tendulkar has not been able to move into double figures in almost 48% innings is a telling statement in itself.

Tendulkar in ODIs (upto 2006)

                Inns Runs  Hs   Avg     SR   100  50 Single-digit scores
Batting first    180 7449 186* 44.08  82.31   25  32    47(26.11%)
Batting second   185 7088 143  44.02  88.83   15  42    55(29.72%)

Tendulkar in ODIs (since 2007)

                Inns Runs  Hs   Avg     SR   100  50 Single-digit scores
Batting first     18  940 100* 58.75  85.77    1   8     2(11.11%)
Batting second    21  613  97  29.19  82.61    0   5    10(47.61%)