Asia Cup 2018: India vs Pakistan - Statistical Highlights

What was being tipped as the game of the tournament turned out to be an one-sided affair as India thrashed Pakistan by 8 wickets in the Asia Cup on Wednesday.

Barring the toss, nothing much went Pakistan’s way throughout the game. Even before the fans could settle down on their seats, the Men in Green lost both their openers for just 3 runs on the board. A 82-run stand between Babar Azam and Shoaib Malik raised hopes of revival. However, both of them departed in quick succession and Pakistan just could not recover from the setbacks.

They were soon 7 down for 121 and 150 was looking like a distant dream. However, a 37-run stand between Mohammad Amir and Faheem Ashraf helped Pakistan cross the 150-run mark before they were eventually all out for 162.

In reply, India chased down the total with utmost ease. Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan set the tone fo the chase by adding 86 runs for the first wicket off just 13 overs.

Shadab Khan ended the stand by dismissing Rohit. Prior to that, Rohit slammed 52 off just 39 with the help of 6 fours and 3 sixes. Dhawan soon departed after scoring 46. Dinesh Karthik and Ambati Rayudu then took India home with utmost ease to inflict a heavy  loss on the arch-rivals.

With the game now done and dusted, here is a look at some interesting numbers and stats:

1. Imam-ul-Haq could score only 2. This was his first innings in single digit score after three consecutive 50 plus scores.

2. Bhuvneshwar Kumar accounted for both of Pakistan’s openers. It was the fifth time he dismissed Pakistan opening batsman out of his 10 wickets against them in 8 ODIs.

3. Fakhar Zaman was out for his first duck in International cricket.

4. Kuldeep Yadav took his 50th wicket in ODIs in this game. He took only 24 games to reach to the milestone. Only Ajit Agarkar has done it quicker (23rd ODI) for India. Kuldeep, however, is the quickest spinner from India to achieve this feat, comfortably beating Amit Mishra’s record of 32 games.

5. When Sarfraz Ahmed was dismissed for 6 by Kedar Jadhav, his average read 10.50 — which is his average vs India — worst for him against any ODI team (Min: 2 ODIs).

6.  162 is the lowest score Pakistan has scored in the UAE.

Lowest completed totals for Pakistan at Dubai: –

207 v AUS, 2009

209 v SA, 2013

210 v SL, 2011

215 v AUS, 2014

222 v ENG, 2012

7. This was India’s biggest win over Pakistan in ODIs in terms of balls remaining. India chased down the total in 29 overs.

Biggest wins for India against Pakistan (balls left):

126 Dubai. 2018 (Target: 163)
105 Multan, 2006 (162)
92 Toronto, 1997 (117)

8. That 36-ball fifty from Rohit Sharma was his fastest in ODIs, surpassing his previous best (42 balls) which he achieved twice.

9. This was the first time, India played two ODIs on successive days  since 2010. They played against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in Mirpur on January 10 & 11.