Asia Cup Statistical Round-up ahead of India vs Bangladesh Final

03/06/2016

India are all set to face Bangladesh in the final of Asia Cup 2016 with the home side seeking vengeance for their group stage loss against a formidable India outfit who have run through every opponent put in front of them so far.

Records have tumbled, and the people jotting down the numbers have been kept busy throughout the tournament with brilliant performances from teams both in qualifying stage of the competition and the main group stage. Not many big names make it to the Top-10 list in terms of statistics, but the ones that do make the cut are certainly worthy of the distinction.

Here is the statistical round-up heading into the final of Asia Cup 2016 between India versus Bangladesh.

Most Runs in Asia Cup 2016 –

Babar Hayat of Hong Kong set the qualifying stage on fire with his bat as he mauled the bowling for a century against Oman and a half-century against UAE, gathering 194 runs in the three qualifiers that he played.Hong Kong still failed to qualifydespite Hayat's heroics, but Muhammad Usman and Shaiman Anwar of UAE had no such problems as they took their side into the main draw.

Sabbir Rahman of Bangladesh and Rohit Sharma of India, who both will play in the final tonight, have a chance to top the list with 51 and 68 runs needed respectively for either to topple Babar from the top. More importantly, either of them breaking the record would only mean it had been a match-winning innings, given the even contest between bat and ball in the event so far.

*Played in the qualifiers

Highest Scores in Asia Cup 2016 –

Babar Hayat of Hong Kong once again tops the list in the 'Highest Score' list for his amazing innings against Oman in the qualifiers, which saw him score at a strike-rate of over 200 scoring 122 runs off just 60 balls.

Rohit Sharma’s 83 against Bangladesh in the opening match of the group stage comes second and Sabbir Rahman’s match-winning knock of 80 off 54 balls follows Rohit's.

*Played in the qualifiers

Highest Batting Average in Asia Cup 2016 –

Although Babar Hayat once again features in this list, it is Bangladesh’s Mahmudullah who tops the list of best averages in the tournament. India’s Virat Kohli is 5 in the list, but things could have been very different had he come out to bat against UAE in India’s final group stage match instead of Yuvraj Singh. The stalwart of Indian batting line-up still has a chance to top the list should he decide to put in yet another Man-of-the-Match performance in the final. Looking at the form he is in, not many would want to bet against it.

*Played in the qualifiers

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Most Sixes in Asia Cup 2016 –

Babar Hayat, as expected, tops this chart too, but the interesting thing to note in this list is the distinct lack of players who played just the main stage and not the qualifiers. With Sabbir Rahman and Umar Akmal being the only two players on the list from the major teams in the tournament, it highlights the fact that it has not been your regular T20 tournament where the bat has dominated the ball. A fresh breath of air for T20 Cricket maybe, although some part of the audience might have a different opinion.

*Played in the qualifiers

Most Wickets in Asia Cup 2016 –

As stated earlier, it has indeed been a bowler’s tournament so far with bowler-friendly pitches helping their cause. Amjad Javed and Mohammad Naveed of UAE top the list, but given they have played three extra matches during the qualifiers, it is only fair to give due credit to the likes of Al-Amin Hossain of Bangladesh who has taken 10 wickets from the four matches he has played in so far. Al-Amin has a great chance of replacing the UAE bowlers at the top, and avery unlikely outsider for the same would be India’s Hardik Pandya who needs a 5-wicket haul to jump to the top.

*Played in the qualifiers

Most Extras in an Innings in Asia Cup 2016 –

This is rather a very interesting list, where we can surprisingly see quite a number of teams bowling abundant extras in a match especially considering it is a T20 format.

Minnows UAE bowled a total of 16 extras against Sri Lanka, while Pakistan bowled 11 wides in their tally of 15 extras when they were defending a modest total of 83 against arch-rivals India. India themselves conceded a total of 14 extras in the same match with 8 wides and 2 no-balls making up a major chunk of Pakistan’s score that night.

Most Catches in Asia Cup 2016

Babar Hayat of Hong Kong once again tops the list with 6 catches in total, and unless Sabbir Rahman or Soumya Sarkar of Bangladesh take two catches in their final match against India, Babar will probably end up topping yet another list at the end of the tournament.

*Played in the qualifiers

Stats courtesy | ESPNCricinfo

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