Runs, boundaries, partnerships ... and then some

Stats highlights from the first ODI between India and Sri Lanka in Rajkot

15-Dec-2009

The first one-day international between India and Sri Lanka was a feast of runs and numbers. Here's a look at some of the highlights from a match which produced 825 runs, the second-highest ever in an ODI:

India's total of 414 is the fifth-highest ODI total, and a run more than their previous best, against Bermuda in the 2007 World Cup. Sri Lanka's 411 comes in seventh place, but it's only the second instance of a team batting second scoring more than 350. The 400-barrier has been surpassed eight times in ODIs, with India, Sri Lanka and South Africa doing it twice each, while Australia and New Zealand have done it once.

It was a day of batting partnerships. The first two wickets for India each added more than 150 runs, the first time it's happened in ODIs. The opening wicket for Sri Lanka added more than 150 too, making it the first time openers from both teams have achieved this feat in the same match. There were three 150-plus and four 100-plus partnerships in the match, both of which are firsts in ODIs.

There were two centuries and four half-centuries in the game, making it six 50-plus scores. In matches in which there have been two hundreds, only in one match - that one in Johannesburg - were there more 50-plus scores. It was also the first match in which the top three batsmen from both teams made at least a half-century.

There were 80 fours struck in the game - 43 by India and 37 by Sri Lanka - which is the second-highest in the single match (and no prizes for guessing which match is on top). In terms of sixes, though, this match, with 24, comes in fourth place - the New Zealand-India ODI in Christchurch earlier this year saw 31 sixes.

Both Virender Sehwag and Tillakaratne Dilshan notched up their highest ODI scores - it was the third hundred of the year for both, and it continued a remarkably successful, and similar, run for both of them in 2009: Sehwag averages 50.13 at a strike rate of 136.47 from 16 matches, while Dilshan has an average of 57.64 and a strike rate of 103.46 from 15 games.

Kumar Sangakkara's outstanding 90 came off a mere 43 balls, making it the third-fastest 50-plus score by a Sri Lankan in ODIs. Sanath Jayasuriya leads the way with his 28-ball 76 - a strike rate of 271.42 - against Pakistan in Singapore in 1996, while Arjuna Ranatunga's 27-ball 58 against India in 1990 is next. The top 13 such innings are all by left-handers, with Jayasuriya contributing nine of them.

Despite bowling superbly in his last few overs, Zaheer Khan still ended up setting the record for most runs conceded by an Indian bowler in ODIs. He went for 88, one more than what Javagal Srinath had conceded in the 2003 World Cup final against Australia. Ashish Nehra went for 81, which puts him in sixth place in the list.

Tillakaratne Dilshan Virender Sehwag India Sri Lanka India vs Sri Lanka Sri Lanka tour of India

S Rajesh is stats editor of Cricinfo