ASIA CUP: INDIA AIM TO BETTER FINALS RECORD
Though No 2 in ODIs, stats show success percentage of India in finals is worse than that of Zimbabwe
are overwhelming favourites against Bangladesh in Friday’s Asia Cup final, but victory may still only be a small step in shoring up their modest success percentage in ODI tournaments.
Their 43.65 percent puts them only at seventh, with even Zimbabwe (44.44) higher on that count. Only England and New Zealand have historically fared worse when it comes to title clashes.
Australia lead the way (65%) with South Africa (64.28), Sri Lanka (55.55), West Indies (51.06) and Pakistan (44.73) below them, followed by Zimbabwe (44.44).
However, twice World Cup winners India rise to sixth among teams that have played at least 20 finals. And 25 wins after entering the final in 63 tournaments lifts them to fourth overall if only teams with 50 or more title appearances are taken into consideration.
However, India have won the World Cup twice, a Champions Trophy (they also shared the trophy with Sri Lanka in 2002) and the Asia Cup four times.
Many fans would see an IndiaPakistan final as a more even clash owing to their deep cricketing rivalry, but Bangladesh won’t be pushovers after eliminating Pakistan on Wednesday.
PAKISTAN’S RECORD
A win would take India past Pakistan’s record – they have also won 25 ODI titles but from 57 finals.
Five-time world champions Australia are the masters at wrapping up finals.
Their record 57 victories have come from 90 finals. Sri Lanka stand second on that count, with 29 victories while India and Pakistan are tied.
West Indies have 23 titles while South Africa, still chasing their first World Cup and dubbed chokers in the tournament, have 17 wins from 28 finals.
India’s overall poor record in ODI finals is largely because of their wretched run in finals between 1999 and 2005. During this period, they made it to 18 ODI tournament finals but came off second best in 15.
In fact, they won only one final while two ended in no result, which gave them a share of the winners’ tag, including the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka.
Their sole victory in an ODI final during this phase came in the NatWest Trophy in England, where Yuvraj Singh (69, 63b) and Mohammad Kaif (87*, 75b) batted like men possessed to script a memorable win after India, chasing 326 against the hosts, had been reduced to 146/5. Prior to that, India had lost nine consecutive ODI finals.
IMPROVING NUMBERS
Final hiccups, though, now seem to be a thing of the past for India. In the last 11 years, they have played 11 ODI tournament finals, winning six. Two of these victories came in the 2011 World Cup and 2013 ICC Champions Trophy finals.
During this phase, the team also won three T20 finals, including the 2007 World T20 in South Africa and the 2016 Asia Cup in Bangladesh (that edition was a T20 competition).
On Friday, Rohit Sharma and Co can look to improve India’s ‘final’ numbers. India are the only unbeaten side in the tournament.
The closest they came to losing was the inconsequential Super Four fixture when Afghanistan forced a tie after scoring 252. However, openers Rohit and Shikhar Dhawan as well as pace duo Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who were rested in that game, are expected to be back.
INJURY-HIT B’DESH
Bangladesh will sorely miss opener Tamim Iqbal and allrounder Shakib Al Hasan, both out due to injury.
Skipper Mashrafe Mortaza (broken finger) and key batsman Mushfiqur Rahim will play despite injuries. Mortaza hailed Tamim’s courage in the win over Sri Lanka.
“Let me be honest, the moment Tamim entered the field against Sri Lanka as the last man to help Mushfiqur score those runs, my Asia Cup was won,” he said at the pre-match news conference.