India vs Sri Lanka: What the stats say..

Mumbai, April 2: Before you settle back to watch the hotly-anticipated final of the World Cup 2011 between India and Sri Lanka, here's a gander at the statistics between these two sides:
Head-to-head record: India lead 67-50 (NR: 11)

In the World Cups: Sri Lanka lead 4-2

In the sub-continent: India lead 59-46 (NR: 9)

Results in the last 5 ODIs between India and Sri Lanka

22 Jun 2010 (Dambulla): Sri Lanka won by seven wickets

24 Jun 2010 (Dambulla): India won by 81 runs

16 Aug 2010 (Dambulla): India won by six wickets

22 Aug 2010 (Dambulla): Sri Lanka won by eight wickets

28 Aug 2010 (Dambulla): Sri Lanka won by 74 runs *

At the Wankhede, they are tied at 1-1. India won the first encounter by 10 runs in 1987. In 1997 Sri Lanka beat India by five wickets

- The top order of both the teams dominate the run scoring charts. Sri Lanka have their top three batsmen in the Top 5 run scorers of this World Cup, with Tillakaratne Dilshan (467 runs) leading the tally. Kumar Sangakkara (417 runs) and Upul Tharanga (393 runs) at numbers four and five respectively.

- For India, Sachin Tendulkar is once close to being the leading run scorer as he is three runs behind Dilshan (464 runs). India have two more batsmen in the Top 10, with Virender Sehwag (380 runs) and Yuvraj Singh (341 runs) at numbers six and eight respectively.

- India have two more batsmen, Gautam Gambhir (296 runs) and Virat Kohli (247 runs) at numbers 15 and 20 respectively, they have no other batsmen in the Top 30.

- India will need to take wickets as the Sri Lankan top order have stunning averages — Sangakkara topping the league with 104.25, and Dilshan (66.71) and Tharanga (65.50) not doing badly either.

- Sri Lanka will have to curb the run flow at the top of the batting order with Sehwag scoring at a strike rate of 123.37.

- On the bowling front, Zaheer Khan (19 wickets) and Yuvraj Singh (13 wickets) have led the way for India. Muttiah Muralitharan (15 wickets) and Lasith Malinga (11 wickets) have provided Sri Lanka the breakthroughs when they needed it. Dilshan (seven wickets at an average of 14.14) has bowled very well in the last few matches.

- Where Sri Lanka seem to have a distinctive edge is in thge economy of their bowling figures. Ajantha Mendis at 3.14 RPO, Dilshan at 3.80, Muralitharan at 4.00, Rangana Herath at 4.27. Harbhajan Singh with an economy of 4.41, heads the list for India but is at a lowly 36th ranked place.

- More teams batting first (11-6) have emerged victorious at the Wankhede.

Oneindia Cricket

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