Tendulkar's final onslaught

Stats highlights from the Compaq Cup final, which gave India only their fourth win in 21 finals since 2000

14-Sep-2009

India's 46-run win in the final of the Compaq Cup was only their fourth win in ODI finals in 21 attempts since 2000. Here are more stats highlights from the game.

Sachin Tendulkar's 138 was his sixth hundred in 38 innings in finals, and it pushed his overall average in such matches up to an impressive 55.54. In his last three finals, he has notched up scores of 117 not out, 91 and 138, and India have won each of those matches.

In all, Tendulkar has scored 1833 runs in finals, which is easily the highest - Sanath Jayasuriya is next with 1613. Tendulkar also ranks very high in terms of all-time averages in finals: among those who've scored at least 500 runs in finals, only three have a higher average. One of them is India's current coach, Gary Kirsten - in 20 innings, he scored 1019 runs at an excellent average of 69.73. Tendulkar's stats are very similar to those of Viv Richards, who averaged 55.73 at a strike rate of 84.78 in 17 finals. Brian Lara, on the other hand, has struggled in finals, averaging only 28.16, more than 12 runs below his career average. His one century and two fifties all came in his first four innings; in his last 14 finals, his highest score was 35.

The Man-of-the-Match award was Tendulkar's 59th in ODIs, and his eighth in finals. It was also his 14th Player-of-the-Series award. Tendulkar leads the all-time list in both categories - he is 11 clear of the second-placed Jayasuriya in the match awards and three ahead in the series awards.

India's total of 319 is their second-highest score in finals, next only to the 326 for 8 they scored in their memorable win in the NatWest Series at Lord's in 2002.

Harbhajan Singh's 5 for 56 is his third five-wicket haul in ODIs, and his first overseas. It's also his first haul of four or more wickets in almost three-and-a-half years. It also ended a poor run for him in 2009 - in nine previous games this year, he had averaged a wicket per game, at an economy rate of 5.35.

Lasith Malinga went for 81 runs in his ten overs, which is his worst performance in a one-day internationals, both in terms of runs conceded and in terms of economy rate.

Sri Lanka's record in finals since 2000 dropped to 12-7 after this defeat. It's also their first defeat in a final at home since 1998 - India had been the victors then as well, winning a close match by six runs. The star on that occasion too was Tendulkar - his 128 powered India to 307 and won him the Man-of-the-Match award. The only other player from the current line-up who was in that team is Harbhajan.

Harbhajan Singh Sachin Tendulkar Sri Lanka India Sri Lanka vs India Compaq Cup

S Rajesh is stats editor of Cricinfo