India beat the UAE with 59 balls to spare, their biggest ever win in terms of balls!
India ended their league engagements in the Asia Cup with a thumping nine-wicket victory over the United Arab Emirates, in Mirpur, on Thursday.
The victory’s was India’s ninth from ten T20 Internationals played this year.
Chasing a meagre target of 82, Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men romped home in only 10.1 overs, with Rohit Sharma hitting a flurry of boundaries in his 28-ball-39.
He hit seven fours and a six, adding 43 for the opening stand with Shikhar Dhawan (16 not out), which incidentally is the highest for India for the first wicket in the continental tournament.
Statistician Rajneesh Gupta has interesting numbers from the match. Check them out.
81 The UAE’s total, the second lowest in Twenty20 Internationals when a team was not all-out in a 20-over game. The lowest is 79 for seven by the West Indies against Zimbabwe at Port-of-Spain in 2010.
59 Balls remaining when India reached the winning target, biggest ever win for India in terms of balls. They had beaten Sri Lanka with 37 balls to spare at Visakhapatnam recently.
21 Runs scored by UAE in the Powerplay overs -- least for any side against India. Zimbabwe also had an identical score in the Powerplay overs at Harare in 2010.
3 Number of Indian bowlers to bowl two maidens in a Twenty20 International. Bhuvneshwar Kumar joined Harbhajan Singh (vs England, Colombo RPS, 2012) and Jasprit Bumrah (vs Pakistan, Mirpur, 2016).
77 Number of dot balls faced by UAE in the match -- most by any team against India. Sri Lanka had 69 balls of which no run could be scored at Visakhapatnam recently.
53.08 Percentage contribution made by Shaiman Anwar in UAE innings -- 43 out of 81. This is the highest contribution for any batsman against India in an innings where all 11 batsmen batted. Morne van Wyk had made 45.58% of South Africa’s total (67 out of 147) at Durban in 2011.
2 Number of times India have won a Twenty20 International by nine wickets. The earlier such instance was against Sri Lanka at Visakhapatnam recently.
9 Number of Twenty20 Internationals India have won this year, the most they have won in a calendar year. That too after just in to the third month of the year!
