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Of Raina's impressive batting average and Dhon's cool captaincy

March 14, 2015 22:42 IST

India finished at the heap of Pool B after beating Zimbabwe by six wickets in their final league match in Auckland on Saturday after Suresh Raina and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni combined well to take the team across the finish line.

Here are the statistical highlights of the ICC Cricket World Cup match between India and Zimbabwe.

India's Suresh Raina celebrates after scoring a century against Zimbabwe during their ICC World Cup Pool B match at the Eden Park stadium in Auckland on Saturday

India's Suresh Raina celebrates after scoring a century against Zimbabwe during their ICC World Cup Pool B match at the Eden Park stadium in Auckland on Saturday. Photograph: Vipin Pawar/Solaris Images

# Suresh Raina's superb unbeaten 110 off 104 balls is his maiden century in World Cups, eclipsing the 74 vs Pakistan at Adelaide on February 15, 2015.

# Raina has recorded all his five centuries in ODIs overseas -- four in a winning cause. His only century in a losing cause is 106 vs Sri Lanka at Dhaka on January 13, 2010.

# Raina is the third Indian batsman to record a century vs Zimbabwe in World Cups after Kapil Dev (175 not out at Tunbridge Wells on June 18, 1983) and Vinod Kambli (106 at Kanpur on March 6, 1996).

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# Raina's World Cup record is impressive -- his aggregate being 286 (ave.71.50) in seven innings, including a hundred and a fifty. His unbeaten 110 is his second highest score in ODIs behind the 116 not out off 107 balls vs Bangladesh at Karachi on June 28, 2008.

# Raina received his first Man of the Match award in World Cups -- his eleventh in limited-overs internationals.

# India became the second team to have won all six World Cup games in the present tournament. New Zealand was the first team to register the feat.

# For the first time, India have won ten World Cup games in a row between March 20, 2011 and March 14, 2015 -- all by huge margins except the 29-run win over Pakistan at Mohali on March 30, 2011.

# Dhoni became the second skipper after Ricky Ponting (24) to produce ten wins or more in a row in World Cups, overtaking Clive Lloyd's tally of nine wins between 1975 and 1999.

# Dhoni became the first Indian captain to post two fifty-plus innings in successful chases -- 91 not out vs Sri Lanka (final) at Mumbai on April 2,2011 and 85 not out vs Zimbabwe at Auckland on March 14, 2015. His record as captain in World Cups is superb, averaging 58.14 -- his tally being 407 in twelve innings, including two fifties.

India's captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni leaves the field

India's captain MS Dhoni leaves the field after winning. Photograph: Nigel Marple/Reuters

# Dhoni's match-winning unbeaten 85 is his highest ODI score vs Zimbabwe -- his third fifty against them.

# Dhoni's record against Zimbabwe is impressive -- his aggregate being 208 in three innings at an average of 208.00, with consecutive fifties -- 56 on August 29, 2005 and 67 not out on September 4, 2005 -- both at Harare and 85 not out, as above.

# Dhoni, in the course of his aforesaid innings, has completed his 5000 runs in a winning cause -- his aggregate being 5048 (ave.74.23) in 145 matches. His tally includes six centuries and 34 fifties.

# India (288 for four) have recorded their highest successful chase in the World Cups. Besides, they have recorded two other successful chases of 270 or more -- 277 for four vs Sri Lanka in the final at Mumbai on April 2,2011 and 276 for four vs Pakistan at Centurion on March 1, 2003.

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# Zimbabwe (287) have recorded their highest World Cup total vs India, eclipsing the 252 for nine at Leicester on May 19, 1999.

# India became the first team to dismiss their opponents in six successive games in World Cups, claiming 60 wickets.

# Ravichandran Ashwin (10-0-75-1) recorded his most expensive bowling figures in ODIs, eclipsing the 10-0-74-1 vs West Indies at Visakhapatnam on December 2, 2011.

# Mohit Sharma (3/48) has recorded his best World Cup performance, eclipsing the two for 31 vs South Africa at Melbourne on February 22,2015.

# Umesh Yadav (3/43) produced his best World Cup performance, surpassing the 2 for 15 vs UAE at Perth on February 28, 2015.

# Raina and Dhoni were involved in a stand of 196 (unbroken) for the fifth wicket -- India's highest World Cup stand for this wicket-position and their highest for any wicket in a successful chase in World Cup.

# India's previous highest stand for any wicket in successful chase was 174 (first wicket) between Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma vs Ireland at Hamilton on March 10, 2015.

# The aforesaid stand is India's sixth highest in World Cups for any wicket. The said partnership is India's highest World Cup partnership for any wicket vs Zimbabwe -- their highest fifth-wicket partnership vs Zimbabwe in ODIs.

# Raina-Dhoni pair averages 62.14 -- their tally being 3480 runs in 66 innings, including nine hudreds and 17 fifties.

# Raina-Dhoni pair is the only one to have registered an average of 60-plus (minimum 3000 runs).

 Zimbabwe's Brendan Taylor celebrates scoring a century against India

Zimbabwe's Brendan Taylor celebrates scoring a century against India during their World Cup match at Eden Park in Auckland on Saturday. Photograph: Nigel Marple/Reuters

# Sean Williams registered his fourth fifty in World Cup 2015 and became the second Zimbabwean to record four innings of fifty-plus in a single edition of the World Cup -- the first being Neil Johnson in the 1999 World Cup -- one century and three fifties.

# Brendan Taylor became the first Zimbabwean batsman and the ninth overall to record back to back centuries in World Cup matches. Taylor has joined Mark Waugh, Rahul Dravid, Saeed Anwar, Ricky Ponting, Matthew Hayden, Abraham de Villiers, Mahmudullah and Kumar Sangakkara (four).

# Taylor is the first Zimbabwean batsman to amass 400 in a single edition of the World Cup - his aggregate being 433 at an average of 72.16 in six innings, including two centuries and a fifty, outstripping Neil Johnson's tally of 367 (ave.52.42) in eight innings in 1999.

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# Taylor (690 at an average of 46.00 in 15 matches) surpassed Dave Houghton's aggregate of 567 (ave.29.84) in 20 matches.

# Taylor is the second in the list of batsmen with most runs for Zimbabwe in World Cups. Andy Flower heads the table with 815 runs at an average of 32.60 in 30 matches.

# Taylor has recorded three consecutive innings of fifty-plus for the first time -- the scores being 50 vs Pakistan at Brisbane on March 1, 121 vs Ireland at Hobart on March 7 and 138 vs India at Auckland on March 14.

# Taylor (5258) eclipsed Alistair Campbell's tally of 5185 and is now third in the list of highest run-getters for Zimbabwe in ODIs -- the highest two being Andy Flower (6786) and Grant Flower (6571).

# Taylor became the fifth Zimbabwean batsman to record a World Cup hundred and the only one to hit two hundreds. David Houghton, Andy Flower, Neil Johnson and Craig Wishart have registered one hundred each.

# Taylor and Ervine were involved in a stand of 109 for the fifth wicket -- Zimbabwe's highest World Cup partnership for any wicket vs India.

# Ervin and Taylor were involved in a stand of 109 for the fifth wicket off 80 balls -- the run rate of 8.17 is their second fastest for any wicket in World Cups, next only to the 8.51 (166 unbroken off 117 balls) for the third wicket between Grant Flower and Craig Wishart vs Namibia at Harare on February 10, 2003. (minimum 100).

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