Asia Cup 2018, stats preview: From Sri Lanka’s record-breaking titles to Pakistan’s superior recent form

The 14th edition of the Asia Cup will be played in United Arab Emirates with six teams participating and a total of 13 matches being played over 14 days. Each team has a different challenge to conquer in the upcoming tournament. India are playing without their regular skipper Virat Kohli. It will be intriguing to see how much it will cost them at the end of the tournament as their middle-order will be tested against Pakistan’s bowling attack. On the other hand, Bangladesh will try to finish the games while Hong Kong will try to cause an upset as it’s a short tournament so nothing is impossible. [caption id=“attachment_5190031” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] India’s cricket captain Rohit Sharma (centre) speaks during an Asia Cup press conference on Friday. AFP[/caption] All in all, it will be the most competitive Asia Cup ever given the rise of Afghanistan in world cricket. Before it begins, let us look at a few statistical insights and the history of the tournament in numbers. Pakistan are the only team to win their last five encounters in ODIs, while India are the only team to lose their last two encounters in ODI cricket coming into the Asia Cup. However, no Asian team has won more ODIs than India since 2015. Recent form: (Last five ODIs) Afghanistan: W, L, W, W, W Bangladesh: W, L, W, L, L India: L, L, W, W, W Pakistan: W, W, W, W, W Sri Lanka: W, W, L, L, L Sri Lanka and India have won Asia Cup title five times — the most among all the teams. (All the statistics are for the 50-over Asia Cup tournaments only. India won the last Asia Cup which was held in a 20-over format in Bangladesh in 2016.)

Sri Lanka have won most matches and have best win percentage among all the teams in Asia Cup history.  

Pakistan have scored 300-plus runs eight times in Asia Cup history — the most among all the teams while Bangladesh are the only team to be bowled out under 100 runs twice in the history of Asia Cup. Highest total: Pakistan (385/7 vs Bangladesh at Dambulla in 2010) Lowest total: Bangladesh (87 vs Pakistan at Dhaka in 2000) India are the only team to win an Asia Cup match with a margin of 250-plus runs while Pakistan are the only team to win an Asia Cup match with 175-plus balls remaining.

Pakistan are the only team to win and lose a match with one ball remaining in the history of Asia Cup.

Let’s look at some of the individual records created in the tournament over the years.

Fielding/Keeping records: Most keeping dismissals: Kumar Sangakkara, 36 in 24 matches Most catches by a fielder: Mahela Jayawardene, 15 in 28 matches Most matches played: Player: Mahela Jayawardene, 28 Captain: MS Dhoni and Arjuna Ranatunga, 13 Umpire: Billy Bowden, 14