Sri Lanka v Zimbabwe 2017, 4th ODI – Statistical Highlights

In a must-win game to keep the series alive, Zimbabwe defeated the home side in the rain-affected game at Hambantota by 4-wickets to square the series 2-2. The Sri Lankan opening pair of Niroshan Dickwella and Danushka Gunathilaka put on yet another double century stand after their team elected to bat first.

However, Sri Lanka failed to capitalise and could only add 92 runs in their last 15 overs and finished at 300/6. Zimbabwe started off aggressively and were 139/3 at 21 overs before rain cut down 19 overs of their innings and revised their target to 219 off 31 overs. A sensible fifty from Craig Ervine after the rain interruption, ensured his side got past the winning line.

Here we look at all the stats and records created during the game.

1 – Dickwella-Gunathilaka became the first pair in the ODI history to record double hundred stands in consecutive innings for any wicket.

2 – Number of matches Sri Lanka lost after scoring 300+ while batting first in this series; the 5th instance of a team losing twice after posting 300+ while batting first in an ODI series/tournament. Australia were the losing team on two different occasions- vs New Zealand in 2007 and vs India in 2013.

4 – Number of times the chasing team has won in this series; the joint most times the chasing team has won in a bilateral series on Sri Lankan soil. All the incidents have been recorded after 2004.

4 – Dickwella-Gunathilaka is the 4th Sri Lankan opening pair to put on century stands in consecutive ODI innings. The last among the previous 3 pairs was Tillakaratne Dilshan and Lahiru Thirimanne in 2015 World Cup.

5 – Number of 300+ totals in this series; the most in any ODI series/tournament hosted by Sri Lanka. There were 4 scores of 300 and more in the 12 matches hosted by Sri Lanka during the 2011 World Cup.

6 – Number of pairs including Dickwella-Gunathilaka who have 150+ stands in consecutive ODI innings. Asanka Gurusinha and Aravinda de Silva are the only other Sri Lankan pair with 150+ stands in consecutive innings in ODIs.

8 – Niroshan Dickwella became the 8th Sri Lankan to score centuries in consecutive ODI innings. He is the first one since Kumar Sangakkara in the 2015 CWC.

220 – Upul Tharanga’s batting average in this series so far. Tharanga got out after scoring 22 in this game. He scored 198 runs in the previous 3 ODIs without getting dismissed.

300/6 – Sri Lanka’s total of 300/6 is the lowest for any team in ODIs after a double century opening stand (50-over games). Scotland scored 286/4 vs Canada in 2009 while West Indies scored 298/4 against Bangladesh in 2011.