India vs Pakistan, Asia Cup 2016: A statistical look at the past encounters between the arch-rivals

A statistical summary of India vs Pakistan Asia Cup matches to date!

India will take on Pakistan in the fourth match of the ongoing Asia Cup 2016 at Dhaka. As is always the case when the two neighbours face off, the competition will be intense. In a first, the Asia Cup will be played in the Twenty20 format as opposed to the One-Day International (ODI) which has been standard for Asia Cup historically. Nevertheless it will be a good time to reflect on statistics of the past between these two team, when they have faced off in Asia’s biggest cricket event. Rishad D’Souza goes on a number-hunt. Live Cricket Scorecard: India vs Pakistan, Asia Cup T20 2016 Match 4 at Dhaka

India-Pakistan games are always intensely contested. And because these two teams meet so rarely, those rivalries are given the extra bit of zip. Coming out on top in Asia’s biggest cricket jamboree is a fixed agenda for either side. When India face off with Pakistan in the fourth game of the Asia Cup 2016, the format might be different, but the competition will bear a mark of how it has always been between the two sides. ALSO READ: India vs Pakistan – Top 6 matches in Asia Cup

A lot of the below numbers should have no direct bearing on this game, but they could make for interesting reading. In the lead up to the crucial encounter, it would be only fitting to look at some of the statistics from past encounters between these two sides in the Asia Cup. ALSO READ: India vs Pakistan, Asia Cup 2016, 4th T20I at Mirpur: Virat Kohli vs Mohammad Aamer and other Key Battles

Of Shoaib Malik‘s prolific run-scoring to Virat Kohli’s biggest hundred scaling an unbeaten 183 runs. From Saeed Ajmal being the leading wicket-taker to Aquib Javed having the best match figures, let’s cover it all systematically.

Here is the table for most runs scored by batsmen on an aggregate, Malik comfortably leads the table as of now.

In terms of averages, Malik again finds himself in the top three. Nasir Jamshed, who played just two games, finds himself at the summit of this table.

In terms of highest strike-rates, the only surprise is that Shahid Afridi is not at the top. The other two batsmen in this list are Suresh Raina and Jamshed again!~

In all there have been eight hundreds between these two sides, and barring Malik, not one has made a hundred more than once. Here is the list of hundreds scored in Asia Cup encounters between these two sides in descending order of size of the hundred.

Now the attention will shift to the bowling department, starting with most prolific wicket-takers. Ajmal tops this list with eight to his name from four games.

Now let’s shift attention to the most destructive spells in games. Aaqib Javed leads the list for his famous effort to take five wickets for 19 runs. Candidates are sorted in order of most wickets taken in the spell, which if equal, are sorted on basis of corresponding runs conceded.

In terms of averages, the Pakistanis dominate the top three with Venkatesh Prasad from India coming in at three! Aaqib Javed and Arshad Ayub are in the top three.

Now, most importantly, let’s see which players have been determined to be having the most significant impact in each game.

(Rishad D’Souza, a reporter with CricketCountry, gave up hopes of playing Test cricket after a poor gully-cricket career. He now reports on the sport. You can follow @RDcric on Twitter)

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