India’s eighth successive bilateral series win
Eight in eight
India marched to their eighth successive bilateral ODI series victory by beating Sri Lanka 2-1. This winning streak began with a 3-0 victory against Zimbabwe last year and they have beaten New Zealand (twice), England, West Indies, Sri Lanka (twice) and Australia since then. Overall in ODI history, only one team has had a longer streak of bilateral series wins. West Indies had won 14 consecutive bilateral series (of two or more games) between 1980 and 1988. India’s previous longest bilateral winning streak was of six series between November 2007 and June 2009.
India’s glorious 2017, Sri Lanka’s worst
India finish the year in ODIs with 21 wins from 29 matches and only seven defeats. Their win-loss ratio of 3:1 this year is their best in any calendar year. Their previous best year was 2008 when they had a ratio of 2.375:1 with a 19-8 win-loss record. This year, only one team has had a better win-loss ratio than India. England have a 15-4 win-loss record with a ratio of 3.750:1. Out of England’s four losses, two were against India in the three-match series in India. India are also the only team to not lose a single bilateral ODI series this year, among the top 10 teams.
On the other hand, Sri Lanka’s performance was at the other extreme. They end the year with just five wins in 29 matches and 23 defeats. Their win-loss ratio of 0.217 is the second-worst for any team that played 25 or more games in a year. The only team to fare worse was Zimbabwe in 2004. Sri Lanka’s win-loss ratio is the worst among all 16 teams that have played ODIs this year.
Dhawan completes 4000 runs
Shikhar Dhawan got to 4000 ODI runs with a century in his 95th innings. Among India batsmen, only Virat Kohli got there with fewer innings, 93. Overall, five batsmen have got to the milestone in fewer innings than Dhawan. He also scored his 12th century in the format. He is the fifth-quickest to 12 ODI centuries in terms of innings. Among Indian players, Kohli got there in 83 innings. Overall, Quinton de Kock is the fastest to the feat, in just 74 innings.