Arbit Stats #71: A Series of Numbers

From the University of WhatsApp came this test.

And with it came a helpful hint –."difference between each letter may or may not be the same but there is an underlying pattern i.e. difference between A & B, B & C, C & D to M & N follow a pattern. Some numbers may have to be force fitted" 

It was an interesting exercise, cracked only once the pattern had been guessed. And then reverse fitting the numbers to famous (or not so famous) cricketing instances. The difference between the consecutive numbers are in Fibonacci sequence (each being the sum of the previous two differences). So here are the solutions

A - 181 – Sir Vivian Richards vs Sri Lanka in the 1987 World Cup helping West Indies to 360 to record a 191-run victory. Richards got his 181 off 125 balls while Desmond Haynes scored a more sedate 105 off 124 balls!

 

B - 181 – Matthew Hayden’s 181 helped Australia to 346 which was overhauled by the Kiwis. After suffering a whitewash in the series Australia went to go on to win the 2007 World Cup with another undefeated run! 

C - 182 – Mohammed Azharuddin top-scored in Eden Gardens in 1993 to set the tone for 3-0 whitewash against England and rescue his captaincy. 

D - 183 – India’s team total in the 1983 World Cup final. And they won comfortably by 43 runs. New Zealand got the same score in the 2015 final and were thrashed! 

E - 185 – Shane Watson's blitzkrieg helped overhaul Bangladesh’s 229 in just 26 overs! Wonder where Watson would have ended up if he had played the full 50 overs. 

F - 188 – Gary Kirsten vs UAE in the 1996 World Cup. A match also remembered for the UAE skipper Sultan Zarawani coming out to face Alan Donald without a helmet and promptly getting knocked in the head. 

G - 193 - Netherlands stunning run-chase vs Ireland in 2014 T20WC. They needed to chase a target of 190 in under 14 overs which is exactly what they did to go through to the next round. A chase which was replicated a few weeks later in the IPL by Mumbai Indians against Rajasthan Royals (the famous Dravid cap throwing incident) 

H - 201 - Jason Gillespie came in as a nightwatchman and got a double century against Bangladesh. Got the Man of the Match & Series Awards for his efforts. And never played another Test for Australia! 

I - 214 – the 3rd highest score on Test debut – by Lawrence Rowe for West Indies vs New Zealand & Matthew Sinclair for New Zealand vs West Indies. Behind Tip Foster’s 287 & Jacques Rudolph’ 232 

J - 235 - Virat Kohli vs England

K - 269 - Kohli is 269th Indian test player and hence the tattoo. 

L - 324 - Waheed Mirza’s score in the 561 run opening partnership with Mansoor Akhtar for Karachi Whites against Quetta breaking the record of 555 made by Holmes & Sutcliffe 45 years previously. No one else needed to bat for Karachi as they recorded an innings & 294 run victory 

M - 413 – Opening partnership of Vinoo Mankad & Pankaj Roy against New Zealand. A record which stood for over half a century. 

N - 557 – Clarrie Grimmett Test runs aggregate. His record for fastest to 200 wickets was finally broken by Yasir Shah after Ashwin nearly threatened to break it. 

This was one wicked quiz. Cricket’s obsession with statistics makes it truly a mathematician’s delight.

We Are the Champions of the World

With the Cup that Counts

We did it. We won the World Cup. And as Queen would have said - "We are the champions my friend! We shall be fighting until the end. We are the champions. We are the champions of the World!"

I don't even know how to begin this post. I guess just sticking to my usual to the random thoughts as they come up to mind.

• Before the match I had 3 wishes - India to win, SRT to get the 100th & Murali to sign off with a wicket off his last international ball. Only the first one happened (And thats all was required)
• Most members of the Indian team said they wanted to win the cup for Sachin. And they did it. I guess Virat Kohli summed it up best when he said, "Sachin has carried the nation for 21 years, so he deserves to be carried around".
• Dhoni led from the front. Saved his best for the last. And sealed the victory with a straight six. The leader everyone wants, and not just for a sporting team.
• Last time the India played the World Cup at home it ended in Vinod Kambli's tears. This time around it also ended in tears but of a different note. The one of happiness.
• Zaheer Khan's second world cup final ended the way the first one had begun. But this one started brilliantly though.
• Mahela Jayawardene became the first man to be part of the losing side after scoring a century in the final. Still this was one of the great innings of the tournament (though later got eclipsed by the efforts of Gambhir & Dhoni). The innings also provided a nice little family scene with his wife imploring him to bat on after he had reached his half-century.
• Aleem Dar finished with a spotless world cup. Not a single decision reversed. Needless to say why he is the best umpire in the world.
• Simon Taufel finally was able to stand in a World Cup final, because Australia failed to qualify. This must be one weird feeling. Taufel must be the only Australian cricket personality who gets benefited when Australia doesn't perform well.
• Jeff Crowe continued his incompetent ways as a Match referee. Presided over the farcial finish in the 2007 final and then had the toss fiasco at the start of today's final.
• Have to say the run chase was nearly four hours of sheer nervousness which ended in total joy.
• Thanks to Gary Kirsten, for giving us this team. It was a sight to watch the support staff walking arm in arm behind the Indian team and then Kohli & Raina carrying Kirsten around the stadium.
• Farewell to Muttiah Muralitharan, a true legend. 
• Gautam Gambhir top scored in T20 World Cup final and now in the big final also.
• Piyush Chawla & Sreesanth are now in a select group of players to have won the 50 over & the T20 world cup. The full list (all Indians so far) - Dhoni, Yuvraj, Sehwag, Harbhajan, Gambhir, Yusuf Pathan, Sreesanth & Chawla 
• Commentary Moment of the Match - Gavaskar & Nasser Hussain discussing the number of bats carried by cricketers. Gavaskar mentioned Sourav Ganguly carrying 10-12 bats. To which Nasser Hussain replied that Ganguly did not carry them himself, somebody else did it for him.
• And in the end, Lets not forget Praveen Kumar, who missed out due to an injury
• The comment of the day - "Anhoni ko honi kar de, honi ko anhoni, ek jagah jab jama ho teeno, Rajni, Ghazini aur Dhoni":D. (Rajnikanth was there, India couldn't have lost)
• Just wondering - What about Poonam Pandey's promise. Her letter to BCCI is certainly interesting.

In the end, a big thanks to the Indian Team, for winning the World Cup for us, the ordinary Indian fans.
And now for the victory pictures (all from cricinfo)

The Victory Moment - Dhoni blazes it away, as Yuvraj celebrates

Thank You - Gary Kirsten

Thank You - Sachin