Numbers don’t lie. Well, mostly. And in the world of sport, every passing day throws fascinating numbers at us to analyse and dissect. Many sports fans are statistics-nerds by default, because who doesn’t like to show off how good the team or player one supports is. With that in mind, The Field brings you to a weekly series on the numbers that made the news from around the sporting world, across varied publications.

Here’s a look at the key statistics that we came across in the past week.

5 runs

Vidarbha edged out a strong Karnataka team – the team that was hands down favourites to reach the final and even lift the title – at Eden Gardens, defending a score of 198 to reach their first ever Ranji Trophy final. Despite being season’s best batting side, Karnataka couldn’t mount a challenge and lost one of the closest games in Ranji history. The famous win was made possible by a scintillating seven-wicket haul by Rajneesh Gurbani, who finished the match with 12 wickets. [Cricket Archive]

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35 balls

That’s all it took for Rohit Sharma to reach a T20I century against a hapless Sri Lankan bowling attack in Indore. It was the joint-fastest T20I hundred of all time, equalling the record David Miller created this year. By getting there in the 12th over, Rohit was also the quickest ever to get to that landmark in a T20I innings. The Hitman was in a belligerent mood as he smashed 10 sixes and 12 fours on his way to a 43-ball 118. For a while there, Chris Gayle’s 175 looked under serious threat.

More mind-boggling numbers here. [ESPNCricinfo]

9.5 million Euros

The combined salaries of Real Madrid and Barcelona players at El Classico this year. Though Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo make up a tenth of that number, both teams have spent a huge chunk of money on the players that support their efforts. Real Madrid has invested more in their defence and midfield, but Barcelona spends a chunk of their budget on world class forwards [La Roja Deportesonline]

7 match streak

A resurgent Chicago Bulls won seven games in a row after suffering a loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers. The streak wasn’t as notable as the turnaround they’ve had. The Bulls have been plagued by bad team performances and weren’t even close to their 1990s brand of Basketball. All of this was followed by a historic run which has become this season’s longest winning streak in the NBA’s Eastern Conference [FiveThirtyEight]

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10 out of 10

Vijender Singh continued his unbeaten run as a professional boxer, retaining his WBO Oriental and Asia Pacific Super middleweight titles with a unanimous verdict over African champion Ernest Amuzu at Jaipur on Saturday. This was the Bhiwani lad’s 10th win in his 10 professional fights so far, continuing a fine run since entering the big-time of boxing. Of those 10 wins, seven have been knock-outs or technical knock-outs.

76

The number of aces in a match by Ivo Karlovic against the Argentinian Horacio Zeballos. The big serving Croatian consistently serves his way through matches. But he’s nowhere close to the world record held by John Isner, who served 113 aces at Wimbledon in 2010. [ATP World Tour]

945 points

That’s Steve Smith’s current Test ranking points. He’s tied for the second highest ranking ever, trailing Sir Don Bradman by 16 points. Smith is arguably the best Test batsman in the world today. After a securing an Ashes series win, the Australian captain isn’t feeling the pressure and could play freely for the remaining two Tests giving him a chance to catch up with the Don. [The Field]

27,300 feet

The height at which Sherpas retrieved the body of Gautam Ghosh, a recreational mountaineer at the summit of Mount Everest. In a huge work of reporting, the New York Times reporter, John Branch traced the route of four Bengali mountaineers and their ascent on the world’s tallest mountain. Three of the four lost their lives in the attempt. [New York Times]