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Sachin on top for Series award
Sachin Tendulkar is ahead edging out the likes of Sanath Jayasuriya, Shoaib Malik & Irfan Pathan.
India's master batsman Sachin Tendulkar is the front-runner for the player of the series award in the Asia Cup cricket tournament which concludes on Sunday.
Tendulkar is significantly less in terms of runs scored to a few other batsmen but his 10 wickets have boosted his stock considerably and marks him out as the favourite to win the player of the series award.
Tendulkar has scored 207 runs with two half centuries from five innings and has also picked up 10 wickets with his sharp turning leg-breaks.
He is behind Indian captain Sourav Ganguly (240) on runs scored and his tally of wickets is less than left-arm pacer Irfan Pathan (12) too but overall he stakes a strong claim for the Maruti Esteem which goes to the best player of the touranament.
Tendulkar could face a challenge from three other players - Sanath Jayasuriya (278), Shoaib Malik (318) and the dark horse, Irfan Pathan.
Both Jayasuriya and Shoaib Malik have hit two centuries in the tournament. While the tournament is already over for Malik, another powerful performance from Jayasuriya could still earn the title to the dynamic Sri Lankan opener.
Pathan has played a significant role for India with his front-up bowling and has invariably made early inroads into the opposition. His 3 for 34 against Sri Lanka came in for high praise from his captain Ganguly.
In all, US $180,000 were put up at stake in this competition in which US $72,000 have already been distributed. The remaining US $108,000 will be distributed after the final. The winning team is earmarked to receive US $60,000. The losers will have US$ 40,000.
The player of the series will pocket USD 7,000 along with the keys of a brand new Esteem while the man of the final will get US $1,000.
