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How they stack up, Down Under

Statistical tables are just one tool for analysis. What follows is a look at the two teams, India and Australia, who are on the verge of contesting what should be a very interesting series -- from a purely statistical viewpoint.

India's performance in the last 30 Tests

Since October, 1996 (v Australia at Delhi) ...... India has played 30 Tests.
Their record:

	Played	Won	Lost	Draw
At home	16	7	4	5
Away	14	0	5	9
Total	30	7	9	14

As any fan of Indian cricket will tell you, India's record away from home is not of the best -- in fact, the team is yet to get an entry into the 'win' column when playing away from home.

Most prolific run-getters in the past 30 Tests

	Runs	For	M	Inn	NO	Ave	HS	100	50	0
Tendulkar, SR	2701	Ind	30	51	5	58.72	217	11	7	3
Dravid, RS	2447	Ind	30	51	4	52.06	190	6	14	1
Ganguly, SC	1966	Ind	28	47	5	46.81	173	5	11	4
Azharuddin, M	1742	Ind	27	44	5	44.67	163*	7	6	1
Sidhu, NS	1115	Ind	15	24	0	46.46	201	3	5	3
Mongia, NR	848	Ind	27	43	4	21.74	152	1	5	4
Ramesh, S	783	Ind	7	14	0	55.93	143	2	5	1
Kumble, A	725	Ind	30	43	7	20.14	88	0	2	3
Laxman, VVS	579	Ind	14	24	2	26.32	95	0	5	2

Ganguly, Tendulkar and Dravid have all been in the runs of late. As has Ramesh, but the left-handed opener is in the early stages of his career, and it is far too early to judge. Azhar and Sidhu, two other names that figure in the list of big time scorers, are out of the equation for one reason or other. So the bottomline here is that the Indian batting depends for the bulk of its runs on the three lead players -- Ganguly, Tendulkar and Dravid, with Ramesh the dark horse.

Record of Indian batsmen, home and away, in the last 30 Test matches:

Tendulkar
Home	16	29	3	1436	55.23	217	6	2	3
Away	14	22	2	1265	63.25	169	5	5	0
Dravid
Home	16	28	0	1143	40.82	144	1	8	0
Away	14	23	4	1304	68.63	190	5	6	1
Ganguly
Home	15	26	4	1112	50.55	173	3	7	2
Away	13	21	1	854	42.70	147	2	4	2
Azharuddin
Home	13	23	3	998	49.90	163*	3	5	1
Away	14	21	2	744	39.16	126	4	1	0
Sidhu
Home	6	9	0	629	69.89	131	1	5	0
Away	9	15	0	486	32.40	201	2	0	3

This is the real clincher -- since India is playing on Australian soil, a look at how the lead batsmen have done on away tours is pertinent.

And what strikes you, first crack out of the box, is that only two batsmen have significantly better records away, than at home -- Dravid and Tendulkar, to give them names. A third, Ganguly, has an away record that suffers in comparison to his home record. On the plus side, though, Ganguly on foreign soil doesn't score significantly below his career average.

However, this table merely reiterates, and underlines, what has been said before -- that the batting has to be carried by the big three. And that is a terrific burden, an enormous pressure, to place on the shoulders of Tendulkar, Dravid and Ganguly.

Australia's performances in the last 30 matches from July, 1997
Their record:

	Played	Won	Lost	Draw
At home	12	7	1	4
Away	18	8	6	4
Total	30	15	7	8

Australia are at home -- and have an awesome record to back themselves, having lost just one Test on home soil of the 12 they have played during the period under review. Against this, they've won 7, and that should, on paper, make them odds on favourites when the two teams go head to head starting December 10.

Most prolific run-getters for Australia in the last 30 Tests

	Runs	For	M	Inn	NO	Ave	HS	100	50	0
Waugh, SR	2211	Aus	29	49	8	53.93	199	8	8	2
Waugh, ME	1967	Aus	30	52	6	42.76	153*	6	10	5
Taylor, MA	1589	Aus	21	38	4	46.74	334*	4	7	2
Slater, MJ	1524	Aus	20	37	2	53.54	169	6	4	3
Ponting, RT	1331	Aus	23	35	4	42.94	127	4	6	1
Healy, IA	1068	Aus	29	46	4	25.43	134	1	5	3
Blewett, GS	1066	Aus	21	37	2	30.46	99	0	9	2
Langer, JL	1034	Aus	17	29	1	36.93	179*	3	5	1
Elliott, MTG	677	Aus	13	22	0	30.77	199	2	1	3
Warne, SK	558	Aus	22	34	2	17.44	86	0	2	6

This is where the gulf begins to open out -- Australia have six batsmen, in the two Waughs, Slater, Ponting, Blewett and Langer, who have been among the runs in the period in question (Blewett and Langer perhaps less so, but they form a more than adequate support act to the top four).

And to add to it, Australia have in the number seven slot a batsman whose potential for danger was underlined just the other day, when Adam Gilchrist batted his side to a memorable come-from-behind win against Pakistan (as with Ramesh, though, so with Gilchrist -- too little evidence, yet, on which to form a definite opinion, all we have is a pointer).

Statistics, as pointed out at the start, tell less than half the story. However, judging merely from the above, it would seem that the series about to begin pits three brilliant batsmen, against a solid, reliable, and deep batting lineup.