Rediff Logo Cricket Find/Feedback/Site Index
HOME | SPORTS | STATISTICS
November 25, 1999

NEWS
OTHER SPORTS
DIARY
PEOPLE
MATCH REPORTS
SLIDE SHOW
ARCHIVES

send this story to a friend

How they stack up, Down Under

Mohandas Menon

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.

Mail Prem Panicker

HOME | NEWS | ELECTION 99 | BUSINESS | SPORTS | MOVIES | CHAT | INFOTECH | TRAVEL
SINGLES | BOOK SHOP | MUSIC SHOP | HOTEL RESERVATIONS | MONEY
EDUCATION | PERSONAL HOMEPAGES | FREE EMAIL | FEEDBACK