I was just taking a look at the batting records for the Indian squad to India and it is a little shocking to see how poor it is on paper. Consider the following:
- Only 3 players (Dhoni, Yuvraj and Gambhir) out of the entire 16-person squad have a 30+ average.
- Only 7 players have played an ODI match against West Indies and once again only three of them have a 30+ average against them.
- Only 4 players have played ODI’s in West Indies, only Yuvraj crossing the 30+ mark.
- The median number of ODIs played by the team members is just 32 matches. There are 2 possible ODI debutants (who may not get a match if West Indies win any of the first three matches)
- If you remove Dhoni, Yuvraj and Gambhir, the rest of the batsmen have played very few ODIs.
Here is a quick snapshot of the India team members with a 25+ average (I have removed Ojha since his average is just a function of being not out in 3 matches):
One saving grace is that the big guns (Dhoni, Yuvraj, Gambhir and Rohit) have had a good start to 2009. If they can carry on that form, it would do India good. And of course, some of them had a good IPL, though Twenty20 is a different animal.
It is, of course, dangerous for West Indies to assume that their greater experience will automatically win matches for them. We saw how the experienced South Africans succumbed to the new-look Australian team at home in the return Test series. But there is definitely a weakness that the West Indians can exploit. Let’s see if the young Indian faces can rise up to the challenge.
