Tag Archives: india batting

More on India’s Bowling (and Batting)

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Following up on my previous post about India’s supposed problem with poor fast bowlers, we should examine that with India’s record in various countries from Jan 1, 2001 to the recently concluded WI series:

  • At home: Won 24, Lost 7 (50 matches)
  • In Bang: 5-0 (6)
  • In Zimb: 3-1 (4)
  • In Eng: 2-1 (7)
  • In WI: 3-2 (11)
  • In Pak: 2-2 (6)
  • In Aus: 2-3 (8)
  • In SL: 3-5 (9)
  • In NZ: 1-2 (5)
  • In SA: 2-4 (8)

The items marked in Red are countries where India lost more than they won. So let us look at each of those lost matches. We could also analyze the drawn matches, but those are matches where their bowlers were as ineffective as us, or luck/weather saved one of the teams.

  • v Aus
    • India 366, Aus 558, Ind 286, Aus 97/1: Average batting, terrible bowling
    • Aus 343, India 196, Aus 351, India 161: Terrible batting, average bowling
    • Aus 463, India 532, Aus 401, India 210: Good to poor batting, poor bowling
  • v SL:
    • India 187, SL 362, India 180, SL 6/0: Poor batting, average bowling
    • India 234, SL 610, India 299: Poor batting, terrible bowling
    • SL 600, India 223, India 138: Terrible batting, terrible bowling
    • India 249, SL 396, India 268, SL 123/2: Poor batting, poor bowling
    • SL 520, India 276, India 338, SL 96/0: Poor batting, terrible bowling
  • v NZ
    • India 161, NZ 247, India 121, NZ 36*: Terrible batting, good bowling
    • India 99, NZ 94, India 154, NZ 160/6: Terrible batting, good bowling
  • v SA:
    • India 379, SA 563, India 237, SA 1/54: Poor batting, terrible bowling
    • SA 328, India 240, SA 265, India 179: Poor batting, average bowling
    • India 414, SA 373, India 169, SA 211/5: Good to poor batting, poor bowling
    • India 136, SA 620, India 459: Terrible to good batting, terrible bowling

As you can see, many of India’s defeats (12 of the 14) have come about when India’s batting lineup has not performed to its potential. I am using a baseline of 250, but you can also see many scores below 200. In terms of bowling, there have been fewer matches (6) where the bowlers conceded a mammoth total (500+) and at least a couple where they have done pretty well. Bringing total of 400+ conceded only adds 1 more Test to that total.

In case the moral of the story is not clear: India has more of a batting problem overseas than it has a bowling problem.

 

Indian Squad to West Indies Light on Batting

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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:

  1. Only 3 players (Dhoni, Yuvraj and Gambhir) out of the entire 16-person squad have a 30+ average.
  2. Only 7 players have played an ODI match against West Indies and once again only three of them have a 30+ average against them.
  3. Only 4 players have played ODI’s in West Indies, only Yuvraj crossing the 30+ mark.
  4. 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)
  5. 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):

india-batting

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.