ODIs between India and Pakistan-1

It seems unlikely that there will be any bilateral series between India and Pakistan for quite some time. It has already been decided that India will not play Pakistan in the group stages of the World Test Championship.

So this seems to be a good time to look back at the records of ODIs between India and Pakistan (not just in the World Cup).

Of a total of 132 ODIs between the sides, India has won 55, Pakistan 73, no ties and No Result 4.

In India: 30 matches; Ind 11, Pak 19.

In Pakistan: 27 matches; Ind 11, Pak 14, NR 2.

In Neutral venues: 75 matches; Ind 33, Pak 40, NR 2.

Looking at individual figures:

Batting:

500 or more runs:

Headed by the older players who had more opportunities to play these matches. Among current players there is Shoaib Malik (1782) and MS Dhoni (1231).

The most centuries are 5 by Tendulkar, followed by 4 by several others.

The most 50+ scores are also led by Tendulkar with 21. Next is 16 by Inzamam and Dravid.

Highest innings: 110 and more:

Saeed Anwar’s 194 was a record in all ODIs for several years. The highest score in recent years is RG Sharma’s 140 in the current World Cup.

Highest Averages (Minimum 20 innings, 30.00 and above):

A number of current players such as Kohli are not here as they have not played 20 innings. Dhoni and Shoaib Malik have the highest averages among current players.

Highest Strike Rates (Minimum 500 balls faced, 80.00 and above):

Shahid Afridi and Sehwag lead as one would expect. Kohli, Dhoni  and RG Sharma have the highest strike rates among current players.

To be continued:

 

 

Review of World Cup performances up to 2015: Batting

We start our review of World Cup performances from 1975 to 2015.

First, runs scored (750 and above):

Ponting has played in most matches (46) followed by Tendulkar with 45 and M Jayawardene with 40.

Tendulkar has the most centuries (6) follwed by Ponting and Sangakkara (5).

The most scores of 50+  are by Tendulkar (21) followed by Sangakkara (12) and Ponting (11).

It can be seen that Tendulkar has a large lead with 2278 runs against the next highest (Ponting) with 1743. The highest among current players are Gayle and Guptill with 944 and 809 respectively.

Highest individual scores (130 or more):

It can be seen that Kapil’s 175* in 1983 was then the World cup record, though Viv Richards overtook it with 181 in 1987. That was also the first ODI century for India.

The two highest scores above are by Guptill and Gayle, who will be here in 2019. Other high scores by current players are by Warner and Amla.

Footnote: Matches had 60-over innings from 1975 to 1983, before the 50-over innings became standard.

Highest batting averages (Minimum 20 innings, 30.00 and above):

The best career figures here are by de Villiers, closely followed by Clarke and Viv Richards. The best averages by current players are by Gayle and Ross Taylor. Others such as Virat Kohli have not played 20 innings yet.

But some of the less experienced players can be found here:

Best batting strike rates (Minimum 500 balls faced, 80.00):

Here Mc Cullum leads despite a relatively low average. He is followed by de Villiers and Kapil.

It is also interesting to see that A Symonds averaged over 100 in World Cup matches though he did not bat enough to reach the cutoff of 20 innings.

Amla (!), Dhoni and Gayle have the highest strike rates among current players.

Next we will look at bowling performances.

Aus v Ind ODIs (March 2019) review-2

Hope that you have read Part 1.

First, a summary of all ODIs between the teams:

Australia has a healthy overall lead of 77-49, though they are just ahead 29-27 for matches in India.

Coming to individual performances:

Batting

Most runs (750 and above):

The first two names would be easily guessed, while RG Sharma, Kohli and Dhoni follow. Other current players include Finch and Dhawan.

The most centuries are by Tendulkar (9), Kohli (8) and RG Sharma (7).

The most 50+ scores are by Tendulkar (24),Ponting (15) and RG Sharma (14).

Highest innings scores (115 and above):

The highest in this series was 143 by Dhawan followed by 123 by Kohli. RG Sharma made 133 earlier this year.

Highest batting average (Min 20 innings, all instances):

RG Sharma continues to head the table by a large margin. Kohli and Dhoni are the next among current players. Other current players are Finch, Dhawan, Maxwell with Jadeja bringing up the rear.

Highest strike rate (Minimum 500 balls faced, 75.00 and above):

Maxwell now moves into the top spot. Dhawan, SPD Smith, Warner and Kohli are next among current players.

Now for Bowling:

Most wickets (20 and above):

Most bowlers in this series are less experienced. Only Jadeja and B Kumar can be seen here.

The most 5wis are 4 by B Lee. No one else has more than 1.

The most 4+Wis are 4 by B Lee and 3 by Agarkar and Johnson.

Best innings bowling (including all 5wi):

The first two on the table are by relatively lesser-known players. Only PJ Cummins appears here from the current series and YS Chahal from the earlier series this year.

Best bowling average (Minimum 1000 balls, all instances):

Only Jadeja appears from the current series, and he has the worst average.

B Lee has the best average as well as strike rate, while Kapil has the best economy rate.

Now for Fielding:

Most dismissals (Minimum 10):

Gilchrist heads this table with Dhoni at some distance behind. Kohli and Maxwell are next among current players.

The most stumpings are by Dhoni (18), the most catches by a keeper are by Gilchrist (73) and most by a non-keeper are by Tendulkar (31) followed by Kohli (22).

Most dismissals in innings (4 and above):

Note Clarke’s 4 catches in an innings.

New keeper AT Carey has the only instance from current players .

Highest dismissal rate (Minimum 20 innings, 0.400):

Gilchrist and Dhoni head this table again. The best by a non-keeper is that of GJ Maxwell.

Kohli, Finch and Dhawan also appear here.

All-round performances:

Overall (see criteria in table):

Oddly enough, the first three here are not considered to be regular all-rounders.

All-round match performances (Minimum 40 runs and 4 wickets):

Tendulkar’s performance is the best here. That came in the inaugural ICC Knock-out competition which is now known as the Champions Trophy.

 

 

 

Review of Australia-India Tests-1

At the end of the 2018-19 series, 98 Tests had been played between them.

India had won 28, Australia 42, 1 was tied and 27 drawn.

In India, India had won 21, Australia 13, 1 was tied and 15 drawn.

In Australia, India had won 7, Australia 29 and 12 drawn.

India won a Test series in Australia for the first time. They had won several series in India starting from 1979-80.

Going on to individual performances:

Batting:

Most runs (750 and above):

Current players include Pujara, Kohli and Vijay,

Tendulkar has the most centuries (11) and fifty-pluses (27). Next come Ponting and Gavaskar with 8, and Ponting with 20.

Highest scores (175 and above):

This was a rather low-scoring series as only Pujara appears here.

Note Ponting’s 242 which is the highest score in a losing Test side, and Laxman’s 281 which was then an record for India.

Highest batting averages (Minimum 20 innings and 35.00)

Smith has by far the highest average. Other current players include Pujara, Kohli, Vijay, Rahane and Warner.

Highest batting strike rates (Minimum 1000 balls faced and 45.00):

Note that balls faced were not always recorded prior to 2000.

But it is not surprising that Gilchrist and Sehwag are at the top. Even Pujara just makes the cut.

To be continued.

A closer look at centuries in second innings of Tests

Note: All data correct as of April 15, 2018. The Test involving the ICC XI in 2005 is excluded.

We first look at the best averages in second innings:

Bradman is still at the top, with Kohli his nearest rival. SPD Smith, KS Williamson and JE Root are also among the current players who have done best in the second innings.

And those who scored the most centuries in the second innings (9 and above):

Tendulkar leads with 18, followed by Dravid and M Jayawardene (15 each) and the other long-haul men Kallis and Ponting with 14 each.

Now let see who disliked the second innings. These players made the most centuries without ever making one in the second innings:

G Gambhir, KJ Hughes and SP Fleming all scored a total of 9 centuries without any in the second innings.

Next is F du Plessis with 8. He may add to this.

Conversely, there are those who love batting in the second innings. Apart from Tendulkar and his companions at the top of the table, there are those who scored all their centuries in the second innings:

MJ Horne (NZ) and RT Simpson(Eng) scored all their 4 centuries in the second innings.

BA Edgar (NZ), Qasim Umar (Pak) and RG Sharma (Ind) similarly scored all their 3 centuries in the second innings.

Honourable mention to NCL O’Neill who scored 5 of his 6 centuries in the second innings.

To be continued with the third and fourth innings.

Test captaincy and non-captaincy records

It is easy enough to get the full figures of Test captains from Statsguru:

Those who captained for 35 or more Tests:

And it is easy enough to find those who were non-captains in the most Tests:

Those who played 100 or more Tests as non-captains:

While Tendulkar, Kallis and Chanderpaul did captain their team in some Tests, there are others (starting with Warne) who never captained at all. We now take a closer look at this category:

Those who played 80 or more Tests without ever captaining their teams:

SK Warne leads here with 144, with JM Anderson and VVS Laxman as runners-up. The highest for other Test teams are:

Sri Lanka-132 (M Muralitharan)

South Africa-101 (M Ntini)

West Indies-98 (CEL Ambrose)

New Zealand-86 (Sir RJ Hadlee)

Pakistan-76 (Mudassar Nazar)

Zimbabwe-67 (GW Flower)

Bangladesh-40 (Javed Omar)

In a few cases (e.g. Warne) they led their country in a few ODIs. Sometimes even that consolation was not there.

At the other end of the spectrum, there are a small number who captained their team in all their Tests. There are various reasons for this-mainly because only amateurs were considered suitable to lead England until Hutton in the 1950s. In the West Indies, the captaincy was restricted to those of European ancestry for the first few decades.

In some cases (notably SA) most players were inexperienced in the early years and there was a rapid turnover of players as well as captains. And there were strange cases like the Maharajdhirajkumar of Vizianagram which Indian cricket fans would know about.

So here is the full list of 24 players who captained their side in all their Tests:

The leader here is the long-forgotten South African Percy Sherwell of the early 20th century:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/47186.html

Interestingly, he was a wicket keeper-one of the few who played more than a handful of Tests as captain until Dhoni came along.

The only  instance of “pure captains” in recent years was LK Germon of NZ in the mid-90s. He was also a wicket keeper. http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/37101.html

We also see James Lillywhite jnr of England who captained his side in the first 2 Tests ever played and never played another, CA Smith who played one Test but carved out a career in Hollywood and N Betancourt who seems to be here because at that time (in the West Indies) the captain had to be from the territory where the Test was played.

Tail piece: LK Germon does possess an odd record-he has scored the most runs on debut without scoring a fifty:

 

 

 

 

 

Review of India-Sri Lanka ODI series-Dec 2017

India won the series 2-1, thus ensuring that Sri Lanka had never won a bilateral ODI series in India. They had however beaten India twice on the way to their World Cup victory in 1996.

This summarizes all ODIs between these teams:

India enjoys a healthy 90-56 overall lead and a 36-12 lead for ODIs in India. It even leads 28-27 for ODIs in Sri Lanka.

We now look at individual performances:

Batting:

Most runs (750 runs and above):

Dhoni and Kohli have the most runs among current players. The most centuries are 8 by Tendulkar and Kohli and 7 by Jayasuriya. The most 50+ scores are 25 by Tendulkar and 24 by Sangakkara.

Highest innings (125 and above):

The only score from this series is Rohit Sharma’s 208*-but that is still not a record as he had scored 264 against the same team in 2014.

Highest batting averages (Minimum 20 innings, 35.00 and above):

Dhoni and Kohli have the highest averages among current players, followed by Mathews.

Highest batting strike rates (Minimum 500 balls faced, 75.00 and above):

Dhawan and Rohit Sharma have the best strike rates among current players, though Sehwag has a somewhat higher figure.

Now for bowling:

Most wickets (25 and above):

NLTC Perera has the most wickets by a current player, followed by  Mathews. Ashwin did not play in the last two series against SL, and Malinga also missed this series. RR Singh is the only one to take two five-fors, and BAW Medis the only one to take 4 four-fors.

Best innings bowling (including all cases of 6wi and above):

No instance from the current series.

Best bowling averages (minimum 1000 balls bowled, 30.00 and below):

Agarkar and Mendis have the best averages. Kapil and Harbhajan have the best economy rates, while Agarkar and I. Sharma have the best strike rates.

Now for fielding:

Most dismissals (20 and above):

Dhoni heads the list, while M Jayawardene has the most catches by a non-keeper. Note the dual roles of Sangakkara and Dravid.

Most dismissals in an innings (4 and above):

Dhoni heads this list as well. Kaif has the most catches by a non-keeper. This was a World Cup record from 2003, until two others equaled it in 2015.

Highest dismissal rate (Minimum 20 innings, 0.450 and above):

Dhoni is the table topper once more, while Kohli has the highest rate by a non-keeper.

All-round performances:

Overall (see criteria in table):

Mathews scores the highest here, followed by IK Pathan at some distance. Others such as Kapil and Vaas did not play enough in this series.

Match performance (Minimum 40 runs and 4 wickets):

Ganguly’s performance is clearly the best.