One doesn’t need statistics to prove the fact that India have relied on their batsmen in One-Day Internationals (ODIs). In its 43-year history in the format, Indian team are the top run scoring team just above Australia.
But, how much of the burden of these runs has rested on a few shoulders? Let us have a look at how the Indian batsmen have fared without the services of their top five run-scorers in ODIs — Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Mohammad Azharuddin and Yuvraj Singh.
Since Australia, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and West Indies have the highest run aggregates in ODIs, let us compare these figures with the ones of the other four teams and assess the contribution of the players apart from their respective top five run getters.
Here is the list of the highest run-getters for the following teams:
Australia – Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist, Mark Waugh, Michael Clarke and Steve Waugh
Pakistan – Inzamam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Yousuf, Saeed Anwar, Shahid Afridi and Javed Miandad
Sri Lanka – Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Aravinda De Silva and Marvan Atapattu
West Indies – Brian Lara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Chris Gayle, Desmond Haynes and Viv Richards
Comparision between the top 5 runs-scorer teams in ODI cricket:
Team |
Total Runs |
Runs scored by Top-5 |
Runs per over |
Average runs per every wicket |
India |
1,85,546 |
58,030 |
4.95 |
32.44 |
Australia |
1,84,172 |
46,936 |
4.90 |
33.88 |
Pakistan |
1,74,482 |
45,042 |
4.74 |
30.05 |
Sri Lanka |
1,49,373 |
54,586 |
4.81 |
29.44 |
West Indies |
1,46,949 |
43,183 |
4.69 |
30.21 |
The above table clearly indicates how much India has relied on the services of a few, unlike the other top teams. Only Sri Lanka have been more reliant on a group of individuals than India.
Here is an analysis of the performance of the batsmen of the top five teams in overseas conditions:
Team |
Total Runs |
Runs per over |
Average runs per every wicket |
Pakistan |
1,36,069 |
4.65 |
28.79 |
India |
1,17,017 |
4.79 |
30.38 |
Sri Lanka |
1,07,277 |
4.78 |
28.39 |
West Indies |
1,00,586 |
4.60 |
29.34 |
Australia |
98,522 |
5.05 |
35.77 |
Here is an analysis of the performance of the batsmen of the top five teams in home conditions:
Team |
Total Runs |
Runs per over |
Average runs per every wicket |
Australia |
85,650 |
4.75 |
32.44 |
India |
68,529 |
5.27 |
33.88 |
53,787 |
4.79 |
30.05 |
|
51,857 |
4.86 |
29.44 |
|
49,017 |
5.14 |
30.21 |
Apart from India’s top five ODI run-scorers, MS Dhoni, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Ajay Jadeja are the other Indian batsmen to score more than 5,000 runs in ODIs. Thus, if those figures are added, there isn’t much to speak about the rest.
So how strong is the Indian batting, if their contribution has been kept aside?