I started seriously following cricket from 1989 when Sachin Tendulkar made his debut against Pakistan. My biggest complaints in those days were that there was no cricket on TV during my summer vacations. India’s international season would normally start in October and end in April. Complete reliance on National TV for viewership meant that almost no access to cricket played abroad especially if it didn’t involve India. Slowly Sri Lanka started featuring more and more in India’s cricket calendar which meant the season to be starting from July even if India was not playing in England. The extension in the season has now taken such a shape that it’s virtually no end or starting point to it. More TV coverage with multiple channels specially dedicated to cricket has given a great source to BCCI’s revenues. With IPL window coming in during the months of April-June, one would have expected some respite for players in good part of June and a bit in July. But we are playing in Bangladesh in a tri-nation series. Asia cup will follow and the season will continue for a really stretched period. With more and more matches, expect shortening and volatility in various careers in future.

A cricketer’s records anyhow take various turns through its entire life span owing to his form, inclusion in the side, injuries or some other factors. Here is an analysis of India’s main batsmen in test and ODIs during the starting phase and last leg.

Tests – 5 years from debut

Tendulkar was the only one in the lot who started his career when there were not many complaints regarding the excess cricket played, in fact some were complaining about the quantity of cricket played by India was not enough. TWI has yet not come into the scene to challenge Door Darshan who thought broadcasting cricket as his birthright. Even though he was a regular in the side right from his first match, he still managed to play almost as many tests in first 5 years as MS Dhoni has played in 3 years. Dravid and Ganguly debuted in an era when cable TV had made good inroads in Indian rooms, we did not rely on DD to see cricket matches and amount of cricket played per year was increasing. In fact the average of 8.6 tests per year was almost ideal for international cricket. In the same period, VVS Laxman was still trying to establish himself in the Indian side and it was not until 2001 when his career took a real boost.   

The torch bearers of Indian batting after the Fab-4 show some interesting results. Sehwag has always been a threat in test cricket and may be we can rely on him in future. But the real problem lies with Yuvraj singh who for long has been talked about as the backbone on Indian middle order waiting in the bench. In the period 2003-2008 when Ganguly’s career was facing lot of turbulence and Tendulkar was out of the side for a considerable period of times on numerous occasions, he could only manage an average of 32.81 in 23 matches. Out of this, only one series – the recent Australian test series could be counted as real challenging one or may be India’s Pakistan tour in 2006. As things stand, he doesn’t look like replacing anyone in current middle order which looks decent enough to play two more years of test cricket. By the time these 4 start vacating the seat, Yuvraj would be nearing 30 and we all know how the rate at which the question of retirement are thrown at a player after that unless he is in sublime form. As far as MS Dhoni is concerned, he has done okay with an average of 33.76 for a wicketkeeper but Indian would expect much more from him, especially the way he has been performing in the shorter versions of the game and visualized as future captain.

Tests – Last 5 Years

Rahul Dravid has been India’s top batsman in terms of average and ability to hold his place in the side on performance plus fitness basis. Sachin Tendulkar’s average as well as number of tests played has dipped due to various injuries he has had in this period. Commendable performance has been given by Ganguly with an average of 46.41 when we consider that the first half of this period was terrible for his form and he did loose his place for some time. Same could be said for Virender Sehwag who was under strict scanner during the last part of this period. Ironically Sehwag lost his form in ODIs but was dropped from tests first. Laxman probably had his best period in 2001-2004 although his position at number 6 does not help much in terms of his average.

But the key figure here, average numbers of tests played by regular players are between 10 to 11 which is almost perfect in international cricket.

ODIs – 5 years from Debut  

Alarming figures are reflected by the table above. Have a look at the number of ODIs played by Tendulkar in his first 5 years and MS Dhoni in his first 4 years. This is where international cricket, especially for India has changed drastically. The trend picked up in the second half of 90s when TV viewership started gaining significant importance in monetary terms. Ganguly played over 1.7 times ODIs in his first five years as compared to Sachin. Dhoni’s average (since he started in December 2004, his debut year is assumed to be 2005) is 4 matches more than Ganguly. Not surprisingly, these two maintained a staggering average of 45 in this format of the game. Surprisingly Sachin was slow to pick up on his average which happened once he started opening for India. After all the hype surrounding Yuvraj, his record didn’t speak much about his talent.

ODIs – Last 5 Years  

While average number of matches played have dropped for everyone in last 5 years, it could mainly be attributed to players been dropped on the basis of form or injury. Number of matches played has been on the higher side as reflected by Dhoni’s matches as he has been one of the most consistent ODI players for India in this period. Sachin maintained his average of 44 plus which he had been doing for last 10 years or so, Dravid improved significantly to 40 plus. For good part of this period he was one of the most reliable finishers for India. Ganguly has been in prolific ever since he has made his comeback yet an average of 34.73 speaks of his lean patch before being dropped. Yuvraj Singh, India’s ODI expert, did improve his average but for a batsman, who is trying to get into the test side through his ODI performances, average of 38.6 would count as just OKAY. Although Sehwag has done well in tests in last 5 years, his ODI record has just gone bad to worse. In last two years, he averages below 25.

Problem has been in bowling department more than batting with none of the fast bowler lasting for a couple of seasons. India’s best pacer Zaheer Khan could manage just 29 tests and 74 ODIs in last 5 years after being dropped or rested. But India has been lucky that for consistently getting “not so bad” replacements in form of Pathans, Sharmas and RPs.

Lets see how new season changes the abovementioned tables.

- Vibhash