Are India the best ODI team currently?

India celebrate winning the trophy, after beating Sri Lanka during the 2011 ICC World Cup Final between India and Sri Lanka at the Wankhede Stadium on April 2, 2011 in Mumbai, India. (Photo by Matthew Lewis/Getty Images)

India are the current world champions in ODIs and also the holders of the Champions Trophy. So most people would say that they are indisputably the best team in ODIs.

But sometimes certain teams do well just in the big events, and do not necessarily exert their superiority over an extended period of time. For example, South Africa were the most dominant side in the world in ODIs between the 1996 and the 1999 World Cups, but didn’t manage to win the big prize. Sometimes a team can be infallible over a period of time and have fate conspire against them, or be a victim of bad luck at a crucial stage during a major event.

Let us analyse the performance of the top 8 Test playing nations in ODIs from after the 2007 World Cup till present, and see if India really deserve the mantle of the world’s top nation.

After India’s poor performance in the 2007 World Cup, their detractors had a field day and the cynics started sharpening their knives and painted a picture of doom and gloom. The straw that broke the camel’s back was the loss to minnows Bangladesh, and even the incurable optimist and the most die-hard of fans started having doubts.

Source: Statsguru on ESPNCricinfo

The table contains details of matches from 01 May 2007 till 26 Jul 2013.

The above table shows the statistics of the top 8 nations in ODIs from 01 May 2007 till 26 Jul 13. Apart from the usual parameters like matches played, matches won and lost and percentage of matches won overall, it also shows the percentage of matches won at home, away and neutral venues.

Sometimes, just looking at the number of matches won can be misleading, as teams playing more matches will most probably win more matches than other teams. That is where the percentage of matches won gives a more accurate picture. Moreover, the true test of the mettle and calibre of a team depends on how consistently it wins away from home and in neutral venues, as most teams tend to do well at home.

After Australia’s dominance from the late 90s till about 2008, no one team has been head and shoulders over the rest of the pack. This is good for cricket in general, rather than the hegemony of a particular team. Let us gradually examine the performance of India’s rivals since.

New Zealand and West Indies are among the weakest teams in the top 8. They are the only 2 who have won less than 50 % of their matches. New Zealand’s lone victory at a major event in ODIs was in the Champions trophy, and even though they regularly make the semi-finals of World Cups, they, along with the West Indies, don’t win even 50% of their matches, even at home. The West Indies have the lowest winning percentage away from home (27%), and also the lowest overall winning percentage (35.3%).

Sri Lanka and England win exactly 50% of their matches. As far as England go, even though they have steadily improved as an ODI team over the years, the fact remains that they are the only nation among the top 8 who have not won a major 50 over tournament. Sri Lanka always makes the semis and even the finals, but always stumble at the final hurdle.

Pakistan have a fairly decent record, especially when you take into account the fact that they haven’t had teams touring them since 2009, and thereby lose out on valuable home advantage. For the purposes of this article, the matches in which they are officially the host team, but which are hosted at neutral venues, are considered as home matches. They have the highest percentage of matches won at home, but are still behind the top 3 teams in percentage of overall wins (India, South Africa and Australia).

Australia is a team which is supposedly in terminal decline, but that is more in Tests rather than in ODIs. Their percentage of overall victories is marginally lesser than India by a decimal point, and they are the 2^nd best after England in terms of wins at neutral venues (66.7%). Moreover, they have such a strong cricketing culture that you count them out at your peril.

South Africa make a strong case for being considered the most consistent team over the last 6 years, as they have the highest winning percentage (63%), and they are also the only team to win more than 60% of their matches at home, neutral and away venues.

This feat has been beyond even India and Australia. But they have a winning percentage of just 2 more than India, and you have to take into account their propensity to choke at big events, as their performance at the 2011 World Cup and the recently concluded Champions Trophy indicates.

So even though India are the 2^nd best in terms of winning percentage, the fact that they raise their game on the big occasions and hold the major trophies in this format leads me to the conclusion that they deserve to be called the best team, because of their overall performance in the last 6 years. This conclusion is based on statistical analysis and made with the head and not with the heart.