Infographic: Analysing the stats of great Indian batsmen from various angles

Given below is an infographic which analyses the performances of six of the greatest Indian players to have ever played the game of cricket using different parameters: Sunil Gavaskar, Gundappa Viswanath, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag and VVS Laxman. You can find the inferences from the analysis beneath the infographic.

Inferences:

1. Comparing the innings wise Test stats:

• Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Virender Sehwag all average above 55. Sehwag’s is especially creditable as most pitches have help for bowlers in the first session, and opening is a tough job.
• Sunil Gavaskar, Dravid and Sehwag all average above 60 in second innings, with Sehwag averaging around 65.
• VVS Laxman has the highest third innings batting average at 55, which confirms his reputation as someone who scored when the team needed him most.
• The fourth innings is usually when the pitch is at its worst: Gavaskar is a clear standout, averaging above 55, while Tendulkar and Sehwag slip below 37.

2. Indian batsmen against top cricketing nations:

• The most prolific batsman against Australia has been Tendulkar, who averages around 55 against them.
• If we look at performances against England, we see Dravid as the clear standout. He averages 60+ against the English bowlers.
• Sunil Gavaskar holds the highest average against the West Indies, averaging above 65.
• The biggest surprise the chart shows is that Sehwag leads the career batting averages against three of the top six Test nations in South Africa, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
• When people talk about the greatest Indian Test batsmen, the names of Gavaskar, Tendulkar and Dravid come to the forefront. However, the data here shows Sehwag deserves to be in that conversation.

3. Conversion of 100s into big scores:

• The conversion of a century into 150 plus scores is quite good for Tendulkar, who converts 19 of his 51 centuries which translates to roughly 38%.
• The corresponding figure is the highest for Sehwag who has converted 14 of his 23 100s into 150 plus scores, which translates into 60%.
• With six 200s, three 250+ scores and two 300 plus scores, Sehwag is a clear winner when it comes to making them big.
• Gavaskar and Dravid also chipped in with many big scores, while VVS Laxman, coming in to bat at no.6, suffered here, as he lacked support from the other end.