Top 5 Indian batsmen with highest averages in overseas conditions

India stepped into the league of top-flight cricket when it made its Test debut way back in 1932. India thereby became the sixth nation to be awarded the Test nation status. Over the years, India has gone on to produce some of the greatest batsmen to grace the sport. Indian cricket was blessed to have batsmen who left a mark with their elegant stroke play and wristy shot making.

In the 50s and 60s, Vijay Hazare, Vijay Manjrekar and Polly Umrigar ranked among the best with the willow. In the 70s and 80s, ‘Little Master’ Sunil Gavaskar was considered the most technically correct opener of his era. The likes of Gundappa Vishwanath and Mohinder Amarnath were rated quite high among batsmen of their generation.

The mid-80s saw the rise of Dilip Vengsarkar and Mohammad Azharuddin as quality players. While ‘Master Blaster’ Sachin Tendulkar became the lynchpin of Indian batting for over two decades, Rahul Dravid was aptly tagged as India’s 'Mr. Dependable' in overseas conditions. The swashbuckling opener Virender Sehwag could plunder the best of attacks and VVS Laxman with his wristy strokeplay was a treat to watch.

In the last five years, Virat Kohli has cemented his spot among the best batsmen in the game while Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane and Shikhar Dhawan form part of a formidable batting lineup.

For long, most Indians have been considered prolific run scorers on their batting friendly tracks back home and only a select few have been able to showcase their pedigree in hostile bowling friendly conditions abroad.

Most Indians average over 45 on docile batting friendly Indian wickets but their average drastically dips when they tour abroad. However, there are a select few Indian batsmen who were equally comfortably at negotiating the hostile spells in Australia, South Africa and England and went to play some match-winning innings for team India.

Let us have a look at the batsmen who have been the most consistent run scorers for India in overseas conditions.

For my selection, I have taken only those batsmen who played at least 40 Tests and scored over 2000 Test runs. I have taken batting average and ability to score tons in overseas conditions as the main criteria for ranking my top 5 batsmen.

Notable Mentions

Indian Batsmen Overseas Test Records (2000 Plus Runs)

VVS Laxman

Matches 77 Runs 5014 Avg 42.49 100s 9 50s 32

Sourav Ganguly

Matches 63 Runs 4032 Avg 41.56 100s 8 50s 22

Mohammad Azharuddin

Matches 53 Runs 2803 Avg 36.40 100s 9 50s 10

GR Viswanath

Matches 43 Runs 2578 Avg 36.30 100s 4 50s 20

5. Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli’s humongous appetite for scoring runs is no hidden secret. Kohli has become India’s run-scoring machine in red ball cricket. He has a well sorted out technique and a wide array of shots in his armoury to torment any bowling attack. What sets Kohli apart from the rest of his colleagues is his brilliant 50 to 100 conversion rate. Once he gets into his zone, he makes it count with some stellar tons for his country.

It is notable that Kohli had a horrid Test series against England in 2014 but he came back strongly to score four spectacular tons against the Australians. Since taking over as the Indian Test captain, he has added an extra bit of responsibility on his shoulders and has certainly established himself as India’s frontline batsman in overseas conditions.

Kohli’s mental fortitude and never say die attitude helps him cope up with failures and came back strongly.

Virat Kohli OverseasTest Record

Matches 37 Runs 3073 Avg 48.01 100s 13 50s 8

4. Mohinder Amarnath

Mohinder Amarnath

Mohinder Amarnath is considered as one of the finest players of fast bowling in Indian cricket history. While most top Indian batsmen had a chink in their batting arsenal playing quality seam bowling, Amarnath could flay speed merchants with utter disdain. Blessed with a good hand-eye coordination, Amarnath relished the challenge of batting on hostile wickets abroad.

A great exponent of the pull and hook shot, 'Jimmy' was in a class of his own. In the 70s and 80s, his free-flowing batting drew many admirers all over the world. Amarnath had some great tours to Australia, Pakistan and West Indies where he scored a plethora of tons.

Mohinder Amarnath Overseas Test Record

Matches 37 Runs 3008 Avg 51.86 100s 9 50s 17

3. Sunil Gavaskar

Sunil Gavaskar

Sunil Gavaskar is hailed as arguably the most technically sound opening batsman in Test cricket of all times. Gavaskar rightfully labelled as the 'Little Master' was short in stature but stood tall among all his contemporaries as a great player of fast bowling.

Blessed with a rock solid defence and flawless technique, Gavaskar could grind the best of fast bowlers with relative ease. Gavaskar was perhaps one of the select few batsmen who could wear down the might of the fearsome Windies bowlers at the peaks of their prowess.

All through the late 70s and 80s, 'Sunny' became India's batting mainstay standing like an unshakable pillar. Gavaskar’s run-scoring exploits against the mighty Windies pace battery are well known and serve as an inspiration for other greats to emulate and imbibe in their careers.

Sunil Gavaskar Overseas Test Record

Matches 60 Runs 5055 Avg 52.11 100s 18 50s 22

2. Rahul Dravid

Rahul Dravid

Rahul Dravid with his sound technique, solid defence and calm temperament was rightly labelled as India’s batting 'Wall', especially in seam-friendly bowling tracks abroad. Consistency at run scoring was Dravid’s forte and he played the sheet anchor’s role to perfection for almost a decade and a half.

Dravid always looked in full command while taking on quality seam bowling and established himself as a workhorse for India in hostile conditions abroad. Besides tons of patience to occupy the crease for long stretches, Dravid had a lethal square cut and well-controlled pull shot as his major attacking shots.

Right from making a stellar Test debut at Lord’s with a graceful 96 to topping India’s batting efforts against England in 2002, Dravid did enough to cement his legacy as India’s finest batsman in overseas conditions. While many other belligerent stroke makers of his era can boast of winning matches, Dravid’s resilience to bail India out of trouble made him a true saviour more often than not.

Rahul Dravid Overseas Test Record

Matches 93 Runs 7667 Avg 53.61 100s 21 50s 36

1. Sachin Tendulkar

Sachin Tendulkar

Sachin Tendulkar hailed as arguably the best Test batsman in the modern era had the ability to score runs against quality bowling attacks in testing conditions. At a time when Indians defended cautiously to safe Test matches, Sachin took on the best bowlers of his generation and threw them off guard. The batting maestro played some match-winning knocks for India in a career spanning over two decades.

Sachin could pick up the length of the bowlers early and tonk them to different corners of the park. A still head, perfect balance and sublime timing were the hallmarks of his near to perfect batting. In a career spanning over two decades, Sachin along with Rahul Dravid became the backbone of the Indian middle order. Though Sachin favoured playing the Australians, he played some monumental innings against the South Africans, the English and New Zealanders.

Be it a 114 on a bouncy Perth strip against a fearsome Australian pace attack or 169 against Donald-Pollock attack in Cape Town, the 'Master Blaster' etched his name in the history as a class act with the willow.

With over 8500 runs at an average of over 50 is testimony to his run-scoring ability in overseas conditions.

Sachin Tendulkar Overseas Test Record

Matches 106 Runs 8705 Avg 54.74 100s 29 50s 36