Young guns square off as old guard steps back

An analysis of recent batting performances reveals it’s the youngsters who will lead the charge

Pakistani players, pleased by Rahul Dravid’s exclusion, believe their job has been made easier. But going by recent performances against the Australians and the English, another Karnataka player, Robin Uthappa, looks most likely to spoil the Pakistani party.

Uthappa has the best strike-rate amongst the Indian batsmen, and is scoring plenty of runs too —  he is second only to Sachin Tendulkar in batting averages. The Pakistan team will be rallying behind their captain Shoaib Malik, who has combined the second-highest average of 43 runs per match in the last two series against South Africa and Sri Lanka with the second-highest strike-rate of 91.87. Their vice-captain, Younis Khan, too, seems in great touch averaging 38.8 runs at a strike-rate of 86.6. Shahid Afridi manages to score only around 28 runs per match, but with a strike-rate of 117.86, he can provide the burst at a crucial stage to win the match for Pakistan, and coach Geoff Lawson has already said he will play down the order.

India’s counter to that would be captain wonder MS Dhoni, who has been averaging 29 runs at a strike-rate of 83.15. The top scorers on both sides —  Sachin Tendulkar and Mohammed Yousuf —  are scoring runs at a relatively slow rate. Tendulkar’s average strike rate has been 68.65 (less than 4.5 runs an over) while Yousuf’s strike rate is an abysmal 63.34 (less than 4 runs an over). The two experienced batsmen have chosen to be sheet-anchors rather than strikers when it comes to setting up or chasing huge totals.

The two weakest links in the Indian camp have been Dravid and Ganguly. The latter’s fairytale comeback is marred by a poor strike-rate. Though Ganguly’s average has been acceptable, a strike-rate of 56.11 (just over 3 runs an over) puts added pressure on the middle-order. Ganguly needs to up the ante, if India has to put up 300 plus scores (that is, a run rate of over six an over).