Statistics are misleading, don’t tell the full story
OTHERS SCORED MORE RUNS AND HAD BETTER AVERAGES BUT RICHARDS SPREAD FEAR AMONG BOWLERS
That stats don’t tell the full story was evident at Centurion. The scorebook duly recorded Virat’s 153 but the significance of the hundred was not captured. Also, stats are silent about the quality of Rohit Sharma’s runs.
Seen in context, Virat’s innings was probably better than his previous 20 Test hundreds. India were one down, horribly singed by pace and Newlands was a test Virat would personally want to erase from memory. Yet, he offered no excuses about the wicket or umpiring — only a determined statement about ‘rectifying mistakes’ and batsmen stepping up to ‘show intent’.
He did all this with a spectacular innings of class and character. Virat was defiant, disciplined and dominant while scoring what Dravid calls ‘tough runs’.
Others scratched around, Virat bossed the game to control the pitch and the situation. The distance between him and others is reflected by a stat: In four completed innings this series, nobody from the Indian top-5 reached 50.Virat made 150.
If simple stats don’t do justice to Virat they excessively flatter Rohit Sharma. In the shorter format, Rohit is the badshah who scores big daddy double hundreds. Against Sri Lanka, his ‘current form’ secured him a middle-order slot. Rohit’s performances are staggering yet questions remain: Is he as good as his numbers suggest?
While fans obsess with stats, players use a different yardstick for judging each other.
Batsmen are rated on the ability to subdue bowlers, conquer conditions and influence the outcome of matches. Measured this way, Viv Richards is the undisputed king over the last 50 years. Since TV brought cricket into our homes, nobody matches Richards’ authority.
Others scored more runs and had better averages but Richards spread fear among bowlers. Against him, they were more concerned about escaping punishment than getting him out. Richards had utter disrespect for bowlers and did not believe in treating the ball on its merit.
Like Richards, bowlers dreaded Sehwag, another champion who invented a special technical grammar. Sehwag started as a one-day player but became a Test opener where he broke every convention. With a fearless intent, he put bat to ball. Result: 23 Test hundreds, two triple centuries.
Tiger Pataudi used to ask two questions when discussing a batting performance: Who was bowling, what was the wicket like? As someone who believed stats are misleading, Tiger would have agreed Virat’s 153 is a career-defining innings from a class player.