Steyn, Anderson and Harbhajan versus the batsmen

This is the article, the first of a series, using ball-by-ball data, which the readers have repeatedly asked for during the past three years. I wish I could have done it in the previous avatar of my blog, where there would have been 500 comments and wonderful exchanges between readers. Now, I expect 35 comments, although, I presume many read the articles but do not comment because of the hassle associated with that process. Anyhow, nothing can be done about that.

A word of sincere thanks to ESPNcricinfo for the wonderful and sustained effort in doing the ball-by-ball commentary over the past 12 years. They have set a standard of excellence unreached in the past and possibly never in the future. All of us, the cricket lovers, owe them a lot. And all these, without paying a single paisa/penny/cent. May their tribe flourish!

The major credit for getting this analysis work completed should vest with Milind Pandit. I do not want to emphasise the technical aspects. My extensive "C" knowledge lets me mine the data extensively, make the numbers dance and create analysis of different types across and in depth. But I lack the required knowledge for extracting extensive data from the web. Milind is a master in this area. He extracted the ball-by-ball commentary, parsed the same, validated and cleared errors and sent me a 50MB file. A single sentence, but about six weeks of intense effort. I, then, incorporated that huge data segment into my database in my own format and this is the first of, hopefully, many articles to come, based on the huge and exhaustive data base.

I wanted this article to be a co-authored one, with Milind, but the reluctant contributor that he is, he declined. But I will say that this entire analysis would have been still-born but for Milind. May his tribe flourish too! This analysis is named AMB3.

We have complete ball-by-ball data for Tests 1546 to 2089, barring 1553. This fact has to be kept in mind when viewing all AMB3 analyses. We do not have complete data for many modern greats. But we will make by with what we have. After all, there is no need to be rigid in this regard. Whatever insights we draw are like gold dust.

I am going to do the following types of analyses over the next three to four months. Readers can contribute their bit in suggesting whether anything else can be done.

1. The top three modern bowlers: with over 85% of ball-by-ball data available (15 bowlers: Dale Steyn/James Anderson/Harbhajan Singh are featured).
2. The top three previous generation bowlers: with over 40% of ball-by-ball data available (12-15 bowlers: Muttiah Muralitharan/Shane Warne/Glenn McGrath will be featured).
3. The top three modern batsmen: with over 80-85% of ball-by-ball data available.
4. The top three previous generation batsmen: with over 40-45% of ball-by-ball data available.
5. Special analyses, to be decided as we go on, based on reader inputs.

The first analysis will cover the bowlers for whom over 80% of data is available and, wherever possible, over 200 Test wickets have been captured. I have selected 15 bowlers. This article features three top bowlers who are currently active. The selection of three is simple. Two bowlers select themselves. Dale Steyn and James Anderson are almost automatic selections. Only the myopic can question the inclusion of these two. The third selection is a headache. Harbhajan Singh, Graeme Swann, Steve Harmison, Mathew Hoggard, Rangana Herath and Mitchell Johnson present themselves for selection.

Johnson has as many off days as on days and his average is quite high. Herath's success is primarily in Sri Lanka: nearly 70% of his wickets have been captured there. Harmison and Hoggard have retired long back. That leaves us with Swann and Harbhajan. Swann is the traditional offspinner, probably the best after Erapalli Prasanna. He has succeeded all over the world, taken more wickets outside England. However Harbhajan, for whom we have just over 90% of data available, has captured 413 wickets overall and 360 wickets during the covered period. So he gets the nod. That leaves us with Steyn, Anderson and Harbhajan as the featured bowlers. Please note that the complete data for all 15 bowlers is available for downloading.

I am not going to spend too much time on explaining the types of analyses which are possible. It is better that we move on to the tables. Let us see the eight tables for Steyn. Even when commenting on the tables I will offer minimal comments.

D W Steyn

1. Ordered by Wickets in DW STEYN-Batsman combination

Batsman	BatAvge	Inns	Balls	Runs	Wickets	StrikeRate	AvgeVsBowler
Mohammad Hafeez	35.12	14	130	87	8	16.2	10.88
MJ Clarke	52.34	19	376	253	7	53.7	36.14
MEK Hussey	51.53	17	228	89	7	32.6	12.71
IJL Trott	50.01	11	150	65	7	21.4	9.29
V Sehwag	49.34	16	257	208	7	36.7	29.71
Harbhajan Singh	18.36	10	59	34	7	8.4	4.86
BB McCullum	35.39	15	224	129	6	37.3	21.50
Younis Khan	50.74	13	293	149	5	58.6	29.80
SM Katich	45.03	12	291	162	5	58.2	32.40
RT Ponting	51.87	14	228	144	4	57.0	36.00
Total for 10 batsmen			2236	1320	63	35.5	20.95

An innings is counted when the bowler bowls at least a single ball to the batsman. Mohammad Hafeez is the only batsman whose wicket has been captured eight times, that too very economically. Both BpW (Balls-per-Wicket: Strike Rate) and Avge figures are way below the batsman career figures. There are many batsmen at seven wickets. The most noteworthy one is Jonathan Trott, who has been dismissed by Steyn, once every 22 balls. His average against Steyn is around 20% of his career figure. Out of this lot, no one has even exceeded 60 balls per wicket. The top ten batsmen in this regard have been dismissed at a very low strike rate of 35.5. No wonder that Steyn's career strike rate is 41.1.

2. Ordered by Balls bowled in DW STEYN-Batsman combination

Batsman	BatAvge	Inns	Balls	Dot Balls	% of total	1/2/3 run balls	% of total	Boundary balls	% of total
MJ Clarke	52.34	19	376	253	67.3%	94	25.0%	30	8.0%
AJ Strauss	40.91	16	360	281	78.1%	51	14.2%	28	7.8%
AN Cook	49.18	12	329	259	78.7%	52	15.8%	19	5.8%
IR Bell	45.58	13	310	241	77.7%	49	15.8%	20	6.5%
SR Tendulkar	53.87	11	310	239	77.1%	50	16.1%	21	6.8%
Younis Khan	50.74	13	293	225	76.8%	51	17.4%	19	6.5%
SM Katich	45.03	12	291	214	73.5%	59	20.3%	19	6.5%
V Sehwag	49.34	16	257	172	66.9%	51	19.8%	34	13.2%
S Chanderpaul	51.82	9	231	182	78.8%	44	19.0%	7	3.0%
RT Ponting	51.87	14	228	166	72.8%	45	19.7%	17	7.5%

Michael Clarke has faced the maximum number of balls and has scored off a third of the balls he faced. Most of the others have been quite circumspect, including Sachin Tendulkar who has faced 310 balls.

3. Ordered by Runs scored in DW STEYN-Batsman combination

Batsman	BatAvge	Inns	Balls	Runs	Scoring Rate	Dot Balls	% of total	1/2/3 run balls	% of total	Boundary balls	% of total
MJ Clarke	52.34	19	376	253	67.3	253	67.3%	94	25.0%	30	8.0%
V Sehwag	49.34	16	257	208	80.9	172	66.9%	51	19.8%	34	13.2%
AJ Strauss	40.91	16	360	182	50.6	281	78.1%	51	14.2%	28	7.8%
SM Katich	45.03	12	291	162	55.7	214	73.5%	59	20.3%	19	6.5%
KP Pietersen	49.01	11	187	155	82.9	135	72.2%	24	12.8%	30	16.0%
Younis Khan	50.74	13	293	149	50.9	225	76.8%	51	17.4%	19	6.5%
PJ Hughes	33.00	10	220	149	67.7	154	70.0%	43	19.5%	23	10.5%
SR Tendulkar	53.87	11	310	149	48.1	239	77.1%	50	16.1%	21	6.8%
AN Cook	49.18	12	329	147	44.7	259	78.7%	52	15.8%	19	5.8%
IR Bell	45.58	13	310	144	46.5	241	77.7%	49	15.8%	20	6.5%

Clarke is on top with a good scoring rate. However look at Virender Sehwag who has an excellent 80+ scoring rate. Kevin Pietersen is still better at 83.

4. Ordered by Bowling strike rate (High) in DW STEYN-Batsman combination

Batsman	Career Balls/Inns	Inns	Balls	Wickets	Strike rate
Azhar Ali	99.6	8	228	1	228.0
PJ Hughes	60.0	10	220	1	220.0
KC Sangakkara	97.1	8	203	1	203.0
AJ Strauss	80.8	16	360	2	180.0
W Jaffer	69.7	8	161	1	161.0
PD Collingwood	79.7	5	153	0	153.0
TT Samaraweera	88.2	6	150	0	150.0
S Chanderpaul	100.5	9	231	2	115.5
AN Cook	97.1	12	329	3	109.7
SP Fleming	82.8	8	215	2	107.5
Total for 10 batsmen			2250	13	173.1

These are the batsmen who sold their wickets very dearly to Steyn. And they succeeded. For the division in this analysis 0 wkt is taken as 1. Who would have expected Azhar Ali and Phillip Hughes to top the table? Probably the most praiseworthy is Andrew Strauss who has a BpW figure of 180 over 360 balls. Paul Collingwood and Thilan Samaraweera were bloody-minded. They told Steyn, "You are the best bowler in the world. But you will not dismiss us". It took 173 balls for Steyn to get rid of each of these obdurate batsmen, nearly four times his career strike rate.

5. Ordered by Bowling Strike rate (Low - Top order batsmen) in DW STEYN-Batsman combination

Batsman	Career Balls/Inns	Inns	Balls	Wickets	Strike rate
Mohammad Ashraful	49.9	6	26	3	8.7
NJ Astle	69.2	6	33	3	11.0
N Deonarine	66.0	4	59	4	14.8
TM Dilshan	57.8	8	50	3	16.7
Mohammad Hafeez	60.3	14	130	8	16.2
AF Giles	37.9	5	53	3	17.7
GP Swann	25.4	8	78	4	19.5
IJL Trott	98.2	11	150	7	21.4
SB Styris	64.4	9	99	4	24.8
Tamim Iqbal	61.4	8	97	4	24.2
Total for 10 batsmen			775	43	18.0

Now for the low strike rates. Three wickets are necessary to be considered as minimum for this table. To get proper insights I have split this table into two. One for the proper batsmen, averages exceeding 20 and the other for late order batsmen. Mohammad Hafeez, Nathan Astle, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Trott are the leading batsmen in this table. All have lost wickets more frequent than once every 25 balls. These batsmen were dismissed at around 40% of Steyn's career strike rate.

6. Ordered by Bowling Strike rate (Low - Late order batsmen) in DW STEYN-Batsman combination

Batsman	Career Balls/Inns	Inns	Balls	Wickets	Strike rate
IE O'Brien	16.7	3	10	3	3.3
CS Martin	5.9	6	18	4	4.5
RP Singh	14.5	3	21	3	7.0
Harbhajan Singh	23.8	10	59	7	8.4
DAJ Bracewell	22.8	5	36	4	9.0
NM Lyon	22.1	5	49	3	16.3
JE Taylor	23.5	6	56	3	18.7
PM Siddle	28.3	11	95	3	31.7
Total for 10 batsmen			344	30	11.5

Are we seeing it correctly? There is a late-order batsman who is above our dear Chris Martin. Iain O'Brien faced only ten balls and was dismissed three times. Martin was dismissed four times but he faced a whopping eight balls more. Look at how competently Peter Siddle has batted.

7. Ordered by Batting Scoring rate (High) in DW STEYN-Batsman combination

Batsman	CareerScRt	Inns	Balls	Runs	Scoring Rate	Dot Balls	% of total	1/2/3 run balls	% of total	Boundary balls	% of total
CH Gayle	59.8	9	122	115	94.3	76	62.3%	31	25.4%	18	14.8%
MG Johnson	58.6	11	148	133	89.9	99	66.9%	29	19.6%	21	14.2%
KP Pietersen	62.8	11	187	155	82.9	135	72.2%	24	12.8%	30	16.0%
V Sehwag	82.2	16	257	208	80.9	172	66.9%	51	19.8%	34	13.2%
DL Vettori	58.1	10	127	94	74.0	88	69.3%	24	18.9%	15	11.8%
MJ Prior	63.0	9	135	101	74.8	89	65.9%	31	23.0%	15	11.1%
MJ Clarke	55.8	19	376	253	67.3	253	67.3%	94	25.0%	30	8.0%
PJ Hughes	53.8	10	220	149	67.7	154	70.0%	43	19.5%	23	10.5%
Mohammad Hafeez	53.6	14	130	87	66.9	97	74.6%	19	14.6%	14	10.8%
KC Sangakkara	54.0	8	203	131	64.5	150	73.9%	33	16.3%	21	10.3%
Total for 10 batsmen			1905	1426	74.9

These are the batsmen who decided that even if it was Steyn bowling, he had to go for runs. Chris Gayle, Pietersen and Sehwag are predictably the top placed batsmen, with scoring rates exceeding 80. But they have a usurper in the middle. Somehow, Mitchell Johnson has taken a liking for Steyn's bowling, scoring at 90. Look at the boundary ball percentage of Pietersen, with 16% and Gayle/Johnson, at 14%. That means Pietersen hit a boundary for each over Steyn bowled to him. Steyn's propensity to attack is shown by the very high scoring rate of these ten batsmen.

8. Ordered by Batting Scoring rate (Low) in DW STEYN-Batsman combination

Batsman	CarScrRt	Inns	Balls	Runs	Scoring Rate	Dot Balls	% of total	1/2/3 run balls	% of total	Boundary balls	% of total
D Ganga	38.9	6	106	23	21.7	91	85.8%	14	13.2%	1	0.9%
KS Williamson	40.3	8	151	37	24.5	130	86.1%	18	11.9%	3	2.0%
Misbah-ul-Haq	40.7	10	207	58	28.0	183	88.4%	16	7.7%	9	4.3%
TT Samaraweera	46.9	6	150	50	33.3	127	84.7%	18	12.0%	6	4.0%
MHW Papps	35.3	7	101	37	36.6	86	85.1%	9	8.9%	6	5.9%
S Chanderpaul	42.9	9	231	90	39.0	182	78.8%	44	19.0%	7	3.0%
MJ Guptill	43.4	10	190	73	38.4	160	84.2%	18	9.5%	12	6.3%
Junaid Siddique	41.4	7	114	45	39.5	91	79.8%	17	14.9%	6	5.3%
MEK Hussey	50.1	17	228	89	39.0	185	81.1%	33	14.5%	12	5.3%
W Jaffer	48.1	8	161	67	41.6	132	82.0%	21	13.0%	9	5.6%
Total for 10 batsmen			1639	569	34.7

These batsmen hung on for dear life. It did not matter to them that the dot-ball percentage was 85+ or that they hit a boundary every 25 balls but survival was a must. Shivnarine Chanderpaul has played maximum number of balls in this group. Michael Hussey follows closely.

J M Anderson

9. Ordered by Wickets in JM ANDERSON-Batsman combination

Batsman	BatAvge	Inns	Balls	Runs	Wickets	StrikeRate	AvgeVsBowler
SR Tendulkar	53.87	23	350	208	9	38.9	23.11
JH Kallis	56.10	22	419	177	7	59.9	25.29
KC Sangakkara	56.99	10	241	147	6	40.2	24.50
MJ Clarke	52.34	19	255	153	6	42.5	25.50
GC Smith	48.63	27	701	411	6	116.8	68.50
MV Boucher	30.30	21	273	161	6	45.5	26.83
R Dravid	52.31	18	432	197	5	86.4	39.40
V Sehwag	49.34	14	109	120	5	21.8	24.00
AG Prince	41.65	13	247	113	5	49.4	22.60
RT Ponting	51.87	19	347	233	4	86.8	58.25
Total for 10 batsmen			3374	1920	59	57.2	32.54

Tendulkar leading the table is not a surprise seeing that eight Tests have been played during the past two years. Note the high quality of Anderson wickets: almost all are top-order batsmen. Anderson has taken nearly ten overs for each of these wickets.

10. Ordered by Balls bowled in JM ANDERSON-Batsman combination

Batsman	BatAvge	Inns	Balls	Dot Balls	% of total	1/2/3 run balls	% of total	Boundary balls	% of total
GC Smith	48.63	27	701	504	71.9%	142	20.3%	57	8.1%
R Dravid	52.31	18	432	349	80.8%	50	11.6%	33	7.6%
HM Amla	52.12	15	429	310	72.3%	84	19.6%	37	8.6%
SR Watson	35.34	15	427	338	79.2%	55	12.9%	34	8.0%
MEK Hussey	51.53	17	424	323	76.2%	75	17.7%	26	6.1%
JH Kallis	56.10	22	419	337	80.4%	60	14.3%	23	5.5%
G Gambhir	44.19	16	398	331	83.2%	43	10.8%	24	6.0%
AB de Villiers	50.51	16	393	303	77.1%	66	16.8%	26	6.6%
SR Tendulkar	53.87	23	350	260	74.3%	56	16.0%	34	9.7%
RT Ponting	51.87	19	347	245	70.6%	70	20.2%	33	9.5%

England and South Africa seem to have played quite often. The combination of Anderson-Graeme Smith is over 700 balls. This is way above the next highest. This collection is a top-ten list of batsmen over the past few years.

11. Ordered by Runs scored in JM ANDERSON-Batsman combination

Batsman	BatAvge	Inns	Balls	Runs	Scoring Rate	Dot Balls	% of total	1/2/3 run balls	% of total	Boundary balls	% of total
GC Smith	48.63	27	701	411	58.6	504	71.9%	142	20.3%	57	8.1%
HM Amla	52.12	15	429	254	59.2	310	72.3%	84	19.6%	37	8.6%
RT Ponting	51.87	19	347	233	67.1	245	70.6%	70	20.2%	33	9.5%
SR Watson	35.34	15	427	217	50.8	338	79.2%	55	12.9%	34	8.0%
MEK Hussey	51.53	17	424	214	50.5	323	76.2%	75	17.7%	26	6.1%
SR Tendulkar	53.87	23	350	208	59.4	260	74.3%	56	16.0%	34	9.7%
MS Dhoni	39.71	19	347	201	57.9	258	74.4%	59	17.0%	32	9.2%
R Dravid	52.31	18	432	197	45.6	349	80.8%	50	11.6%	33	7.6%
AB de Villiers	50.51	16	393	193	49.1	303	77.1%	66	16.8%	26	6.6%
RR Sarwan	40.01	11	312	190	60.9	233	74.7%	48	15.4%	32	10.3%

This follows a similar sequence to the balls played table. Graeme Smith is the runaway leader, with 411 runs. Note how quickly Ricky Ponting has scored.

12. Ordered by Bowling strike rate (High) in JM ANDERSON-Batsman combination

Batsman	Career Balls/Inns	Inns	Balls	Wickets	Strike rate
RR Sarwan	81.1	11	312	1	312.0
HM Amla	90.9	15	429	2	214.5
TT Samaraweera	88.2	8	204	1	204.0
AB de Villiers	82.0	16	393	2	196.5
SM Katich	85.7	9	183	1	183.0
AN Petersen	72.7	5	172	1	172.0
S Chanderpaul	100.5	14	339	2	169.5
G Kirsten	95.4	7	167	0	167.0
CA Pujara	101.9	5	160	0	160.0
MN Samuels	71.3	4	158	0	158.0
Total for 10 batsmen			2517	10	251.7

Ramnaresh Sarwan has lasted 312 balls and been dismissed once. Hashim Amla has been equally effective, lasting 429 balls for two dismissals. The high numbers for Amla, AB de Villiers, Alviro Petersen and Smith (117) makes me think that Anderson was not that successful against the South African top order. Gary Kirsten, Cheteshwar Pujara and Marlon Samuels have lasted 150 balls and did not lose their wicket to Anderson. Well over 40 overs were required for Anderson to capture each of these tough-to-dislodge batsmen.

13. Ordered by Bowling Strike rate (Low - Top order batsmen) in JM ANDERSON-Batsman combination

Batsman	Career Balls/Inns	Inns	Balls	Wickets	Strike rate
Shoaib Malik	67.0	3	33	3	11.0
AJ Redmond	56.1	6	60	4	15.0
HDRL Thirimanne	61.8	6	69	4	17.2
V Sehwag	58.0	14	109	5	21.8
SK Raina	49.7	4	70	3	23.3
DG Brownlie	63.5	7	102	4	25.5
JM How	43.7	10	140	4	35.0
SPD Smith	61.3	6	110	3	36.7
SR Tendulkar	89.6	23	350	9	38.9
Imran Farhat	64.5	8	152	4	38.0
Total for 10 batsmen			1195	43	27.8

The "batsmen" are included in this table. The really top batsmen in this collection are the two Indian stalwarts. Sehwag's discomfiture against the lateral movement is well known. Also, this reflects the past eight Tests. However Tendulkar's record against Anderson is surprising. His BpW is below 50, contrast this with his 100+ BpW against Steyn. 26 balls per wicket is a fairly low strike rate considering that these were all top-flight batsmen.

14. Ordered by Bowling SR (Low - Late order batsmen), ANDERSON-Batsman combination

Batsman	Career Balls/Inns	Inns	Balls	Wickets	Strike rate
Umar Gul	18.0	5	48	3	16.0
Z Khan	18.6	7	49	3	16.3
PM Siddle	28.3	10	87	4	21.8
DW Steyn	25.4	7	78	3	26.0
LMP Simmons	37.1	6	83	3	27.7
Total for 10 batsmen			345	16	21.6

Nothing specific to say here.

15. Ordered by Batting Scoring rate (High) in JM ANDERSON-Batsman combination

Batsman	CareerScRt	Inns	Balls	Runs	Scoring Rate	Dot Balls	% of total	1/2/3 run balls	% of total	Boundary balls	% of total
V Sehwag	82.2	14	109	120	110.1	61	56.0%	26	23.9%	22	20.2%
BB McCullum	60.4	12	132	136	103.0	78	59.1%	36	27.3%	19	14.4%
LRPL Taylor	57.7	13	225	187	83.1	155	68.9%	41	18.2%	32	14.2%
HH Gibbs	50.3	8	190	159	83.7	137	72.1%	25	13.2%	31	16.3%
BJ Haddin	57.4	12	206	151	73.3	144	69.9%	41	19.9%	22	10.7%
HD Rutherford	65.7	8	137	97	70.8	98	71.5%	22	16.1%	17	12.4%
RT Ponting	58.7	19	347	233	67.1	245	70.6%	70	20.2%	33	9.5%
G Kirsten	43.4	7	167	111	66.5	123	73.7%	26	15.6%	18	10.8%
CH Gayle	59.8	11	160	101	63.1	119	74.4%	26	16.2%	16	10.0%
JM How	50.4	10	140	86	61.4	107	76.4%	19	13.6%	15	10.7%
Total for 10 batsmen			1813	1381	76.2

Sehwag and McCullum exceeded 100. Sehwag hit a boundary every 5 balls against Anderson but also lost his wicket every 20 balls. One scatter-brained batting strategy indeed. McCullum at least lost his wicket only 3 times. If anything, Anderson was more expensive than Steyn.

16. Ordered by Batting Scoring rate (Low) in JM ANDERSON-Batsman combination

Batsman	CarScrRt	Inns	Balls	Runs	Scoring Rate	Dot Balls	% of total	1/2/3 run balls	% of total	Boundary balls	% of total
D Ramdin	48.3	7	182	45	24.7	156	85.7%	22	12.1%	4	2.2%
MJ North	48.1	8	195	50	25.6	173	88.7%	16	8.2%	7	3.6%
PG Fulton	42.4	9	295	88	29.8	257	87.1%	26	8.8%	12	4.1%
AN Petersen	50.9	5	172	52	30.2	147	85.5%	17	9.9%	8	4.7%
Imran Farhat	48.3	8	152	49	32.2	131	86.2%	12	7.9%	9	5.9%
Azhar Ali	39.1	10	241	81	33.6	203	84.2%	28	11.6%	11	4.6%
Misbah-ul-Haq	40.7	4	107	36	33.6	86	80.4%	18	16.8%	3	2.8%
HAPW Jayawardene	50.1	7	102	37	36.3	85	83.3%	13	12.7%	4	3.9%
BP Nash	43.3	8	121	44	36.4	100	82.6%	16	13.2%	6	5.0%
MN Samuels	48.5	4	158	60	38.0	128	81.0%	22	13.9%	8	5.1%
Total for 10 batsmen			1725	542	31.4

These are the wicket-preservers by batting slowly. No real surprises. Even this scoring rate is not too bad, nearly 2 RpO.

Harbhajan Singh

Now let us see the tables for Harbhajan Singh. First a caveat. We have ball-by-ball data for just over 90% of balls bowled by Harbhajan. Unfortunately the first 11 Tests, in which he captured 53 wickets, including the fabulous 2001 series, are not included. So this is not a complete analysis. However I have plumped for Harbhajan for reasons already discussed.

17. Ordered by Wickets in HARBHAJAN SINGH-Batsman combination

Batsman	BatAvge	Inns	Balls	Runs	Wickets	StrikeRate	AvgeVsBowler
ML Hayden	50.74	15	356	226	7	50.9	32.29
JH Kallis	56.10	18	676	382	6	112.7	63.67
DW Steyn	13.97	8	75	35	6	12.5	5.83
HM Amla	52.12	14	606	291	5	121.2	58.20
RT Ponting	51.87	16	340	227	5	68.0	45.40
SM Katich	45.03	14	432	177	5	86.4	35.40
LRPL Taylor	42.22	6	209	100	5	41.8	20.00
WW Hinds	33.01	6	195	99	5	39.0	19.80
Kamran Akmal	30.79	10	227	119	5	45.4	23.80
M Morkel	13.69	8	123	54	5	24.6	10.80
Total for 10 batsmen			3239	1710	54	60.0	31.67

Hayden has been dismissed by Harbhajan 7 times. Add to this the 2 dismissals during the 2001 series. Similarly Ponting was dismissed 5 times. This becomes 10 dismissals since he lost his wicket every time in 2001 to Harbhajan. However it is clear that Harbhajan has bought his wickets, at a price. There is very little difference Harbhajan's career strike rate and the strike rate against this collection.

18. Ordered by Balls bowled in HARBHAJAN SINGH-Batsman combination

Batsman	BatAvge	Inns	Balls	Dot Balls	% of total	1/2/3 run balls	% of total	Boundary balls	% of total
S Chanderpaul	51.82	18	790	632	80.0%	138	17.5%	20	2.5%
KC Sangakkara	56.99	18	742	574	77.4%	144	19.4%	27	3.6%
JH Kallis	56.10	18	676	412	60.9%	242	35.8%	22	3.3%
DPMD Jayawardene	49.57	20	649	395	60.9%	217	33.4%	38	5.9%
HM Amla	52.12	14	606	423	69.8%	159	26.2%	24	4.0%
Younis Khan	50.74	10	541	368	68.0%	130	24.0%	43	7.9%
MJ Clarke	52.34	23	527	372	70.6%	135	25.6%	20	3.8%
MEK Hussey	51.53	14	482	356	73.9%	109	22.6%	17	3.5%
SM Katich	45.03	14	432	336	77.8%	75	17.4%	21	4.9%
AB de Villiers	50.51	12	394	267	67.8%	109	27.7%	18	4.6%

Did India and Sri Lanka play each other so many times in Tests also? Jayawardene and Sangakkara have together faced nearly 1400 balls of Harbhajan. Similarly Kallis and Amla have clocked over 1250 balls together.

19. Ordered by Runs scored in HARBHAJAN SINGH-Batsman combination

Batsman	BatAvge	Inns	Balls	Runs	Scoring Rate	Dot Balls	% of total	1/2/3 run balls	% of total	Boundary balls	% of total
DPMD Jayawardene	49.57	20	649	431	66.4	395	60.9%	217	33.4%	38	5.9%
JH Kallis	56.10	18	676	382	56.5	412	60.9%	242	35.8%	22	3.3%
Younis Khan	50.74	10	541	332	61.4	368	68.0%	130	24.0%	43	7.9%
HM Amla	52.12	14	606	291	48.0	423	69.8%	159	26.2%	24	4.0%
KC Sangakkara	56.99	18	742	287	38.7	574	77.4%	144	19.4%	27	3.6%
S Chanderpaul	51.82	18	790	260	32.9	632	80.0%	138	17.5%	20	2.5%
MJ Clarke	52.34	23	527	239	45.4	372	70.6%	135	25.6%	20	3.8%
RT Ponting	51.87	16	340	227	66.8	207	60.9%	108	31.8%	25	7.4%
ML Hayden	50.74	15	356	226	63.5	238	66.9%	91	25.6%	28	7.9%
TM Dilshan	40.99	13	308	221	71.8	188	61.0%	97	31.5%	23	7.5%

Similar pattern like balls. The Sri Lankan duo and the South African duo have scored tons of runs. Jayawardene at a very good scoring rate. Look at Chanderpaul's scoring rate.

20. Ordered by Bowling SR (High), HARBHAJAN SINGH-Batsman combination

Batsman	Career Balls/Inns	Inns	Balls	Wickets	Strike rate
S Chanderpaul	100.5	18	790	2	395.0
AN Cook	97.1	8	291	1	291.0
GW Flower	81.4	8	277	0	277.0
Younis Khan	89.4	10	541	2	270.5
MP Vaughan	76.1	6	264	0	264.0
BB McCullum	55.1	8	252	1	252.0
Misbah-ul-Haq	88.6	6	248	0	248.0
KC Sangakkara	97.1	18	742	3	247.3
AB de Villiers	82.0	12	394	2	197.0
IR Bell	79.7	9	181	1	181.0
Total for 10 batsmen			3980	12	331.7

Harbhajan to Chanderpaul must be the slowest running movie ever made. Nothing happening ever. 790 balls, a mere 258 runs and a wicket every 395 balls. And look at Cook, a wicket every 290 balls. And Flower, and Younis, and Vaughan: all clocking over 250 balls per wicket. Harbhajan surely had a lot of patience. 55 overs per wkt: we are going past a typically long spell by a bowler in an innings.

21. Ordered by Bowling SR (Low - Top order batsmen), HARBHAJAN-Batsman combination

Batsman	Career Balls/Inns	Inns	Balls	Wickets	Strike rate
JP Duminy	70.0	3	13	3	4.3
SCJ Broad	33.9	4	39	3	13.0
AN Petersen	72.7	5	75	4	18.8
JDP Oram	59.9	5	75	3	25.0
ADR Campbell	62.8	6	86	3	28.7
SB Styris	64.4	6	133	4	33.2
RD Jacobs	48.1	5	102	3	34.0
MJ North	69.5	3	107	3	35.7
WW Hinds	68.2	6	195	5	39.0
A Flower	95.0	6	125	3	41.7
Total for 10 batsmen			950	34	27.9

Harbhajan had to start his bowling run and Duminy would inform his colleagues in the pavilion to hold the calls. A top class batsman averaging a mere 4 balls per wicket. Later there is a reference to Swann vs Prince. What is with South African batsman against quality off-spinners? And Alviro clocking at below 20 BpW. These leaden-footed batsmen were at least dismissed at around once every five overs.

22. Ordered by Bowling Strike rate (Low - Late order batsmen) in HARBHAJAN-Batsman combination

Batsman	Career Balls/Inns	Inns	Balls	Wickets	Strike rate
Danish Kaneria	8.8	4	14	3	4.7
MS Kasprowicz	17.9	4	17	3	5.7
GD McGrath	11.4	5	18	3	6.0
A Sanford	19.3	4	24	4	6.0
DW Steyn	25.4	8	75	6	12.5
M Muralitharan	10.9	10	51	4	12.8
PL Harris	28.3	9	54	4	13.5
M Dillon	20.3	9	54	4	13.5
PT Collins	14.9	8	76	5	15.2
MJ Hoggard	22.7	8	56	3	18.7
Total for 10 batsmen			439	39	11.3

It must be said that Danish Kaneria has done better than Duminy. And Steyn the batsman had no answer for Harbhajan the bowler. And let me add that Steyn dismissed Harbhajan 7 times in 59 balls. Each could call the other his bunny.

23. Ordered by Batting Scoring rate (High) in HARBHAJAN SINGH-Batsman combination

Batsman	CareerScRt	Inns	Balls	Runs	Scoring Rate	Dot Balls	% of total	1/2/3 run balls	% of total	Boundary balls	% of total
AC Gilchrist	82.0	9	139	112	80.6	77	55.4%	51	36.7%	11	7.9%
JL Langer	54.2	5	170	128	75.3	107	62.9%	46	27.1%	17	10.0%
TM Dilshan	65.5	13	308	221	71.8	188	61.0%	97	31.5%	23	7.5%
MJ Prior	63.0	6	149	104	69.8	81	54.4%	60	40.3%	8	5.4%
HAPW Jayawardene	50.1	10	236	156	66.1	150	63.6%	72	30.5%	14	5.9%
RT Ponting	58.7	16	340	227	66.8	207	60.9%	108	31.8%	25	7.4%
KP Pietersen	62.8	10	264	176	66.7	164	62.1%	82	31.1%	18	6.8%
Inzamam-ul-Haq	54.0	4	109	72	66.1	68	62.4%	33	30.3%	8	7.3%
DPMD Jayawardene	51.5	20	649	431	66.4	395	60.9%	217	33.4%	38	5.9%
ML Hayden	60.1	15	356	226	63.5	238	66.9%	91	25.6%	28	7.9%
Total for 10 batsmen			2720	1853	68.1

As expected Harbhajan was attacked by Gilchrist and Langer. Gilchrist gave his wicket away thrice while Langer was dismissed only once. Dilshan's attacking was over much higher number of balls. Harbhajan won 4 of these battles with Dilshan. Harbhajan was relatively more economical even against the free-scoring batsmen.

24. Ordered by Batting Scoring rate (Low) in HARBHAJAN SINGH-Batsman combination

Batsman	CarScrRt	Inns	Balls	Runs	Scoring Rate	Dot Balls	% of total	1/2/3 run balls	% of total	Boundary balls	% of total
Salman Butt	47.2	6	146	21	14.4	132	90.4%	13	8.9%	1	0.7%
BJ Haddin	57.4	6	110	28	25.5	89	80.9%	20	18.2%	1	0.9%
MH Richardson	37.7	4	162	44	27.2	130	80.2%	29	17.9%	3	1.9%
MJ Guptill	43.4	4	114	33	28.9	93	81.6%	19	16.7%	2	1.8%
GW Flower	34.5	8	277	83	30.0	224	80.9%	46	16.6%	7	2.5%
TR Gripper	32.7	2	100	29	29.0	82	82.0%	15	15.0%	3	3.0%
AJ Hall	46.1	3	133	41	30.8	111	83.5%	19	14.3%	3	2.3%
AG Prince	43.7	11	229	69	30.1	187	81.7%	36	15.7%	6	2.6%
JEC Franklin	37.4	4	126	38	30.2	108	85.7%	13	10.3%	5	4.0%
MA Butcher	42.9	7	269	82	30.5	218	81.0%	44	16.4%	7	2.6%
Total for 10 batsmen			1666	468	28.1

Nothing important here. Most of these batsmen were uncomfortable facing top quality spin and took the safer way out. They were bottled up for less than 1.8 RpO.

These are is just samples of the type of insights which can be drawn. I have created an Excel sheet with 15 contemporary bowlers who have ball-by-ball data exceeding 80% and uploaded this. To download/view the document, a veritable treasure-trove of information, please CLICK HERE.

I have given below a few exceptional situations from the tables of 15 bowlers. Let me also suggest that the interested readers can peruse the Excel sheet and come out with such interesting sidelights.

- Take the Swann-Prince combination. This is something weird. Prince played 5 balls from Swann, had 2 dot balls and lost his wickets 3 times. And this happened after he had played 94, 28 and 44 balls in the three innings. That was some magic that Swann wove, probably more than what Warne did to Cullinan.
- The maximum number of balls bowled has been by Ajmal to Sangakkara. He bowled 906 balls, nearly two days of bowling.
- Harmison's single wicket of Chanderpaul cost 239 runs while Ntini's single dismissal of Lara cost 225 runs.
- Anderson-Tendulkar, Ntini-Trescothick and Ntini-Hayden combinations have ended in 9 dismissals. Let us not forget the 10 dismissals of Ponting by Harbhajan.
- Harmison bowled 464 balls to Chanderpaul and got 1 wicket. Harbhajan-Chanderpaul was 790 (2 wkts-395), Hoggard-Yousuf was 378, Johnson-de Villiers was 383, Ntini-Lara was 312, Anderson-Sarwan was 312 and Ajmal-Sangakkara was 906 (3 wkts-302).
- Anderson was hit 57 times for a boundary by Graeme Smith. Ntini was carted to the fence 53 times by Ponting and Trescothick. Lee was also despatched 50 times by Trescothick. But the most awesome performance was when Harmison bowled to Gayle. 48 boundaries were hit but at 15.8%, nearly one every over.

The 15 bowlers covered in this table are given below. The figures at the beginning indicate the quantum of ball-by-ball data available for this bowler.

BBB %   Bowler selected
100.0 - Steyn
100.0 - Anderson
 90.2 - Harbhajan Singh
100.0 - Swann
100.0 - Harmison
 99.4 - Hoggard
 88.0 - Ntini
 95.9 - Zaheer Khan
 91.7 - Lee
100.0 - Johnson
 90.5 - Martin
 95.1 - Herath
 96.9 - Danish Kaneria
100.0 - Saeed Ajmal
100.0 - FH Edwards

The last two players have been exempted from the 200-wicket limit since there is no West Indian bowler who has crossed 200 wickets recently and Ajmal is an intriguing bowler. Kaneria has captured 261 Test wickets and I am not going to sit in moral judgement on subsequent happenings, on and off the field. On field, as a Test player, he performed very well and that is enough for me.

Readers can, if they care, write on the types of analyses which could be done using these data. Please do not, however, ask for details of how RA Austin bowled to Raqibul Haasan or about MM Patel's performance against McIntosh. Let it be of interest to all the readers. I would intersperse these articles with the other articles so that I can handle these myself. These articles take a lot off me in view of the number of tables and writing.