Flourishing under floodlights

All the matches of the ongoing Champions Trophy are day-night affairs. Until recently, win-toss-and-bat used to be the mantra on Indian pitches but now teams have to factor in the dew that hampers bowling under lights. To complicate matters further, the pitches used in the tournament have been a far cry from traditional subcontinent tarmacs. Big totals have been sparse, the bounce variable and the turn sizeable. The challenge of batting on a wearing pitch under lights could be as difficult as bowling with a soggy ball. This week we feature players who've excelled and failed in artificial light.

Among the top one-day batsmen, Sanath Jayasuriya has one of the biggest differences in batting average when he chases under lights and during the day. His overall average while batting second is 30.09, but under lights it rises to 37.80. Six of his nine centuries - he has 22 in all - while batting second have been in day-night matches. In fact, on 14 of the 17 times that Jayasuriya's passed fifty at night, Sri Lanka have won. Perhaps he's unaware of these stats for Jayasuriya's won the toss in 37 day-night matches but decided to field just thrice.

India are widely tipped to qualify from their group, along with Australia, to the semi-finals of the Champions Trophy. Their batsmen, however, are failing them at the moment. How has their top order fared chasing under lights at home? Sachin Tendulkar has a magnificent record; he averages nearly 60 and has passed fifty in ten out of 19 innings. Rahul Dravid has a relatively poor average - 31.36 in 21 innings - while chasing in day games but under lights he averages 49 at home.

However, Virender Sehwag averages 37.84 while chasing during the afternoon and a mere 31.22 at night . Yuvraj Singh also fares better while chasing in day games. He averages 49.62 in them while under lights that figure drops to 26.60 with just four half-centuries in 33 innings.

Andrew Symonds is another who struggles while batting under lights; only one fifty in 21 innings at 27 per match. However, he has a formidable record while chasing in day games where he averages 49 with five half-centuries in 20 innings.

You would expect fast bowlers to perform significantly better under lights because the ball does a little bit more for them than the spinners. However it's Nicky Boje, South Africa's left-arm spinner, and Paul Strang, the former Zimbabwe legspinner, that head the list. Boje has taken all three of his four-wicket hauls under lights and averages 20.50 while conceding 37.36 per wicket while defending a total in day games. Strang also averages an expensive 40.16 per wicket in day games while under lights his average is 23.44.

Jayasuriya, however, hasn't carried his batting form under lights into the field. His bowling stats are poor; 46 wickets in 77 games at an average of 43.15.

Courtney Walsh's mediocre performances under lights are a surprise. He has an impressive economy of 3.82 but has a strike rate of 77.9 and has gone wicketless in nine out of 19 matches.