Form and numbers favour South Africa

Stats preview for the five-match one-day series between India and South Africa

18-Nov-2006

South Africa will unleash their pace attack against the Indians © AFP

The five-match one-day series between India and South Africa beginning in Johannesburg tomorrow will be the first bilateral series between the two sides in South Africa since India's maiden tour in 1992-93. The records indicate that India haven't had much success in South Africa, apart from that golden run in the 2003 World Cup. In 1992-93, South Africa romped to a convincing 5-2 series victory. In 1996-97, India edged out Zimbabwe to reach the final of the tri-series but lost. The 2001-02 tri-series involved Kenya, and while India managed to reach the final, they were outclassed again by the South Africans.

Given India's lacklustre recent form in ODIs - they have lost eight of their last 13 matches, and even went down in the warm-up match against the Rest of South Africa - and the home team's impressive displays - eight wins in their last 12 - there is little doubt about which side will start off as favourites in the five-match series.

India v South Africa head-to-head ODI record
	Matches	SA won	India won	No result
Overall	50	30	18	2
In SA	16	12	3	1
In India	19	8	11	Nil
Neutral venues	15	10	4	1

Pitches with extra zip and bounce have always been India's perennial bugbear in overseas series, and that would explain India's struggle on South African pitches. However, India's 2003 World Cup campaign told a different story. The table below shows just how the combined batting average spiralled in 2003 - beefed up by flat pitches and easy pickings against the minnows.

Indian batsmen in South Africa
	Matches	Runs	Average	Scoring rate
World Cup 2003	10	2169	38.73	75.20
Other ODIs in SA	22	4362	25.81	70.55

Two Indian batsmen who will be looking to better their averages on this tour would be Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag. While his overall batting average sits pretty in the mid-40s, Sachin's average against the South Africans in their backyard pales in comparison. The same can be said of Sehwag, who didn't have the best of times in the ODIs during his last tour five years back. The one batsman the South Africans will have to keep an eye on is Rahul Dravid, who often thrives in conditions alien to the rest. Among the South Africans, Jacques Kallis has been the most prolific against India in home conditions.

Difference between career batting average and average in South Africa versus South Africa/ India
Player	In SA	Runs	Ave	Overall	Runs	Ave	Diff
Tendulkar	16	429	26.81	370	14444	44.30	-17.49
Sehwag	4	76	19.00	160	4727	31.70	-12.70
Dravid	9	431	53.87	300	9681	39.67	+14.20
Gibbs	4	117	29.25	190	6212	35.29	-6.04
Kallis	8	344	57.33	238	8159	43.16	+14.17

Anil Kumble's return to the one-day side, with the World Cup in mind, may just be a wise move on the part of the selectors, given India's inexperienced pace attack. South Africa has never been his hunting ground as far as wickets are concerned. In 16 matches, his wickets have come at nearly 46 runs apiece - as compared to his career average 30.76 - but his knack of keeping the runs down will come in handy. His economy rate in South Africa is just 3.77and in all ODIs against them since 1992-93, he has conceded over five runs an over just twice. Harbhajan Singh may just play the role of India's strike bowler, with an impressive average of 22.80 and an economy rate of 3.80 against the South Africans in South Africa.

The Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg has always been considered a favourable venue for quick bowlers. However, the last few one-day internationals have been heavily loaded in favour of the batsmen, none more so than South Africa's world-record chase of 434 against Australia earlier this year, and Australia's blitzkrieg in the World Cup final in 2003. In the last five matches here , the average runs per over is more than six, as opposed to the overall venue average of 4.92. The average runs per wicket was just under 30 before the World Cup final. In the last five games, though, it has leapt to 45. Clearly, the Indian batsmen couldn't have got a better venue to gain some much-needed form and morale ahead of a testing tour.

Jacques Kallis Anil Kumble Rahul Dravid India tour of South Africa

Kanishkaa Balachandran is editorial assistant of Cricinfo. For some stats he was helped by Satish Kumar.