Tendulkar's highs and lows against Australia

Australia always brought out the finest in Sachin Tendulkar in one-day internationals. His 141 off 128 balls knocked them out of the 1998 Champions Trophy and boosted his average against Australia to an eye-popping 60. The two innings before that are fondly remembered by Indian fans as 'Desert Storm'. Since then he's brought the punishment down a notch but still maintained an average that fluctuated closely around 50. However, Australia has written the script for Tendulkar in their last six games by dismissing him for 5, 8, 27, 12, 4 and 10. The last ten was especially painful to watch and it brought his average against the world's best team down to 46.44, the lowest since April 1998. This week, the List looks at players who've struggled and done particularly well against specific opposition in ODIs.

Tendulkar's poorest record is against South Africa against whom he has only three hundreds, five half-centuries and an average of 30.26 after 45 games. He just hasn't been able to convert his starts against them for he's been dismissed for scores between 20 and 50 on 17 occasions. The difference of 14.04 between his career average and against South Africa is ranked 17th in our table.

Saeed Anwar, the second-highest century maker when he retired, also had a woeful record against South Africa. He played 24 matches, averages 17.30 and didn't score any of his 20 hundreds or 43 fifties against them. His highest score of 42 came at home where he averages 20.20. His record in South Africa is worse, an average of 11.77 in ten innings.

India have struggled against West Indies in recent months, losing six of their eight matches. As it turns out, their coach Greg Chappell also had a poor batting record against them in ODIs. He averaged only 23.73 his lowest against any country. In his last series against West Indies - the Benson and Hedges Cup in 1981-82 - Chappell aggregated just 136 runs in nine innings.

Ramnaresh Sarwan has played a large part in West Indies' recent successes against India. He was the Man of the Series for his 98, 115 and 52 on India's tour in May and contributed a crucial 53 to West Indies Champions Trophy triumph against them. His overall average against India now stands at 69.7 with one century and seven fifties in 20 innings.

Shane Warne had an unceremonious Test debut against India and he's struggled in ODIs too against them. Apart from England, against whom he averages 33.13, Warne takes wickets at less than 30 apiece but against India his average is a poor 56.26. He's managed only 15 wickets from 18 games and gone wicketless eight times. His economy also shoots up from 4.25 to 5.19 against them.

Waqar Younis had a torrid time against Australia taking only 29 wickets in 30 games at 40.75 apiece. The comparison with his career average - 23.84 - worsens if you look at his performance against Australia in Australia where his average bloats to 49.07. However, he has excelled when playing other nations in Australia. In 15 games down under against West Indies, Sri Lanka and India, Waqar averaged just 19 for his 24 wickets and conceded only 3.98 runs an over.

Chaminda Vaas's analysis of 6-2-6-2 against West Indies in the Champions Trophy at Mumbai was consistent with his overall record against them. In 16 matches against West Indies , Vaas has a miserly economy-rate of 2.93, a strike rate of 33.9 and 23 wickets in 16 matches.