Will Dravid right his record against South Africa?

India's one-day slump since the tour of the West Indies has primarily been because of the failure of their celebrated batting line-up. And Rahul Dravid's slump in form - an average of 25.16 in his last 13 ODIs - has been crippling. India will soon embark on a gruelling tour of South Africa and they will need Dravid to get his groove back. Tests, you may argue, is Dravid's preferred format but his opponents on this occasion certainly aren't. Dravid averages above 40 against all teams but South Africa, against whom he averages 39.47 compared to his career 58.75. The difference of 19.28 is ranked 20th in our table. This week, the List looks at players who've struggled or done particularly well against specific opposition in Tests.

Oddly enough, Dravid fares better in matches played in South Africa compared to Tests against South Africa at home. In five away Tests, Dravid averages 42.11 with a century and two fifties, while he's managed just three fifties and an average of 37.50 in seven Tests at home.

Garry Sobers's cricketing genius hardly came to the fore when West Indies played New Zealand. He averages only 23.76 against them compared to his 80-plus figures against subcontinental teams. Sobers averaged a paltry 15.10 in his first seven Tests in New Zealand. He pushed his average into the twenties with a hundred at Bridgetown - his home ground - when New Zealand toured in 1971-72.

Zaheer Abbas also struggled against New Zealand with an average of 17.83 after 24 innings with one century. His home record against them, a highest of 43 and an average of 16, was marginally worse than his away record - an average of 19.66 and a highest of 135. Zaheer had a tough time against West Indies too, scoring just one half-century in 15 innings at an his average of 18.50. West Indies and Australia, with their fierce bowling attacks over the years, account for twelve of the top twenty poor averages in our table.

While India didn't feature once in the table above, they dominate the table of countries against whom batsmen have had a field day. Zaheer, Sobers and a clutch of others have pummelled India's relatively insipid bowling attacks over the decades. Ian Botham's average drops to 28.97 if you exclude his innings versus India, against whom he scored five hundreds and five fifties to finish with an average of 70.64.

When you glance at the table of bowlers who have performed particularly well against one country the first thing that strikes you is the number of spinners that have troubled New Zealand in the top twenty. They come from all nations, Tony Lock, Fred Titmus, Derek Underwood and Phil Tufnell from England; Kerry O'Keefe from Australia; West Indies' Sonny Ramadhin, S Venkataraghavan from India; and Pakistan's Intikhab Alam and Mushtaq Ahmed.

Daniel Vettori has an outstanding record against Sri Lanka, which is a little surprising considering subcontinent teams play spin better than most. More surprising, however, is his poor record against South Africa - 15 wickets in nine Tests at 70.06 apiece - who aren't the most adept against spin.

Harbhajan Singh had a respectable record - 15 wickets at 33.66 - against Pakistan until India's tour in 2004-05. He wheeled away for 81 overs without success and conceded 355 runs in the first two Tests. He was dropped for the third Test and his average against Pakistan now stands at 57.33.