Gautam Gambhir's Test average has dropped from 57.50 to 44.35 in the course of 21 Tests. And on an average, his opening partnership has lasted 6.4 overs per innings since July 2011. Since February 2010, he has not scored a hundred a period in which even Harbhajan Singh (2) and Ravichandran Ashwin have scored centuries © Getty Images
After spending more than two years in vain trying to rake up some decent scores in Tests, Gautam Gambhir has gone back deep into the past to dig out numbers in a puerile effort to make himself look good. Arunabha Sengupta analyses each of his statements in detail to show why the arguments of the Delhi opener are just ridiculous.
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During the last few seasons, his bat has variously scraped, fended, edged, missed and snicked its way to quick dismissals – with precious little to show for all the trouble.
It has perhaps influenced Gautam Gambhir to discard the willow altogether while responding to probing questions.
The opening batsman has now decided to retaliate with words and numbers – though not quite reaching into the territory of facts and figures. He has resorted to mouthing statistics that in his conspicuously clouded understanding, shows him in good light.
He has come out in staunch defence of his credibility as an opening batsman while also showering a barrage of figures on the ones daring to question the quality of his partnership with Virender Sehwag at the top.
Unfortunately, through desperation or sheer inability at basic arithmetic, the Indian opener has done little more than putting his foot in his mouth. The numbers that he has flaunted have been musty and full of mothballs, dragged out from long-forgotten archives of his career. They have to be dusted vigorously to remove the layers of time and look at the long ago laurels on which Gambhir has smugly opted to rest his case.
Unravelling the numbers
“We still average 53 as an opening pair, which I think is one of the best when it comes to opening the batting in world cricket… And if 53 is not good enough, I don't know what is good enough," Gambhir voiced his opinion without batting an eyelid. “I will suggest them to look at the stats.”
True, they do average 52.69 over 4110 runs they have added in Tests. Viewed in totality, it is commendable. But, let us indeed take a look at the stats as Gambhir has asked us to.
| Sehwag-Gambhir partnerships | Runs | Average | 100 | 50 |
| Overall | 4110 | 52.69 | 10 | 24 |
| 2008 - May 2011 | 2549 | 60.69 | 8 | 13 |
| July 2011 – Present | 559 | 31.06 | 0 | 5 |
| Last two overseas tours | 136 | 13.60 | 0 | 0 |
It becomes clear from the dissected figures that the claim to fame of the Delhi duo rests mainly on an amazing period between 2008 and 2011. During this period they added 2549 at 60.69 with eight hundred partnerships. From the England tour onwards, however, they have added 559 runs at 31.06, crossing 50 just five times in 18 outings. The overseas figures during this stretch are plain atrocious – 136 runs at 13.60.
Gambhir added, “Ultimately, when you open the batting, you want to contribute and you want to give a good start to the team …. As an opening pair, you average 50 per innings and if you are giving 50 runs start in every innings, you can't do more.”
Let us see what sort of starts the duo has provided the team in recent times.
It turns out that on an average the opening partnership has lasted 6.4 overs per innings since July 2011.
Resting on laurels
The very argument that an average of 53 is good enough to guarantee a place in the side is peculiar. By that logic Rahul Dravid, who hung up his boots when averaging 52, should have carried on playing. So too VVS Laxman, whose average of 45 stands better than Gambhir’s 44.
Gambir’s statement seems to imply that it’s not current form but career average that is the criterion to go on and on, till it drops to unacceptable levels.
If we consider 45 as the benchmark for a good batsman, Gambhir’s quixotic argument can be used to conclude that Sachin Tendulkar has the luxury not to score another run for 63 subsequent Test innings before anyone can start asking questions! It would have probably ensured Don Bradman carrying on till he was about 88 or so.
Viewed in this light, Gambhir’s batting average is still just about decent – 44.35 over 50 Tests in which he has scored 3770 runs. However, let us take a look at how he has performed in the last two and a half years.
| Gambhir’s struggle | Tests | Inn | Runs | Ave | 100s | 50s |
| Till Jan 2010 | 29 | 52 | 2760 | 57.50 | 9 | 11 |
| Since Feb 2010 | 21 | 38 | 1010 | 27.29 | 0 | 8 |
A bad patch is normal in the course of a cricket career, but if it stretches across two and a half years over 21 Test matches, alarm bells start ringing loud and clear. And it hardly helps if the batsman drowns the crazily beeping warning signals by voicing figures from the past.
It sure takes some effort to reduce the average from 57.50 to 44.35 in the course of 21 Tests, and perhaps refusing to acknowledge problems is one of the unfailing steps to achieve the unthinkable.
The southpaw has also argued, “Had it been a technical error, I would have not scored runs in one-day cricket. I think it is good 1100 runs in last 24 innings in one-day cricket.” He has linked Test performance with One-Day scores, in an attempt to defend his abysmal performances in the longest form. Interestingly, he immediately followed it up saying, “I know how people start relating your Test form to one-day form and T20 form.” Logic is definitely not his strong suit.
Does he not know of names such as Michael Bevan and our own Yuvraj Singh to see how faulty his argument is? There have been many before and since who have got runs in ODIs but never made it big in Test cricket.
Gambhir’s final loud mouthed response was, “It's not about scoring a hundred every time ... It's not only me, a lot of other people have also not scored tons.”
Well, it is beyond the boundaries of reason to justify one’s own scoreless streak by looking at the performance of others, but what about the statement itself?
As it turns out, the number spewing Gambhir once again has no idea what he is talking about.
Let us look at the figures once again, as the batsman has so nicely asked us to.
From Feb 2010 to now:
| Indian Batsmen who scored 100s (not all centurions even qualify as batsmen) | # of Test hundreds |
| Rahul Dravid | 7 |
| Sachin Tendulkar | 6 |
| Virender Sehwag | 5 |
| VVS Laxman | 3 |
| MS Dhoni | 2 |
| Virat Kohli | 2 |
| Harbhajan Singh | 2 |
| Suresh Raina | 1 |
| Cheteshwar Pujara | 1 |
| Ravichandran Ashwin | 1 |
| Murali Vijay | 1 |
| Gautam Gambhir | 0 |
The table above shows the Indian hundreds during the period that Gambhir has gone century-less.
During this period, Rahul Dravid has scored seven; Sachin Tendulkar six; Virender Sehwag five; VVS Laxman three; MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli and, well, Harbhajan Singh two each; and Suresh Raina, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ravichandran Ashwin one apiece.
Can one do a better job at shooting himself in the foot with numbers?
It is far easier to add to one’s own centuries than to erase those scored by others through a combination of ignorance, travesty and wishful thinking.
In the first five years of his Test career Gambhir did display genuine potential with the willow. In contrast, going by what he has proclaimed, his skill with numbers is very limited. One wishes that he can go back to the far more profitable exercise of trying to score runs.
(Arunabha Sengupta is a cricket historian and Chief Cricket Writer at CricketCountry. He writes about the history and the romance of the game, punctuated often by opinions about modern day cricket, while his post-graduate degree in statistics peeps through in occasional analytical pieces. The author of three novels, he can be followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/senantix)
