Published: Dec 24, 2016, 02:07 PM (IST)
Edited: Dec 24, 2016, 02:07 PM (IST)
“Listen, you could have gone to England and been exposed to a moving ball to which you’re unaccustomed. You could have got some low scores and it would have set you back. Anyhow, most of our great players start in India,” said Frank Worrell to Clive Lloyd on a lecture tour. The above statement is enough to describe the mentality of foreign players towards India, when it comes to giving a perfect chance to a newcomer for making his debut. For any batsman, the debut Test is probably the first significant thing in his career. And to make it perfect, it is very important where that player is going to make his debut. Irrespective of how talented the batsman is, he would want to play his first Test in locations favourable to him.
So, which is the best country for a touring batsman? India is what intuition tells us, and India it is, as numbers will reveal through this article. Of 101 batsmen who have scored centuries on debut, 36 of them have done it overseas conditions. Of those 36 players, 8 of them have done it in India, 2 more than any other country.
Of these 8, three have been from England (the most for any country): Bryan Valentine (136 in 1933-34), Alastair Cook (104 in 2006-07) and Keaton Jennings (112, earlier this year). The other five were as Bruce Taylor, Gordon Greenidge, Michael Clarke, Alviro Petersen and Kane Williamson.
India also tops the chart when it comes to providing opportunities to start the career with some good scores to visiting debutants. Of all the visiting debutants, players who have batted between at positions 1 to 7 on their debut have had best averages in India.
Talking about half-centuries by visiting debutants, India managed to escape to top this chart as England and Australia are the top two teams in this list. It is probably because they are the oldest team in this format.
There have been total of 107 half-centuries made by visiting debutants. 22 out of them came in India (over 20%), while they are at third position in this list. South Africa and New Zealand are also among the oldest Test teams after England and Australia, though they have not conceded even 15 half-centuries to visiting debutants.
Like century-scoring debutants, this list, too, includes some famous names, like Hanif Mohammad, Basil Butcher, Clive Lloyd, Darren Lehmann, Joe Root and Haseeb Hameed.
On the other hand, there have been some others who have not done brilliantly on debut, but have had excellent maiden series. Players like Allan Rae, Nazar Mohammad, Javed Burki, Tim Robinson and Viv Richards belong to this list. Richards scored only 4 and 3 on debut, but followed that with 192* in his second game at Delhi.
Fast forward a few decades, and you will find Nick Compton scoring 9 and 37 on debut, but finishing with 207 runs in the series at 41.40. Compton faced 613 balls in the series (102 balls per dismissal), laying the foundation almost every single time with Cook.
Not only debutants, India have also managed to revive careers of many batsmen. Mike Gatting, Matthew Hayden and Hashim Amla are perfect examples. Gatting scored 575 runs at 95.83 in 1984-85 tour of India; his career average read 23.93 after 30 Tests before that series. Similarly, Hayden, averaging 24.36 before the Border-Gavaskar series of 2000-01, scored 549 runs in the series at 109.80. Amla averaged 33.92 when he came to India in 2004-05; he left with 307 runs at 61.40. He again came in 2009-10 with 40.75; he got 490 getting dismissed only once.
Similarly, Graeme Fowler improved his career numbers by playing in India in his final series. Fowler scored 438 at 54.75 in 1984-85 tour of India, which took his average from 30 to 35.
Excluding the comeback players, overall, irrespective of how good is the batsman, India have ensured memorable debut for many cricketers. India is surely a paradise for visiting debutants. And, I would like to end it with Worrell’s quote, “great players start in India.”
