India set to register highest run-aggregate in ODIs, but how reliant have they been on their top-5 run-getters?
How reliant are India on their top-5 run-getters in ODIs?
By Aayush Puthran
One doesn’t need statistics to prove the fact that India have relied on their batsmen in One-Day Internationals (ODIs). In its 42-year history in the format, India have gone on to become the second-highest run-scoring team and could soon overtake Australia when they face South Africa in during the upcoming ODI series.
But, how much of the burden of these runs has rested on a few shoulders, and not on the rest? Let us have a look at how the Indian batsmen have fared without the services of their top five run-scorers in ODIs — Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Mohammad Azharuddin and Yuvraj Singh
| Total runs | Runs scored by Top-5 | Runs scored by other batsmen | Percentage runs scored by Top-5 |
| 1,70,277 | 58,030 | 1,12,247 | 37.08 |
Since Australia, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and West Indies have the highest run aggregates in ODIs, let us compare these figures with the ones of the other four teams and assess the contribution of the players apart from their respective top five run getters.
Here is the list of the highest run-getters for the following teams:
Australia – Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist, Mark Waugh, Michael Clarke and Steve Waugh
Pakistan – Inzamam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Yousuf, Saeed Anwar, Shahid Afridi and Javed Miandad
Sri Lanka – Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Aravinda De Silva and Marvan Atapattu
West Indies – Brian Lara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Chris Gayle, Desmond Haynes and Viv Richards
Note: Each team has at least one batsman with more than 10,000 ODI runs to his credit. Let us look at their comparative figures in ODIs
| Team | Total Runs | Runs scored by Top-5 | Runs scored by other batsmen | % runs scored by Top-5 |
| Australia | 1,71,572 | 46,834 | 1,24,738 | 27.30 |
| India | 1, 70, 277 | 58, 030 | 1,12,247 | 37.08 |
| Pakistan | 1,60,468 | 44, 873 | 1,15,595 | 27.97 |
| Sri Lanka | 1,35,118 | 53,998 | 81,120 | 39.96 |
| West Indies | 1,34,888 | 43,183 | 91,705 | 32.01 |
The above table clearly indicates as to how much India has relied on the services of a few, unlike the other top teams. Only Sri Lanka have been more reliant on a group of individuals than India.
The figures are all the more compelling if you go to see the performance of the Indian players apart from the Top-5 outside home.
Here is a comparative analysis of the performance of the batsmen of the five teams in overseas conditions:
| Team | Total runs | Runs scored by Top-5 | Runs scored by other batsmen | % runs scored by Top-5 |
| Pakistan | 1,24,448 | 34,724 | 89,724 | 27.92 |
| India | 1,06,360 | 38, 170 | 68,190 | 35.89 |
| Sri Lanka | 96,275 | 37,432 | 58,843 | 38.88 |
| West Indies | 92,606 | 30, 158 | 62,448 | 32.57 |
| Australia | 92,556 | 27, 438 | 65,118 | 29.64 |
The performance of the Indian batsmen apart from the top five run-getters is much better at home, but a comparative analysis don’t suggest anything better.
| Team | Total runs | Runs scored by Top-5 | Runs scored by other batsmen | % runs scored by Top-5 |
| Australia | 79,016 | 19,396 | 59,620 | 24.55 |
| India | 63,917 | 19, 860 | 44,057 | 31.07 |
| West Indies | 42,282 | 13,025 | 29,257 | 30.81 |
| Sri Lanka | 38,843 | 16,566 | 22,277 | 42.65 |
| Pakistan | 36,020 | 10,149 | 25,871 | 28.18 |
Apart from India’s top five ODI run-scorers, Virender Sehwag, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli and Ajay Jadeja are the other Indian batsmen to score more than 5,000 runs in ODIs. Thus, if those figures are added, there isn’t much to speak about the rest.
So how strong has India’s batting really been if their contribution is to be kept aside?
(Aayush Puthran is a reporter with CricketCountry. Mercurially jovial, pseudo pompous, perpetually curious and occasionally confused, he is always up for a light-hearted chat over a few cups of filter kaapi!)