Saturday, December 29, 2007

Slowest batting displays by Indian batsmen in a match

Rahul Dravid is continuing with his new found affection for the stonewalling. After getting support from Indian thinktank which did not find anything wrong with Dravid's first innings effort of scoring 5 runs off 66 balls, Dravid produced another gem in the second innings, scoring 16 in 114 balls. He might have tried to even 'better' his first innings performance, but an edge through gully -almost caught by diving Clarke- gave him a boundary and distorted his figures somewhat.

In all Dravid scored 21 runs in the match off 180 balls in more than four hours' stay at the wicket - a strike rate of 11.66. Dravid's performance is infact the third worst by any Indian in a match (batting in both the innings and facing at least 100 balls in the match). In fact three out of six worst performances for India have come from Dravid's bat only.

The following table lists the worst batting performances by Indian players in a match:

SR Batsman
10.41 RJ Shastri (15) v South Africa,Port Elizabeth,1992-93
11.01 ML Jaisimha (13) v Australia,Sydney,1967-68
11.66 R Dravid (21) v Australia,Melbourne,2007-08
13.72 AD Gaekwad (14) v England,Lord's,1979
15.75 R Dravid (23) v Australia,Nagpur,2004-05
15.86 R Dravid (23) v Australia,Melbourne,1999-00
16.04 RJ Shastri (30) v South Africa,Johannesburg,1992-93
16.42 CPS Chauhan (23) v England,Kanpur,1972-73
16.50 SM Patil (17) v England,Kolkata,1981-82
17.39 KS More (20) v Australia,Brisbane,1991-92