A high-scoring trend

Stats for the 4th ODI between India and Pakistan

Cricinfo staff11-Apr-2005India and Pakistan have never met at the Sardar Patel Stadium in Motera, Ahmedabad, a ground that has witnessed – in 20 seasons since it first hosted a game – scores rise from around 190 to above 300. The last time a game was played here, India overtook West Indies’s 324 with 14 balls to spare.As scores have risen, so have high scores. Five hundreds have been scored in the last four games, with Sourav Ganguly leading the list with his 144 against Zimbabwe four years ago.

Player	Score	Versus
Ganguly	144	Zimbabwe, 2000-01
Gayle	140	India, 2002-03
Dravid	109	West Indies, 2002-03
Campbell	102	Australia, 1997-98
Astle	101	England, 1995-96

The rise in scores is more apparent when we observe how bowlers’ figures have taken a beating over two decades.

Decade	Fast bowlers’ avg / economy rate	Spin bowlers’ avg / economy rate
80s	23.09 / 3.85	51.53 / 4.23
90s	24.16 / 4.26	34.87 / 4.49
2000s	62.22 / 5.92	60.40 / 5.86

Bowlers depending on swing have traditionally fared well here. Kapil Dev has 10 wickets in six games at an economy rate of 3.05. Manoj Prabhakar and Damien Fleming have found purchase too. But with the conditions favouring batsmen of late, swing, seam, fast, slow, all could take a battering.However, since it is a day game, bowlers defending a score have it better than their opponents. Bowling in the morning, wickets are taken every 33.48 runs. In the afternoon that average drops dramatically to 24.91.In the nine day games played here, an average of six maidens have been bowled every match – a fair number for a one-day game. But in the last match – a day-nighter between India and West Indies – only two maidens were bowled in nearly 98 overs.