India recently concluded their 5-match Test series against England by playing the rescheduled 5th Test earlier this month, which England won by 7 wickets. The series ended 2-2, and captains Ben Stokes and Jasprit Bumrah shared the trophy. The series was amazing for the fast bowlers as their skill set was on display, but on the other hand, the conversion rate of Indian top order batsmen was abysmal as the whole Indian line-up merely managed just 4 centuries in 10 innings of the test match.
Kohli’s poor form and Cheteshwar Pujara’s consistent barren run didn’t see any change in this series as the latest stats show signs of concern as World Test Championship reaches its halfway.
Since 2020, the following are the batsman with the highest batting average in Test (with a minimum of 20 innings):
Name |
Innings |
Runs |
Average |
Joe Root (Eng) |
60 |
3099 |
57.38 |
Mushfiqur Rahim (Ban) |
22 |
1025 |
56.94 |
Angelo Mathews (SL) |
24 |
1163 |
55.38 |
Babar Azam (Pak) |
25 |
1263 |
54.91 |
Marnus Labuschagne (Aus) |
27 |
1354 |
52.07 |
Dimuth Karunaratne (SL) |
32 |
1501 |
50.03 |
Jonny Bairstow (Eng) |
33 |
1385 |
47.75 |
Liton Das (Ban) |
29 |
1368 |
47.17 |
Dinesh Chandimal (SL) |
24 |
895 |
47.10 |
Steve Smith (Aus) |
24 |
997 |
45.31 |
The list comes as an alarming sign for the Indian team as no Indian batsman is there on the list, with the biggest absentee being the talisman and stalwart, Virat Kohli. Here are the batting averages of the Top Indian batsmen in Tests since 2020:
Name |
Innings |
Runs |
Average |
Rohit Sharma |
24 |
996 |
45.27 |
Rishabh Pant |
32 |
1369 |
42.78 |
Shubman Gill |
21 |
579 |
30.47 |
Virat Kohli |
32 |
872 |
27.25 |
Cheteshwar Pujara |
40 |
1052 |
26.97 |
Ajinkya Rahane |
35 |
819 |
24.08 |
The Indian team will next be in action on the tour of West Indies with three ODI's and fiveT20I's as India takes on West Indies in the first ODI at Port of Spain, Trinidad, on July 22, Friday.
Team India will not be in action in the Tests until the end of November as they prepare for the upcoming World Cup T20I to be played in Australia.