Away from home

Do you know what separates the batsmen from the batsboys in Tests?

Alternatively, do you know how to get Mohammad Kaif and Ramnaresh Sarwan out of lean trots in ODI's?

Answer's just the same - cast them away to foreign shores. The Cricinfo List this week also disproves my long time suspicion that the home / away factor has far less pronounced an effect in the ODI format than in Tests. As for Sachin who averages in the high 50's and hence could be expected to have some deviant stats, absence of his name from this sort of a list highlighting standard deviations again bears testimony to his consistency.

I mean, Rahul Dravid averages a formidable 51 at home along with that 65 away average, but Rahul baiters could easily observe that 'Rahul is decidedly more susceptible on low and slow tracks' and logic would not allow outright rejection of that view. Sachin's stats offer no such opportunities to his detractors as his batting performances show little variation with the presence or absence of a visa in his pocket.

But I just cannot get over Rahul's average of 65 plus in foreign shores. S-I-X-T-Y F-I-V-E !!! For that alone I am willing to stand up and salute Rahul Dravid without any reservations.

By the way, going by that list Mohinder Amarnath's away record is 70% better than his home stats!! Surely that must be another record?