33/3, 144/6, 175/4, 168/5 – these have been some of India’s first innings scores in recent times when they have found themselves in a tricky situation.
445/10, 376/10, 574/8d, 400/10 – these have been the scores that India reached at the end of their innings from those tricky situations, eventually leading up to a win.
The common factor in all these games has been India’s all-rounders in Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, or Axar Patel enacting a rearguard act and sailing away from deep waters.
India have played 23 Tests at Home since the start of WTC on August 1, 2019. India have won 18, lost only three, and drawn two. India’s 78% win ratio at Home is the best, followed by Australia’s 75%.
As described above, all-rounders have been the difference for India, especially at Home for these results. The norm has been for the all-rounders to score runs after a top-order collapse, and then take wickets to see India through to a comfortable victory.
For these claims to not look exaggerated, we have compared nine top all-rounders in Test cricket for their performances since August of 2019.
The trio of Ashwin, Jadeja, and Axar have 23 50+ scores amongst them. England’s Ben Stokes and Chris Woakes are the only ones to better them with 27. To add to it, the India trio also has 20 5-wicket hauls, for which, there is no competition.
But how effective, these numbers are? To understand an all-rounders’ efficiency, we have considered their ‘average difference’ in Home and Away conditions. The higher the difference between their batting and bowling averages, the more effective the all-rounder is. If this difference is a small number, he is either not scoring at a good rate or is taking wickets conceding too many runs.
Whether at Home, Away, or on an overall basis, India’s all-rounders stand in the top 5. Jadeja, by far has been the best in all conditions. While his ‘average difference’ has been 17.44 overall, it shoots up to a staggering 26.64 in Home conditions. He is also, only one of the two all-rounders under consideration to have a positive average difference away from home.
Axar Patel, surprisingly, has a better ‘average difference’ compared to Ravichandran Ashwin in all conditions. Ashwin’s overall ‘average difference’ increases to 6.95 (at Home) from 2.66 (Overall), but it sees a decline to -6.53 in away conditions.
While Ashwin’s bowling average is enviable, his low average with the bat reduces his ‘average difference’. Axar Patel goes through something very similar, but he has a better batting average than Ashwin at Home and a better bowling average than Ashwin, away from Home.
While Jadeja is the clear winner to compare their all-round credentials, Ashwin clearly comes out as a bowling-dominant all-rounder. Axar is only expected to grow in Jadeja’s role with experience over time.
To add one more dimension to the analysis, and check how important the expert jury has considered these performances, we take a look at their match and series awards. Jadeja has four Player of the Match awards, which are only behind Ben Stokes. Ashwin has three of them, but his dominance with the ball has also earned him three Player of the Series awards, which are joint-highest with Ben Stokes.
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