FLOP SHOW, IF YOU TAKE THE BEST AWAY

One of the most common mistakes that people make in assessing the contribution of a batsman to a big series is that they get obsessed with his average for the whole series. So we come to a peculiar situation where Tendulkar’s healthy average of 45.83 from the current series rides on just one brilliant knock of 175, while Yuvraj manages 25.60 from his five matches, thanks to just one good knock of 76.

Now take the best knocks away and Tendulkar has 100 from other five matches @ 20.00 while Yuvraj scores just 50 from the other four matches that he played – his average coming down by half to 12.5 per match.

That sums up the sorry state of India in the series. Of the six top batsmen who have played 4 or more matches in the series so far, only three – Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni and Gautam Gambhir -- have managed two 50+ knocks. Sehwag got past 30 thrice without managing to count it big even once – natural instincts coming in the way of a big score.

In the current series, India’s fortune have looked completely in sync with how Dhoni has performed. The 2nd and the 3rd ODIs, where Dhoni scored big, were won by India. Even in Dhoni's case, take away his century and you will see 161 from other five innings. 44% of Dhoni’s runs were scored from one innings alone. Though he was the anchorman for sure.

Two other southpaws, Suresh Raina and Gautam Gambhir, average 31 with their best innings. Take their best inning away, and they score only 24 and 21 per innings respectively.

No surprise that India have lost the series with one match still to go.