India to play 900th ODI: 5 reasons why India is a better team in this format

It’s busy time for statisticians. After a historic Test series in which India played their 500th match overall and 250th at home (won all of the them), it’s time to focus on the five-game One-Day International (ODI) series beginning at Dharamsala on October 16. And even this match will be special since it will be the 900th ODI India will be playing since they started playing the limited-over format in 1972.

India have played most number of ODIs

While India’s Test record has not been extra-ordinary (till the recent series, they had a success rate of below 26 per cent, placing them at the seventh position out of 10) their ODI record has been quite opposite. India, in fact, have played more ODIs than any other teams in the world (899 against Australia’s 888 and Pakistan’s 866) while their success rate is more than double than in Tests (53.19 per cent with 454 victories, 399 losses and seven ties).

India fourth most successful ODI side

India’s success rate in ODIs is fourth best after Australia (64.42%), South Africa (64.05%) and Pakistan (54.36%) while in terms of wins, they are placed third after Australia (547) and Pakistan (457). India, however, have lost the most number of ODI matches (just one short of 400), while Pakistan have lost 383 and Sri Lanka 373. Still, India’s overall record in ODIs look impressive and since more number of countries play in this format, the fourth rank that India has looks all the more better, though they need to do much better against some of the quality opponents.

In terms of records against opponents, India have won less matches than they have lost against Australia (41 vs 72), Pakistan (51 vs 72), South Africa (28 vs 45) and the West Indies (53 vs 60).

Also read- Looking back at India-New Zealand ODI history

But why is that Team India has become a better team in the ODIs than Tests?

There are enough reasons for that.

First, the nature of pitches in the sub-continent. Being a sub-continental team, India have evolved more as a team dominated by the batsmen than bowlers and with the bowling standards declining across the globe, India’s batting powerhouse has only become more powerful.

With business interests related to cricket also demanding the game to turn more batsman-friendly so that the entertainment continues and with that the revenue grows, pitches across the planet have been made more docile, as if they are made more in favour of the Indian batsmen. These together have made India a strong ODI side now.

Secondly, India’s evolution in ODIs. We all know how Sunil Gavaskar had scored a 36 not out in 60 overs against England in a World Cup game to ensure that India played for a ‘draw’ in 1975.

Today, batsmen from the same country wield their willows as a mace, caring little for the opponent. This evolution in the skills and mindset has happened over the last four decades – particularly after India had won their first World Cup in 1983 which had generated tremendous enthusiasm about the game in this country. By the time MS Dhoni won his second World Cup in 2011, India’s cabinets were full with World Cups in various formats (ODIs, T20s, junior level) and these repeated successes never allowed the craze for limited-over cricket wane out.

Thirdly, the Sachin Tendulkar era. When Tendulkar finished his extraordinary career in 2013, India had almost all batting records under its name. The run-machine by the name of Tendulkar dwarfed every second record which had persisted before his advent.

For example, before Tendulkar began his journey in international cricket in 1989, it was West Indies’ Desmond Haynes who had dominated the list of century-makers in ODIs. When Tendulkar finished with 49, the challenge for the future batsmen was increased almost three-fold. Pakistan’s Saeed Anwar was once in a race with Tendulkar to break Haynes’s record of 17 ODI hundreds. Anwar stopped at 20, Tendulkar went on to score 49.

The same with Test cricket (Gavaskar’s total of 35 international hundreds looked too much once; now Tendulkar has raised the level to 100 international hundreds… take that). He also touched 10,000 ODI runs as the first batsman on this earth and even scored the first-ever 200 in a ODI game. All in all, the impact that Tendulkar had on India’s ODI history is massive.

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Fourthly, the improvement under the captaincy since Sourav Ganguly. Since Ganguly took the charge in 2000, India’s ODI record has improved by far – even under the successive captains. Till then, it was Kapil Dev’s World Cup-winning captaincy in 1983 and Mohammad Azharuddin’s mostly home-strong leadership were the high points.

Apart from these two captains, all others had more defeats than wins (including Tendulkar who had a horrendous captaincy record). But under Ganguly and other captains who succeeded him (eight after him), India have won more matches than they lost (262 against 183), which shows how a positive example influences the generations to come.

True, Ganguly did not win more than one multi-side tournament (Natwest Trophy in 2002; the 2002 Mini World Cup was jointly won but it was disappointing) and lost in big finals a number of times (like Mini World Cup in 2000, World Cup in 2003, tri-series final in Australia) but he had indeed set up a momentum which was utilised by the likes of Mahendra Singh Dhoni (107 wins out of 194 matches and those include a number of victories abroad)

And finally, India’s global dominance in limited-over cricket has been the focal point – whether in terms of the game and skills or the commerce related to it off the pitch. This might not be a direct cause for India’s better performance in ODIs and T20s but indirectly, it certainly is.

With the advent of tournaments like IPL and the endorsements related to it and the beeline of commercial enterprises, cricket in India is in such a healthy shape now that there is little concern over the bench strength now.

More than the age-old domestic tournaments, it is the IPL which is preparing the budding cricketers more by bringing them in direct contact with international players and the culture. They are hence improving fast and there is a rat race for a stronger bench now which is a good sign. There might not be another Kapil Dev or Tendulkar who have emerged through tournaments like IPL, but there are certainly more numbers of bits-and-pieces players who are no less useful in the limited format of the game.