Mohammad Hafeez and Asian openers - The struggle outside Asia is real

40, 0, 18, 42, 0, 2. These are not the numbers from the infamous game Bingo but are Mohammad Hafeez’s scores in the ongoing Test series vs England. Ever since Mohammad Hafeez lost his bowling armory, his batting has remained in a greater focus.

Though he wasn’t a Bradman or a Tendulkar with the bat when he used to bowl but his contributions with the ball usually helped the fans overlook his batting. Recent failures outside Asia have forced the fans and the former cricketers to reconsider his selection as a ‘specialist opening batsman’.

With 13 years of international experience and 50 Tests old, Hafeez’s career average of 39.22 in tests make him look like another one of those ordinary batsmen. His average shoots to 50.16 (an increase of 10.94 from his career average) when playing in Asia but drops to 21.43 (a decrease of 17.79 from his career average) when playing outside Asia. He has spent 34 percent of his Test career outside Asia but has only scored 18.6 percent of his Test runs in those games, not to mention that the remaining runs came in Asia. His average increases to a further 50.86 when he is opening in the subcontinent.

He might not be a favorable opening option outside Asia but he is one of the five guys to average 50+ as an opener in Asia (minimum qualification: 20 innings). This tells us something that he can bat and it might be the only reason why his place looks guaranteed like Doomsday; it’s the bounce and seam movement off the surface that gets him outside the subcontinent.

Also read – Stats: Players with a double of a fifty and 10-wicket haul in a Test match

The table below shows the top Asian opening batters with the highest batting average in Asia. Virender Sehwag averages the highest (almost 59) among all of them and sits proudly at the top. Almost all of the top 10 batsmen have positive average differences from their career averages. This shows that they perform better in Asia than they have performed in their careers.

Vinoo Mankad averaged 15.31 more in Asia than he averaged throughout his career. This shows that most of the Asian openers average more in the subcontinent than their career averages. The more the average difference, the less will be the opener’s average outside Asia.

If we look at the performance of Asian openers outside Asia and UAE (minimum qualification: 20 innings), Mohammad’s Hafeez average of 20.09 is the lowest. Sunil Gavaskar averages the highest and is one of only two batsmen to average 50+. The difference in this table and the table above is quite evident that in the table above, all of the Top 10 average more than 45 while only three, in the table below, average more than 45 outside Asia.

This shows that Mohammad Hafeez’s struggle outside Asia is nothing new but a continued problem for Asian openers. Though seven of the top 10 Asian openers average positively more than their career averages outside the subcontinent but these figures have been helped by batting in the West Indies and Zimbabwe where conditions are similar like that in Asia.

However, when we remove West Indies and Zimbabwe as host countries from the table above, the results change drastically which validates my point made above that it is easier (or Asia-like) to score runs in the West Indies and Zimbabwe.

Also read – Stats: Bowlers who have picked a hat-trick in Test cricket

Sunil Gavaskar averages the highest in Tests in Australia, England, New Zealand and South Africa combined (minimum qualification: 20 innings) i.e. 44.80, a dip of almost 7 from his average outside Asia. None of the Asian openers average more than 45, let alone 50, in the conditions where there is swing and the ball talks for the majority of the game. Here again, Mohammad Hafeez’s average of 17.31 is the lowest among all the Asian openers. Sadiq Mohammad surprisingly averages 7.12 more than his career average in these seaming conditions while Sunil Gavaskar, probably the greatest Asian opener, struggled comparatively here.

All said and done, it will be encouraging for Hafeez’s fans that he is one of the best, if not the best when playing in Asia however, his record is quite dismal outside the subcontinent. Though a majority of Asian openers struggle outside Asia especially in Australia, England, New Zealand and South Africa but Hafeez’s record there is the worst of them all.