Cricket – opinions and facts

@zxaar’s comments in a Cricinfo article prompted this post. He commented that – “He (Miandad) was not great outside of pakistan where he was helped by home umpires. Not a true great. Miadad’s case states lie due to favour from umpires.“



I’m an Indian cricket fan and grew up seeing Miandad snatch victory from India in a number of cricket matches. I never doubted his greatness, so I decided to analyze cricket data to accept or reject @zxaar’s assertion. My analysis proves and bolsters Javed Miandad’s greatness.

So I replied to @zxaar in the Cricinfo article –

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In fact, Miandad scored more # runs/match in One Day Cricket when he played outside Pakistan (see Table 1).

There is close correlation between “% Matches” and “% Runs” in Table 1 and Table 2, which indicates that he played equally well where-ever he played and who-ever he played against. In other words, he did not really favor a ground or a team. He was brutal against all teams, in every country he played.

Table 1: Javed Miandad’s One Day Cricket record in various countries

Ground	# Runs	# Matches	Runs per Match	% Matches	% Runs
Australia	1895	57	33.2	25%	26%
England	702	21	33.4	9%	10%
India	468	15	31.2	7%	6%
New Zealand	356	9	39.6	4%	5%
Pakistan	1974	65	30.4	29%	27%
South Africa	225	6	37.5	3%	3%
Sri Lanka	199	6	33.2	3%	3%
United Arab Emirates	1052	34	30.9	15%	14%
West Indies	338	9	37.6	4%	5%

Table 2: Javed Miandad’s One Day Cricket record against various countries

Opponent	# Runs	# Matches	Runs per Match	% Matches	% Runs
Australia	1004	32	31.4	14%	14%
England	988	26	38.0	12%	13%
India	1173	33	35.5	15%	16%
New Zealand	693	23	30.1	10%	9%
South Africa	145	3	48.3	1%	2%
Sri Lanka	1111	34	32.7	15%	15%
West Indies	1928	63	30.6	28%	26%
Zimbabwe	263	6	43.8	3%	4%

Note: I’ve removed records for countries where or against whom he did not bat or played only 1 match.