Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Statistics - everybody wins

Think you should win the toss and bat at Karachi? Think again. Only twice in history has a team batted first upon winning the toss, and subsequently emerged victorious at the National Stadium

So think you should have no hesitation in ignoring every cliched adage in the book and field first? Think again. Every single visiting team that has won the toss and inserted Pakistan has LOST the game. That's lost - not one has even held out for an honourable, or dishonourable, draw.

So what on earth should you do? That's the wonder of statistics. The one that's really interesting is that England in 2000-01 are the only visiting team to ever win at the National Stadium. What that all means is that India were doomed from the outset. The path to victory at Karachi is pretty simple - you have to be Pakistan.

In fact, should India, by some miracle, fail to lose this match, they will have rewritten the history books. Meaning that there is actually something to play for.

Okay, so I'm not sure what my point really is, but it was worth making anyway.

1 comment:

Googlogger said...

Nice work. Well India is not only fighting Pakistan but history of the past 37 matches. If they can even manage a draw that will be equivalent to a win.