Move Kaif up, Yuvi down

The figures taken together also show that while runs/over are on a constant rise, balls/wicket are coming down. Meaning that, more often than not, the Pak top order starts slowly (at an average of less than four in the first 15), conserving wickets, and accelerates as the game progresses. That’s the old-fashioned way of batting, where the last 15 become the slog overs; wickets are lost, but runs are scored at a fast clip with some of the top order batsmen, and Abdul Razzaq-Moin Khan, are around to take charge.

The pattern remains more or less constant, though, irrespective of whether they bat first or chase their opponents’ total. Except that they score at a better average through the middle overs while chasing.

For the Indians, there’s a massive disparity between their first innings statistics and that of their second innings. The constant is that while India’s top order pile up the runs and score at a decent strike rate, the tailenders, or the second half of the order, fail to keep the game going.

But what seems to be working for India while batting first is that right up to the 35th over stage, they score at quicker than do their Pakistani counterparts and they lose wickets slightly less regularly. But while this is good news, as is the fact that the run rate rises significantly in the later overs as is normal, wickets lost seem to stem the flow somewhat.

With these lessons should be added something that is also proven by figures. For the Pakistanis, Shoaib Malik might have preferred to go slightly higher up in the order, as he’s shown the ability to cope with top-order pressures. Similarly, for India, Yuvraj Singh might have been more successful, as would Badani and Kaif, if the order was changed to put these two after Dravid, and Yuvraj were to come in at number seven.