India master Blasters ..the big five

India's big five lead by MS Dhoni, perhaps the best finisher in the game. His numbers tell their own story.

Rohit Sharma - Age 26, 114 ODIs, 3174 runs, 36.06 average, strike rate 78.99, highest score 209 v Australia, Bangalore, 2013, 4 100/20 50

Shikhar Dhawan - 28, 31, 1231, 43.96, 93.96, 119 v West Indies, Kanpur 2013, 5/5

Virat Kohli - 25, 125, 5154, 51.54, 88.84, 183 v Pakistan, Dhaka 2012, 17/28

Suresh Raina - 27, 186, 4512, 35.32, 91.18, 116 no v Bangladesh, Karachi, 2008, 3/29

MS Dhoni - 32, 238, 7774, 52.88, 89.14, 183 not out v Sri Lanka, Jaipur, 2005, 9/51


Remember the halcyon days of India's batting order through the 2000s?

Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman were a top six for lovers of fine, and varied, batting to drool over. And they all had points of difference about them.

Those five aren't worth the comparison with the fab 5.you can never judge these guys by the stats alone.They have been playing at home frequently and probably they are flat track bullies.They need more experience to understand the vagaries of cricket.
You can argue stating that Virat is at a much better state than SRT was at this time,but those are baseless.
They are yet to be tested against quality.At the chances provided overseas they had faltered but yes as time fades they will learn it.
Just because the instincts of these players are similar doesn't mean they are similar in playing too.


P.S : Why on earth is Rahul Dravid missing from that list.? Seriously aghast and enraged. >