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A couple of interesting FC stats - A Sharma and Nikita Miller

jonbrooks

International Debutant
I was looking through some FC records and was surprised to find some interesting stats.

A Sharma (Ajay Sharma | Cricket Players and Officials | ESPN Cricinfo)
Scored over 10000 runs at an average of 67. This is the 4th highest FC average of all time! He played only 1 test for India and got respectable scores of 30 and 23 yet he was never picked again. He was banned for match fixing in 2000 at the age of 36. By then his best days were probably past him and he may well have tried to cash in while he had the chance.

Why did he play only 1 test? Was Indian cricket politics involved? Scoring 10000 runs @ 67 is no easy feat and he could have been one of the superstars in world cricket had he played more tests.

N Miller (Nikita Miller | Cricket Players and Officials | ESPN Cricinfo)
Nikita Miller has taken 289 @ 16! So why has he played only 1 test? Surely those sort of stats warrants more persistence in the test arena. Strangely though he has played 41 ODIs.
 

hendrix

Hall of Fame Member
In the case of Nikita Miller, the modern WI domestic tracks are very spin friendly, perhaps even more so than the subcontinent. Similarly, take a look at some of the Sri Lankan players' domestic records and you'll see numbers around there. They play on real dustbowls.

as to why Ajay Sharma played only one test…do you see many players in the 2000 Indian team batting lineup you'd drop?
 

jonbrooks

International Debutant
In the case of Nikita Miller, the modern WI domestic tracks are very spin friendly, perhaps even more so than the subcontinent. Similarly, take a look at some of the Sri Lankan players' domestic records and you'll see numbers around there. They play on real dustbowls.

as to why Ajay Sharma played only one test…do you see many players in the 2000 Indian team batting lineup you'd drop?
I don't know about the 2000 team but Sharma's FC career spanned 17 years (1984 - 2001). For a player who performed so well surely they could have found a more permanent place for him in the test squad.

Who were the Indian regulars through the late 80s/early 90s?
 

morgieb

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I think with both they have been aided by pitches to a significant degree. West Indian pitches are as bad as Sri Lankan pitches whereas most Indian batsmen worth a damn seem to average at least 50. India also had very good batting depth, whereas West Indies have quite a few decent spinners in their side (though none of them really have FC averages comparable to Miller).

However they should've played more than what they did/have.
 

morgieb

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Several, several cricketers I can think of with gun FC stats that didn't get much of a crack.
 

jonbrooks

International Debutant
I think with both they have been aided by pitches to a significant degree. West Indian pitches are as bad as Sri Lankan pitches whereas most Indian batsmen worth a damn seem to average at least 50. India also had very good batting depth, whereas West Indies have quite a few decent spinners in their side (though none of them really have FC averages comparable to Miller).

However they should've played more than what they did/have.
Batting 50s in FC is one thing, high 50s another. But to bet high 60s and score over 10000 runs begs the question why he didn't play more tests for India.
 

morgieb

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Like? Sharma is the only one who really stood out to me. I mean c'mon he has average of 67!
Probably not Sharma-esque, but for his country there were a couple of wicket-keepers with insane averages (over 50) and quite a few gun middle order bats that didn't get a fair crack of the whip if at all IMO.

As for Miller...a few bowlers have FC averages below 20 on poor pitches, but not really 16.

I'll give a few examples soon.
 

OverratedSanity

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Genuinely surprised by Ajay Sharma's stats. Didn't know he had such a great record. Strange he didn't get picked because in his prime, the early-90s, our batting wasn't strong. Could've used a consistent performer.

Nikita Miller though benefits greatly from some poor tracks and average batting. Even most west Indians don't rate him
 

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