Why does Pakistan traditionally produce better fast bowlers than India?

[_00_deathscar]

Think I made it clear the game was often in the balance when Gilly made it Australia's inside a session. Hence no platform (if by that you mean a clear advantage) provided for him.

While that might be the case (he often came in when the game was in the balance), it's a little bit different doing it when you know you're backed by Australia's bowling attack and batting strength, even if the batting strength may have failed on occasion. Australia were clearly top dogs, by a sizeable margin, around the time Gilchrist had made his debut, and they were often considered "one of the best teams, ever" by the time he was an established player in the team.

Executing what he did, on the consistent basis he did it, is a different beast altogether.

But let's be honest - he wasn't playing for Bangladesh to have to worry about how the game would pan out; more times out of not, it was an Australian victory.

 

[TheJediBrah]

It's not just about context when rating players with different SRs though, or about how "valuable" a given strike rate is. It's about the (generally) inverse relationship between average and strike rate that tends to occur.

For the same player, say they could strike at 50 or 100 if they needed to, and they'd probably have a higher average if they struck at 50 than if they had to score run-a-ball.

It's why if you had 2 players with a similar average, but one had a much higher strike rate, you'd generally rate the batsman with the higher strike rate as the better player. If he wanted to bat slower he probably could and probably have a higher average. Vice versa if the lower SR guy tried to bat faster he'd probably have a lower average than the usual high-SR guy.

(I say "generally" because there are exceptions, eg. players who are suited by ultra-aggressive styles and probably wouldn't have a higher average if they slowed down (Sehwag, McCullum etc))

 

[cnerd123]

If you're playing in conditions where one ball out of a 100 is going to be unplayable and get you out, your optimal strategy is to score quickly before that ball arrives.

 

[the big bambino]

Gilchrist penalised for being too good.

 

[TheJediBrah]

I only brought Gilchrist up as a joke wasn't expecting serious comparisons tbf

 

[Engle]

Gilly was a joy to behold and a boost to the game. And yes, he did come to the rescue of his team in a spectacular fashion.

But, if you're playing for a volatile team AND you're captain, then you have to demonstrate some solidity/stability as an example for the rest of the team to follow.