Analysis: ODI Hundreds for Pakistan

Pakistan’s 5-0 loss to Australia was the 1^st time a team scored 5 100s in an ODI series and still got whitewashed. In terms of 100s scored, the series was a rare one in ODI history from various angles, such as:

These are some staggering numbers to highlight the rarity of what happened during the series.

On the other hand, common belief says that whenever Pakistan batting manages to put even a half-decent score, Pakistan bowling has always been good enough not to let the opponents walk away with the game.

How good that belief stood in this series? Narrowing down the numbers specifically to Pakistan, points us in the direction of answer to this question.

Most of the 100s in the series were scored by Pakistan; a team whose ability to score big – or to convert frequently scored average scores into big hundreds – is what has been believed, for a long time, to be its most critical success factor in Limited Overs Cricket.

Stats of this kind makes one question those common beliefs and dig deeper into this topic of 100s and success in Pakistan’s case.

Do all 100s contribute towards team victory?

The general consensus answers to this question in negative. Not all 100s mean team victory. In fact, some 100s influence negatively on team progress – the team total in that particular innings. The history of Cricket, especially ODI history, enlists quite a few instances where players were blamed for team loss even after scoring a century – in fact, some of them got dropped right after scoring a hundred.

What is a good 100, then?

Just like there cannot be a one-size-fit-for-all kind of answer for questions like ‘what makes a team win?’, it is impractical to formulate a definition that could be applied on centuries scored in all seasons, conditions, regions and formats to adjudge a 100 to be a good or a bad 100.

For this reason, this analysis will not indulge in declaring – or even painting – any ODI 100 as good or bad.

What am I going to get out of reading on, then?

We can work with a definition, however, that applies to most not all the conditions. A definition that is generally used to identify if a 100 eventually propelled the progress of the team or the team progress got stalled because of one of the batsmen approaching their personal milestone.

Staying away from judging a 100 to be a good or a bad 100, this analysis remains confined only to one dimension: that is, if the strike rate of an individual innings of 100 or more was higher than the overall strike rate the team scored its runs during the same innings.

To calculate strike rate of a team innings, the total number of runs is divided by the total number of runs scored in the innings – exactly the same how batsman strike rate is calculated.

For ease of understanding, this part of the analysis will focus on 100s scored specifically by Pakistan batsmen in ODIs. Comparison with 100s scored by batsmen from other countries will be covered in a separate part, later.

ODI 100s by Pakistanis:

Let’s start with quick summary of all 100s scored by Pakistani batsmen in ODIs. A total of 197 centuries has been scored in 912 team innings by 42 Pakistani batsmen in ODI Cricket.

Fastest Individual 100+ innings:

Here’s a Top-20 list of fastest 100+ innings played by Pakistan batsmen in ODIs. 

Please note, the list denotes Strike Rates at the end of individual innings not when the 100-runs milestone was achieved in that particular innings. Same classification is applied throughout this analysis.

Slowest Individual 100+ innings:

Similarly, here’s a list of all 100+ innings played by Pakistan batsmen in ODIs with worst Strike Rates.

Top 100+ Innings with Positive Impact on Team Strike Rate:

If all 197 centuries scored by Pakistan batsmen in ODIs are ordered by the difference in Strike Rate of that complete individual innings and the overall Strike Rate of the team at the end of that particular team innings, here’s what we get as the Top-20 list:

Top 100+ Innings with Negative Impact on Team Strike Rate:

Similarly, here’s a list of 100+ innings by Pakistan batsmen in ODIs with highest negative impact on Team:

Timeline of 100s scored by Pakistanis in ODIs:

If all the 100s scored by Pakistan batsmen in ODIs are mapped onto a timeline in the context of its impact on Team Run Rate, it yields this view:

The view also provides brief details about the innings with highest impact – either positive or negative – on Team Run Rate.

Most impactful centurions for Pakistan in ODIs:

After analyzing individual innings in the context of its impact on team output, the next interesting thing would be to analyze the tendency of all centurions for Pakistan in ODIs throughout their careers in the same context.

Not surprisingly, not all the names in this list rose to undisputed legend of the game status, and those who did, their names are right there on the top. Many other similar inferences can be drawn from this list.

Whenever Javed Miandad, Zaheer Abbas or Shaid Afridi scored a hundred, they made sure their innings propelled the team towards a higher total. There’s a reason they are regarded as the most impactful players the game has seen and the same is evident here. Inzamam ul Haq, Kamran Akmal and Ijaz Ahmed also played with similar intent (and impact).

The Recent Past:

All the aforementioned details spanned from the beginning of ODI Cricket, which has changed drastically over the years. One may argue that the team scores used to be pretty low at the beginning of ODI Cricket, therefore, it would have been easier to score quick runs once the batsman reached his hundred. The counter argument would be that ODI Cricket in early days was played either with no field restrictions or with field restrictions that allowed more open field placement than today, hence, it was comparatively easier to accumulate runs rather than scoring boundaries. It’s a never ending debate, however.

What could be more beneficial, would be to fast forward to recent past and analyze the recent past in the same context. The next stop for ODIs is the World Cup, so let’s take the last World Cup as cut-off for the recent past. By doing so, here is the quick summary that we get of all hundreds scored by Pakistan batsmen in ODIs.

It opens up the avenue for many interesting inferences. For instance, out of 30 hundreds scored by Pakistan batsmen in ODIs since 2015 World Cup, only 2 have been faster than innings run rate against a team ranked higher than Pakistan at the time. [Bangladesh, Ireland, Sri Lanka, West Indies and Zimbabwe were ranked lower than Pakistan on the day the particular 100 was scored.]

It does reveal interesting patterns but only at the team level. We can delve further to look for the same at individual players level:

To sum it up, here’s a look at how all centurions for Pakistan in ODIs since 2015 World Cup have fared:

To round-off this part of the analysis, here are the list of 100s, in the same context, by some prominent and current players for Pakistan in ODIs:

Retired Players:

Current Players:

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Tournament Journey of Last 4 in PSL 2019

League Round of 4^th Edition of Pakistan Super League has been concluded and it has come down to 4 teams to claim the title. A perfect time to look back at how the teams ebbed and flowed at the points table during the league round and here’s a quick look at it:

More than skill and experience, its often form and momentum of a team that decides its fate in a tournament scenario. The above view provides a good avenue to review the last 4 teams, on the same basis.

Let’s review the last 4, one by one: 

QUETTA GLADIATORS has been, by far, the most consistent side of PSL4. They were the first team to qualify for the next round. Although, lost the top position at the end, they remained at the top of the table during most part of the league round. That the lowest their ranking dipped this season was 3^rd spot, is a statement in itself about their dominance and consistency in this season. 

They lost both their games against Karachi. Its only the second time that Quetta has lost both the league games to a team in any season – Islamabad did it in 2017. The other team that managed to beat them, this season, was Lahore. Interestingly, Lahore has not managed to win more than 3 games in any PSL season but they have managed to beat Quetta once in all seasons except 2017.

For the first time since PSL1, it’s the first time Quetta Gladiators are going into the last round of the tournament with full squad. All their foreign players have come to Pakistan saving them from their usual pain of fielding replacement overseas players in the most crucial phase of the tournament. Their daring calls to pick Sohail Tanvir, Umar Akmal and Ahmad Shahzad have paid off, Watson is in form and one of the masters of the format, DJ Bravo has also joined them to bolster their lineup in the Final stage.

Consistency, depth, experience and line up filled with match winners make Quetta the top contenders for the title this year. 

PESHAWAR ZALMI has finished as the top team in the Points Table at the end of League Round for the third time in PSL history. Islamabad United topped the Table in 2018 when Peshawar finished 3^rd, in fact just 1 point ahead of the top team to be disqualified, Multan Sultans.

Peshawar didn’t start off at their dominating best – lost 2, won 2, in the first 4 games. But since then, they have been in in devastating form – losing only 1 out of 6. In the last 2 matches, they have showcased full range of their arsenal as well. Against Lahore, they had the experience of Misbah to rescue them from 20/5 situation, while against Karachi, the brutality of Kamran Akmal at the top, all but nullified the very capable fire power of Karachi’s batting.

Peshawar has peaked, gathered and exploded at, probably, the perfect time in the tournament; fully capable of bursting their way to the trophy. 

ISLAMABAD UNITED is the only team – qualified for the next round – with a different captain than the last season and it has reflected in their journey as well. They finished Table Toppers last year but have spent most of the time, this season, right in the middle of the table. They appointed a new captain – someone with not so accomplished captaincy credentials – and then injuries to him forced a young boy – literally – to lead the side. Considering these factors, staying well clear of the bottom of the table for most of part of the season is an achievement in itself. 

Last year, their performance was dominant. The right word for their performance this year would be resilient. There’s no lack of star cast in their line up, still, their journey is built more around team spirit, cohesion and coordination.

Going into the business end of the tournament, Islamabad United looks the most spirited side. The kind of spirit where any player on his day could take them to victory against any side.

KARACHI KINGS had, probably, the most remarkable journey this year. Tipped by many as probably the strongest squad on paper, they had the longest stretch by any team this year in the danger-zone (ranked 5 or 6) – that’s right, even longer than Multan Sultans or Lahore Qalandars who eventually got disqualified.

Winning only 2 out of first 6 games, they were seriously slow off the mark. The explosives filled batting lineup not firing, experienced local pacers – Sohail and Shinwari – going all over the place and captain missing out on bowling specialist bowlers - at one stage, Karachi Kings looked certain to be the first team to get knocked out of the qualification race this year. 

Then came Colin Ingram’s performance against the most consistent side in the campaign, Quetta Gladiators, and it seemed to have triggered the pack.

Karachi Kings have lost only 2 games out of last 6 and both of them courtesy of exceptional individual performances from the opponent camp – by Asif Ali and Kamran Akmal.

Coming out of near disqualification threat, gaining momentum at the right time and still having a couple of match winners yet to fire (the devastating Colin Munro and Ben Dunk), seriously experienced bowling lineup and above all, the home crowd advantage, Karachi looks far from being just a filler in the list of last 4 standing to claim the title.

To round it off, here’s how teams have fared in this year’s PSL. 

Still to come:

• Journey of all teams across PSL seasons
• Team-wise Form guide across seasons
•   Review of teams beyond League Round

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