From: sidi@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Sadiq Yusuf)
Subject: The Patil Files (+ Srikkant,Siddhu)- was Re: In the defense 
Organization: Northwestern University, Evanston Illinois.
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1992 03:09:58 GMT

In article <karnik.721707232@myria> karnik@myria.cs.umn.edu (Neeran M. Karnik) writes:
>In <1992Nov13.215646.19621@infonode.ingr.com> arun@infonode.ingr.com (Arun Madhwesh) writes:
>
>
>>It is surprising that dropping SPatil is/was being seen as 
>>grave injustice to blossomming talent and cricket values
>>in general! IMHO, he was given enough oppurtunities
>>to display his stuff but was generally very inconsistant.
>:
>:
>:
>>amt of chances is finally dropped... Maybe statistics can
>>make the picture clear..
>
>	I don't have any stats, but I would guess that his average in Tests
>was in the high 30s - no worse than, say, Alan Lamb or Srikkanth, or Shastri.
>Besides which, he was a thrilling strokeplayer, his batting was a treat to
>watch. Also, he had scored a century in his last test before he was finally
>dropped for good. Earlier too, he was in and out of the side a couple of 
>times. My point is, this type of player has to be persevered with - typically
>at #5 or #6 in the order, bacause they do provide exciting cricket. Kambli is
>another such player, who may be inconsistent, but will play the occasional
>match-winning innings, and delight the spectators all the way. Similarly,
>Patil won a few games for India (ODIs) by his explosive batting. He deserved
>to be a fixture in the team.
>

	Well, you asked for stats, you got 'em !

	Sandeep Patil played 29 tests(47 inn) and scored 1588 test runs, at an
average of 36.93 . He had 4 centuries ( from memory - against Imran and co
in Pakistan, against Willis and co in England, SL at home, and Lillee,
Pascoe and Hogg in Australia ). Looking back, not a half bad record ! He
also had 9 wickets in a 107 + overs, at 26.66 . 
	Since Neeran mentions Srikkant, and claims that Patil was probably "no
worse", it's worthwhile scrutinising his record as well. These stats are
upto and NOT including the tour of Australia last year (however, Srikkant
didn't set the world on fire in the tests there ). Previous to the
Australian tour, Srikkant had played 39 tests (64 inn) and scored 1927
runs, at an averge of 31.59 . He has 2 centuries (from memory - against Pak
at Madras, and can't remember the other). He's bowled about 35 overs and
hasn't taken a test wicket. 
	Comparing the two records , it's obvious that Patil's is far
superior ( tho, of course, it's not fair to compare the two - apples and
oranges. One opener and one middle order ). He has 4 centuries to
Srikkant's 2, and has played 10 fewer tests ( 17 fewer innings). 
	Patil didn't get a century in his last test. Iam reconstructing the
events here, from some scraps of info I have . I don't have
confirmation of this, but I fancy he got a hundred in the 2nd test in
Pakistan on the '88 tour - the match was played  from the 24th to the 29th
of October. This was just before Indira Gandhi's assasination, and the tour
was called off a couple of days after the end of this test ( during a ODI,
if I remember right). We then played England approx. a month later, in
India. The first game was in Bombay, from the 28th of November to the 3rd
of December ( Siva's test. I don't know what Patil got here, it wasn't a
century ). The 2nd test was played in Delhi from the 12th to the 17th of
December, and India lost it on the last day due to a pathetic batting
display. Patil, I believe (from memory) got something like 41, and was out
top-edging a half-pull. This was the height of the "star wars" between
Kapil and Gavaskar. Kapil and Patil were dropped from the next test in
Calcutta ( I have always believed that Gavaskar simply wanted drop Kapil,
did it on the basis of "irresponsibility", and included Patil simply as a
scapegoat. If a Bombay player was dropped along with Kapil, at least a
regional bias couldn't be suggested. That's a purely personal opinion, and
pure speculation . No flames please :-) ). Kapil returned for the next
test  (without having played any cricket between tests), Patil never played
another test in his life !! 
	Looking back, it's clear that Patil was amazingly unlucky - a
bizarre combination of events led to his cricketing end. I mean, here was a
man averaging almost 37 in his test career, having scored 4 tons in less
than 30 tests, being dropped after a score of 40 odd out of 235 and about a
month and a half after having scored a century !! Of course, he was
replaced in the Calcutta test by a young debutant with a longish name who
proceeded to score a century on debut in front of a hundred thousand people
- and followed it up with 2 more centuries in his next 2 tests - none of
which aided his comeback !! :-) However, the question I have is this. Surely,
Patil with his international record ought to have been the next
middle-order choice in case of lack of form at that point ?? But was he ??
After all, Indian went to Australia for the WSC (which we won - with
Shastri's Audi and all :-) ) immidiately after the England tour, and I dont
recall Patil being a part  of the team, even as a reserve !! In fact, on
discussing this with a friend , our best guess for the man filling the
reserve middle-order spot in Australia is Ashok Malhotra !( Can anyone
confirm this ?). That was the final injustice of this whole sorry saga.
And, looking at it from Patil's point of view, he had every right to feel
very, very aggrieved (not to say aggravated :-) ) . 
	Now, just another interesting scrap I gleaned from this
treasure-trove of a book :-) . It's interesting how one notices these
things sometimes. Srikkant, as I've said, averages 31.59 in tests with 2
centuries and is looked at as having been fairly succesful over his test
career. Siddhu, OTOH, averges 30.34 (not _that_ much worse) and also has 2
centuries in less than half as many tests (17) as Srikkant - and is seen as
never having done very much !! And Siddhu's centuries have been against WI
in WI ( Jamaica ?), and Pak in Pa (Sialkot?) where he saved us from near
certain defeat. I found these stats pretty surprising , it's funny how our
memory can so often be selective !! 
	But the most important thing I notice is this. ( BTW, these stats
are also prior to Australia, and Sarjah too. SIddhu didn't play too many
ODI's in Oz, and did very well in Sarjah - 98 v/s WI. SO, Iam assuming they
even out :-) ) Siddhu has played 42 ODI's, and averages 40.67 , with 2
centuries and 14 fifties , which is nothing short of brilliant !! I mean,
that's waay higher than players like Mallik and all. In fact, in Indian
cricketing ODI history, there is precisely ONE player who has a higher ODI
average than Siddhu, and that's Ashok Mankad !!!(and he played only one
match, scored 44, at an average of 44.00 :-) :-) ). ( Srikkant, for
example, has played 126 matches and averages 29.02 with 4 tons and 22
fifties , and he's one of our most successful ODI players ever ). If Jadeja
comes thru, maybe Siddhu will not make the test team again in the near
future. But, based on performance, maybe we ought to have him in our OD
team as an OD expert !! I mean, his performances _have_ been outstanding,
and it won't do any harm to use a few OD specialists (ala Fairbrother ).
    

			Sadiq [ Just the stats, ma'am ] Yusuf

>>Arun
>
>
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  Neeran   Karnik  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>Dept. of Computer Science,      | Email: karnik@cs.umn.edu
>University of Minnesota         |        karn0001@student.tc.umn.edu
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~