Cricket World Cup 2019: Odds of India winning improve while batting second

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Cricket World Cup 2019: Odds of India winning improve while batting second
  • India has a win percentage of 74.28% while chasing compared to 62.50% batting first
  • Virat Kohli performs with super-human consistency regardless of when India bat
  • India’s top order - Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, are the world’s leading run scorers
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Over the past two years, the sparkling form of India’s top three - Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, and Rohit Sharma, has been instrumental in the team winning 41 out of 59 matches and maintaining its number two spot on the ICC one day international rankings. An analysis of those wins shows that India prefer chasing. The team has a win percentage of 74.28% when batting second compared to 62.50% while batting first. This reveals that India’s strength lies in its batsmen and their ability to handle high-pressure situations.

India’s batting record in the past two years

TypeMatchesWonLost TiedNo ResultW/L Win percent
Batting first24157112.14262.5%
Batting second 35268103.25074.28%

The terrific trio on top

Kohli displays superhuman consistency, regardless of when India bat. He has amassed 3,088 runs from 48 ODIs at an average of 85.77 with 14 hundreds and 10 fifties. However, he has a better average batting first (89.93) than when batting second (82.80).

Kohli is followed by Rohit, who has scored 2879 runs from 53 matches at an average of 63.97. Rohit’s average goes up several notches when India chase. His second innings average is 67.68 while his first innings average is 59.35. He will be a key player if India have a high-scoring chase on their hands.

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Dhawan’s 2,265 runs from 52 games have mostly come in the first innings, where he has an average of 52.09 from 22 innings. When India chase, Dhawan’s average drops to 43.03 from 30 innings.

Dhoni, the master finisher

Based on his return to big-hitting form in the IPL and his remarkable record chasing, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who will the playing his last World Cup, will be a major factor in the second innings. In the past two years, Dhoni has an average of 60.80 from 19 innings. In the 11 innings that resulted in Indian victories, Dhoni scored 408 runs and remained not-out on 9 occasions, ending up with a mammoth average of 204.

World Cup squad batting first (past two years)
Player InningsRunsHSAverage100s 50s Strike rate
Kohli191349160*89.9365101.35
Sharma211187208*59.355496.58
Dhawan22114614352.0946100.96
Dhoni216177941.130491.40
Pandya163028320.1301118.43
Jadhav1529540*32.7700104.98
Shankar31174639.000097.50
Karthik6953719.000072.51
KL Rahul 2332616.500084.61


World Cup squad batting second (past two years)

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Player Innings RunsHSAverage100s 50s Strike rate
Kohli29173914082.808597
Sharma321692152*67.687893.94
Dhawan301119132*43.033498.24
Dhoni1960887*60.800668.00
Pandya82697838.4202113.02
Jadhav1441181*41.100485.80
Shankar2483224.000094.11
Karthik1133064*82.500276.03
KL Rahul 5906022.500077.58



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