Mark Waugh vs Sourav Ganguly - A statistical comparison of two elegant batsmen

Mark Waugh and Sourav Ganguly – two batsmen who made batting beautiful but perhaps fell short of what they could have achieved

Sportsmen are loved for various reasons; some for guts, some for style, some for heart, some for numbers. Some are loved for overachieving and some are loved in spite of underachieving.

Where do Mark Waugh and Sourav Ganguly fall in that spectrum? Elegant? Definitely. Like velvet. Like they held bats that could make balls fly with a mere smooth touch, a gentle whisper, a kiss.

Gifted? Oh yes. Both were showered with the gift of timing. Waugh could play the silky smooth on-drive off the pads, while Ganguly could send balls screaming through the covers with just a nudge or a push.

One was a great slip catcher, one was a great leader. One was calm almost to the point of looking lazy, the other was ferocious. Both were legends of the game, both given polite nudges into retirement. In Ganguly’s favour, he did put in the hard fight to leave on his own terms – with the proverbial fanfare.

Interestingly, the two men have had remarkably similar careers, both in Tests and ODIs. But their numbers suggest one thing – they could have gotten more. Waugh was blamed for being lazily casual, like David Gower or lately, Rohit Sharma.

Ganguly, on the other hand, had issues with the short ball and was initially limited on the onside, even though he was certified ‘God of offside’ by none other than Rahul Dravid. But given his start, he could have done a lot more, especially if the late-career tussle with Greg Chappell hadn’t happened.

Here, we dissect the numbers of the two great batsmen and see if we can find who was better, if that is even possible.

In Tests

Ganguly didn’t play as many Tests as Waugh did. While the small difference between innings and hence runs can be explained, Waugh edges Ganguly out on the number of centuries and half-centuries.

Waugh has four centuries more and 67 fifty-plus scores, which is nearly 1/3rd of his appearances. For Ganguly, it is 51, a lot fewer than Waugh. While that reflects batting quality, it could be argued that Waugh had played in better Test teams with better bowling attacks – ergo, less pressure on the batsmen.

Overall in Tests	Innings	Runs	Average	Strike-rate	100s/50s
Sourav Ganguly	188	7212	42.17	51.25	16/35
Mark Waugh	209	8029	41.81	52.27	20/47

Numbers at home

At home, both batsmen average more or less the same. Also interestingly, both averaged much lower in the other’s country. Ganguly averaged a pedestrian 35 in Australia compared to his career average of 42 while Waugh averaged a measly 33 in India compared to a career average of close to 42. Waugh has more runs at home than Ganguly has, owing to 15 more innings.

At home	Innings	Runs	Average	Strike-rate	100s/50s
Sourav Ganguly	84	3180	42.97	50.60	8/13
Mark Waugh	99	4019	43.21	51.93	11/23

Numbers away from home

Both batsmen have similar averages away from home as well, although at a minute level, Ganguly edges ahead with more runs in fewer innings. There is not much to separate both batsmen, home or away, showing how similar their career graphs have been. One was right-handed and the other a southpaw, but both had the propensity for elegant run-scoring.

Away	Innings	Runs	Average	Strike-rate	100s/50s
Sourav Ganguly	104	4032	41.56	51.78	8/22
Mark Waugh	110	4010	40.50	52.61	9/24

Contribution in matches won

This is one place where the two batsmen have been tremendously different in terms of runs. Waugh nearly played twice the number of Test innings as Ganguly and averages more than two points higher. Waugh has 11 more centuries and twice the number of fifties as Ganguly.

There are two factors that must be noted here. Waugh was part of a winning team which meant he was more often part of wins than Ganguly was. Also, their overall averages don’t show a big jump, which means both were consistent overall without really affecting their team’s numbers hugely.

So while a difference of 2500 runs is accounted for based on the number of innings, winning Waugh a few brownie points, Ganguly batted under greater pressure overall.

Wins	Innings	Runs	Average	Strike-rate	100s/50s
Sourav Ganguly	58	2284	46.61	50.40	4/14
Mark Waugh	110	4794	48.91	54.05	15/28

Scores in different innings

This dissection of runs scored in each innings of a match shows further how close the two batsmen are in terms of numbers. For example, no matter what the pitch condition is, the second innings is generally the easiest to bat on and the fourth the toughest. Yes, there are exceptions, but this is the classic scenario.

Waugh averages higher in the second innings but also higher in the fourth innings. His third innings average is below 35. Ganguly seems like the more consistent batsman here; his lowest is 37.5 in the third innings with the gap between lowest and highest averages being much less than that of Waugh’s.

However, Waugh has four centuries while batting second (third or fourth innings), while Ganguly has only one.

First Innings	Innings	Runs	Average	Strike-rate	100s/50s
Sourav Ganguly	53	2342	45.92	52.13	9/8
Mark Waugh	73	3080	43.48	53.94	7/22
Second Innings	Innings	Runs	Average	Strike-rate	100s/50s
Sourav Ganguly	58	2427	41.84	48.46	6/12
Mark Waugh	55	2488	46.94	54.51	9/9
Third Innings	Innings	Runs	Average	Strike-rate	100s/50s
Sourav Ganguly	45	1579	40.48	52.65	0/12
Mark Waugh	54	1641	34.18	46.5	2/14
Fourth Innings	Innings	Runs	Average	Strike-rate	100s/50s
Sourav Ganguly	32	864	37.56	54.99	1/3
Mark Waugh	27	820	41	52.63	2/2

Performance against different opposition

It is often an indicator of a batsman’s greatness when he scores tough runs against the best contemporary teams. Ganguly averaged high against England especially in England, a place where many Indian batsmen struggled. He also averaged high against the sub-continent rivals, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

The southpaw was not up to scratch against Australia, West Indies and South Africa, without a single century against WI or SA. However, Ganguly averages over 40 in West Indies.

Opposition	Innings	Runs	Average	Strike-rate	100s/50s
Australia	44	1403	35.07	52.58	2/7
England	19	983	57.82	53.04	3/5
New Zealand	15	563	46.91	59.01	3/2
Pakistan	20	902	47.47	55.3	2/4
South Africa	31	947	33.82	55.31	0/7
Sri Lanka	24	1064	46.26	45.02	3/4
West Indies	16	449	32.07	41.53	0/2

Mark Waugh, when compared to Ganguly, didn’t do so well against the sub-continent teams, averaging 33 and 24 against India and Sri Lanka respectively. That said, he did score at 42 against Pakistan.

Unlike Ganguly, Waugh did well against South Africa and West Indies, averaging over 40. West Indies was a highly competitive team in the 90s when Waugh played most of his cricket.

Interestingly, Waugh was considered one of the better Australian players against spin, although his numbers against Sri Lanka prove otherwise, strangely. Moreover, Waugh averages a dismal 12 in Tests played in Sri Lanka even though he has an impressive average of over 40 in India and in Pakistan.

Opposition	Innings	Runs	Average	Strike-rate	100s/50s
England	51	2204	50.09	55.85	6/11
India	24	698	33.23	47.77	1/4
New Zealand	20	766	42.55	57.07	1/5
Pakistan	22	933	42.4	54.81	3/6
South Africa	29	1135	42.03	49.34	4/4
Sri Lanka	14	345	24.64	49.42	1/3
West Indies	48	1858	41.28	49.45	4/13

Clearly, comparing the two stalwarts in Tests is tough, with both men pulling punches in different segments.

In ODIs

One-day internationals make for an entirely different ball game. This time, though, it is Ganguly with the advantage, having played in a lot more matches than Waugh. Ganguly is one of the select few in the game with more than 10,000 ODI runs. He also averages higher than Waugh, who was an impressive opener for one of the best ODI sides in the world.

Overall in ODIs	Matches	Runs	Average	Strike-rate	100s/50s
Sourav Ganguly	300	11363	41.02	73.7	22/72
Mark Waugh	236	8500	39.35	76.90	18/50

Numbers at home

This is a very interesting stat, since Ganguly has played a big chunk of his games outside India. At home, he averages way more than Waugh does, although Waugh has twice as many centuries having the advantage of playing more games.

At Home	Innings	Runs	Average	Strike-rate	100s/50s
Sourav Ganguly	75	3110	44.42	77.45	4/24
Mark Waugh	113	3827	37.15	74.89	8/22

Numbers away from home

Away from home, Waugh averages slightly higher, about 1.5 more even though Ganguly has scored tons of runs away. Hence, the minor difference evens out when you find that Ganguly has played more than 90 games over what Waugh did.

Away	Innings	Runs	Average	Strike-rate	100s/50s
Sourav Ganguly	225	8253	39.86	72.38	18/48
Mark Waugh	123	4673	41.35	78.63	10/28

Contribution in matches won

Ganguly also seems like a more impactful player with both players having been part of a similar number of wins. Ganguly averages a whopping 55, eight points over Waugh, showing up as the bigger influencer in his team’s results. He also has six more fifty plus scores in Indian wins.

Wins	Innings	Runs	Average	Strike-rate	100s/50s
Sourav Ganguly	147	6938	55.06	77.87	18/41
Mark Waugh	146	6054	47.29	78.98	15/38

Scores in different innings

Ganguly has handled the pressure of the chase better than Waugh too. With a higher average, Ganguly also has 20 fifties more than Waugh, which even considering the 47 match gap seems extremely impressive. Considering Ganguly opened in most of the innings, his reliability overall was a big plus for India, explaining the resurgence of India as an ODI superpower from the late 90s.

Chases	Innings	Runs	Average	Strike-rate	100s/50s
Sourav Ganguly	153	5231	39.33	73.83	7/37
Mark Waugh	106	3319	36.87	74.25	7/17

Performance in finals

Ganguly also seems like a better big match player, averaging five points over Waugh. In spite of fewer innings in finals, he has an extra century, although his strike-rate does take a dip.

Finals	Innings	Runs	Average	Strike-rate	100s/50s
Sourav Ganguly	29	1000	37.03	69.20	3/4
Mark Waugh	32	961	32.03	81.09	2/4

Performance as openers

Waugh has the better average and strike-rate as opener, but Ganguly has played a lot more, 101 games extra to be precise, which helped make him one-half of the world’s most prolific ODI pair. Ganguly has 6609 runs at 49.32 with Sachin Tendulkar at the top while the Mark Waugh/Adam Gilchrist pair is the fifth most prolific with 3853 at 41.43.

The Ganguly/Sachin pair has a world record 21 century partnerships along with 23 fifty partnerships while Waugh/Gilchrist pair has eight century and 20 fifty partnerships.

As openers	Innings	Runs	Average	Strike-rate	100s/50s
Sourav Ganguly	242	9146	41.57	73.59	19/58
Mark Waugh	141	5729	44.06	76.74	15/32

Conclusion

1. Both scored almost similarly at home and away in Tests – hallmark of consistency.
2. Neither has a big difference between batting in the first two innings or the final two innings in Tests, once again showing how they have scored tough runs.
3. Waugh was susceptible against India and Sri Lanka, Ganguly against Australia and South Africa.
4. Both have had similar averages and strike-rates across their careers.
5. Waugh has been part of twice as many wins as Ganguly but that also shows Ganguly was under more pressure while batting compared to Waugh who had a stronger team backing him.
6. Waugh has more centuries batting second for his team in Tests, while Ganguly performed way better for his team in wins in ODIs.

So it is only fair to say that while there is very little to choose between the two great, elegant and delightful players, Waugh was the slightly better batsman in Tests. On the other hand, Ganguly was obviously the more impactful man to have in ODIs considering both of them opened in one-day internationals, managing similar averages.

Having said that, it is rare to find two players with such similar numbers in such varied situations. That one of them is from the subcontinent and another from Australia makes this even more interesting.