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

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.