Numbers Game

There are other big hitters in 20-over cricket, but Gayle's stats are far ahead of anyone else's in this format

Despite his outstanding ball-striking skills, de Villiers' numbers in this format are decidedly ordinary

The hosts' superb recent form in T20Is has been due to consistency and the presence of several match-winners with both bat and ball

The middle overs in T20s usually don't get much attention, but how well teams perform with bat and ball in those overs often has a huge bearing on the result

Brendon McCullum made 1000-plus Test runs from three batting positions, but 21% of his Test aggregate came from just six innings

His stats by point of entry show that he struggles when he comes in before the 20th over, but he has been hugely successful in the middle overs

The runs he has scored and the assurance and control with which he has got them suggest so

For the first time since Ian Botham in India in 1981-82, a player scored 350-plus runs and took 12 or more wickets in an overseas Test series

In the last two years, Australia have a 29-2 win-loss record in home ODIs, with their batsmen scoring 17 hundreds in 32 games; overseas, though, their record isn't that hot

In the last three years, Rohit has transformed into a consistent and prolific ODI batsman, consistently making big hundreds and batting deep into the innings

England's two-down batsmen have been the least prolific among the top eight teams in the last 40 years, but in Joe Root they have a possible long-term solution

Darren Bravo's overseas Test average is the best among all West Indies batsman, but his home numbers are surprisingly poor

South Africa presents the most challenging conditions for batsmen, but you wouldn't know that from the recent home form of their top two batsmen

This year has been staggeringly successful for Ashwin, whose Test stats in Asia compare favourably with the very best

Has winning the toss given the home team a huge advantage in the last 15 years?

Australia have had a rich tradition of left-hand opening batsmen, and David Warner is a worthy addition to that list

He was always seen as an exceptional talent, but over the last couple of years he has justified those lofty expectations

AB de Villiers has conquered different formats and different conditions, and his Test average of 61.67 in the last eight years makes him the best in this format as well

England's captain finished with a 50-plus average for the fifth time in eight series in Asia, and proved yet again he is among the best in these conditions

South Africa's phenomenal success in the continent is largely owed to the leader of their pace attack