Border Gavaskar Trophy 24/25 - India in Australia.

[cricfan123]

Bumrah needs a good night sleep tonight so he can stay focused in wrapping up Australia innings around 100 total

 

[wasteyouryouth]

Probably lack the analytical insights here,but Kohli does seem to be on his last legs. One thing I noticed with him in recent days, he is getting out to a combo mediocre deliveries + poor shot selection.

I wouldn't be surprised if he were asked to hang up his boots post the BGT-perhaps on the lines of Dravid, VVS. Knowing Kohli though he will want that final hurrah.

However,if the likes of Gill,Jaiswal, Jurel and Sarfaraz do well in this series, the writing perhaps will be clearer than ever before.

Take this with a pinch of salt cause I'm liable to have made an error or Cricinfo have some quirk I haven't foreseen. It of course doesn't cover a players entire career, just blocks based on their age.

But I looked at Smith and Kohli and their peak average both occured almost exactly five years ago. Then I looked at players averages between the ages 25-30 and then 31-35 (those who had batted 50 innings in both age ranges). Came up with 80 players.

Kohli has the biggest percentage decrease in average: 44%

Smith isn't far ahead/behind with a 39% drop. Although between 25-30 he averaged 72 which was always likely to be unsustainable.

Interestingly, there are only four players who averaged above 50 (aged 25-30) and increased their average between 31-35; Sangakkara (6%), Border (1%), Hayden (6%), Chanderpaul (5%). Of the ten batters with the biggest increase, only one averaged 45+ (Inzamam) during 25-30. One is also Shane Warne.

Despite his decline Smith still has what would be considered a good average (during the 31-35) whereas Kohli does not.

Spoiler: Data

Player

Ave

100​

50​

0​

Ave

100​

50​

0​

Diff

TT Samaraweera (SL)

39.72​

4​

13​

4​

60.26​

9​

16​

6​

20.54​

52%​

A Flower (ZIM)

40.67​

4​

10​

3​

60.08​

7​

14​

2​

19.41​

48%​

PA de Silva (SL)

36.33​

5​

10​

4​

53.43​

11​

8​

3​

17.1​

47%​

DJ Cullinan (SA)

35.9​

3​

11​

6​

52.36​

11​

9​

4​

16.46​

46%​

FDM Karunaratne (SL)

37.22​

8​

20​

11​

52.31​

8​

15​

0​

15.09​

41%​

JG Wright (NZ)

32.07​

4​

6​

2​

44.36​

6​

9​

2​

12.29​

38%​

Inzamam-ul-Haq (PAK)

45.36​

8​

20​

7​

62.31​

13​

13​

4​

16.95​

37%​

GP Thorpe (ENG)

40.12​

5​

21​

6​

53.3​

10​

15​

4​

13.18​

33%​

SK Warne (AUS)

15.03​

0​

3​

16​

19.89​

0​

7​

#​

4.86​

32%​

G Kirsten (SA)

39.12​

7​

15​

6​

50.26​

12​

18​

7​

11.14​

28%​

NM Lyon (AUS)

11.28​

0​

0​

12​

14.45​

0​

0​

4​

3.17​

28%​

RC Fredericks (WI)

37.72​

2​

11​

3​

47.07​

6​

15​

4​

9.35​

25%​

AJ Stewart (ENG)

36.69​

4​

13​

3​

44.49​

8​

17​

2​

7.8​

21%​

CEL Ambrose (WI)

11.38​

0​

1​

10​

13.71​

0​

0​

#​

2.33​

20%​

BB McCullum (NZ)

37.11​

4​

17​

8​

44.19​

6​

8​

3​

7.08​

19%​

Mohammad Yousuf (PAK)

51.17​

12​

15​

5​

60.33​

11​

11​

4​

9.16​

18%​

CG Greenidge (WI)

46.53​

4​

17​

4​

54.44​

8​

10​

2​

7.91​

17%​

BC Lara (WI)

48.1​

10​

21​

3​

55.84​

15​

17​

9​

7.74​

16%​

SC Ganguly (IND)

40.14​

7​

17​

6​

46.41​

6​

14​

3​

6.27​

16%​

JE Root (ENG)

47.86​

15​

36​

7​

54.62​

12​

11​

3​

6.76​

14%​

TM Dilshan (SL)

40.45​

3​

10​

5​

44.93​

10​

11​

5​

4.48​

11%​

MC Cowdrey (ENG)

46.98​

9​

14​

3​

52.04​

8​

13​

3​

5.06​

11%​

JM Bairstow (ENG)

36.56​

6​

17​

9​

40.24​

6​

5​

7​

3.68​

10%​

GA Gooch (ENG)

37.36​

4​

14​

3​

40.56​

4​

14​

4​

3.2​

9%​

JL Langer (AUS)

44.13​

9​

9​

2​

47.83​

13​

17​

6​

3.7​

8%​

VVS Laxman (IND)

49.02​

8​

17​

5​

52.82​

8​

24​

5​

3.8​

8%​

KC Sangakkara (SL)

57.27​

13​

18​

3​

60.73​

16​

16​

5​

3.46​

6%​

ML Hayden (AUS)

51.6​

9​

10​

7​

54.67​

18​

17​

4​

3.07​

6%​

S Chanderpaul (WI)

50.96​

12​

18​

7​

53.7​

8​

19​

3​

2.74​

5%​

AD Mathews (SL)

45.61​

7​

20​

2​

48​

7​

10​

3​

2.39​

5%​

ST Jayasuriya (SL)

43.69​

6​

11​

7​

44.54​

8​

14​

5​

0.85​

2%​

M Azharuddin (IND)

43.18​

7​

7​

1​

43.95​

8​

8​

3​

0.77​

2%​

MV Boucher (ICC/SA)

30.43​

1​

17​

8​

30.86​

1​

9​

2​

0.43​

1%​

CL Hooper (WI)

40.03​

5​

9​

6​

40.56​

5​

11​

0​

0.53​

1%​

DC Boon (AUS)

45.51​

9​

15​

8​

46.09​

11​

13​

7​

0.58​

1%​

RGD Willis (ENG)

11.33​

0​

0​

7​

11.44​

0​

0​

4​

0.11​

1%​

AR Border (AUS)

52.22​

13​

22​

3​

52.72​

5​

21​

2​

0.5​

1%​

DL Haynes (WI)

41.93​

5​

18​

4​

42.3​

8​

12​

5​

0.37​

1%​

AJ Strauss (ENG)

40.79​

10​

11​

6​

41.01​

11​

16​

9​

0.22​

1%​

IA Healy (AUS)

28.25​

2​

15​

11​

28.1​

2​

6​

5​

-0.15​

-1%​

MS Atapattu (SL)

40.94​

8​

9​

12​

40.34​

8​

6​

5​

-0.6​

-1%​

BJ Watling (NZ)

38.71​

5​

10​

6​

37.73​

3​

8​

3​

-0.98​

-3%​

Azhar Ali (PAK)

43.37​

9​

20​

8​

42.11​

8​

13​

8​

-1.26​

-3%​

LRPL Taylor (NZ)

48.94​

10​

19​

7​

47.4​

7​

10​

7​

-1.54​

-3%​

GS Chappell (AUS)

56.66​

9​

15​

5​

54.78​

10​

11​

6​

-1.88​

-3%​

MA Taylor (AUS)

42.25​

11​

25​

3​

40.64​

6​

10​

2​

-1.61​

-4%​

SMH Kirmani (IND)

27.67​

1​

6​

5​

26.4​

1​

6​

2​

-1.27​

-5%​

JH Kallis (ICC/SA)

64.34​

18​

28​

5​

61.15​

16​

14​

1​

-3.19​

-5%​

KP Pietersen (ENG)

48.16​

17​

23​

7​

45.25​

6​

12​

3​

-2.91​

-6%​

N Hussain (ENG)

39​

7​

10​

7​

36.17​

6​

22​

6​

-2.83​

-7%​

A Kumble (IND)

19.24​

0​

2​

4​

17.72​

0​

1​

5​

-1.52​

-8%​

M Vijay (IND)

39.88​

5​

10​

3​

36.61​

7​

5​

5​

-3.27​

-8%​

V Sehwag (ICC/IND)

52.31​

11​

14​

9​

47.94​

8​

14​

6​

-4.37​

-8%​

WR Hammond (ENG)

66.5​

13​

9​

1​

59.95​

8​

10​

3​

-6.55​

-10%​

DA Warner (AUS)

47.94​

20​

24​

6​

43.1​

4​

10​

5​

-4.84​

-10%​

MJ Clarke (AUS)

53.74​

17​

17​

6​

47.96​

9​

6​

3​

-5.78​

-11%​

ME Waugh (AUS)

44.23​

10​

22​

7​

39.25​

8​

20​

#​

-4.98​

-11%​

CA Walsh (WI)

9.27​

0​

0​

12​

8.05​

0​

0​

#​

-1.22​

-13%​

M Muralidaran (SL)

12.24​

0​

1​

12​

10.51​

0​

0​

#​

-1.73​

-14%​

DPMD Jayawardene (SL)

53.03​

13​

15​

8​

44.97​

9​

15​

3​

-8.06​

-15%​

SR Waugh (AUS)

61.61​

8​

15​

6​

51.46​

14​

14​

5​

-10.15​

-16%​

RT Ponting (AUS)

62.31​

19​

23​

5​

50.23​

14​

24​

6​

-12.08​

-19%​

AJ Lamb (ENG)

38.92​

7​

8​

3​

31.14​

4​

4​

4​

-7.78​

-20%​

SR Tendulkar (IND)

59.97​

17​

18​

8​

47.86​

9​

16​

2​

-12.11​

-20%​

JM Anderson (ENG)

10.59​

0​

0​

11​

8.43​

0​

1​

#​

-2.16​

-20%​

R Dravid (IND)

58.91​

15​

20​

2​

45.55​

10​

21​

6​

-13.36​

-23%​

AN Cook (ENG)

51.18​

19​

26​

4​

39.01​

5​

11​

2​

-12.17​

-24%​

PBH May (ENG)

51.91​

10​

15​

5​

38.6​

6​

16​

6​

-13.31​

-26%​

AC Gilchrist (AUS)

58.55​

6​

13​

5​

43.01​

11​

11​

9​

-15.54​

-27%​

D Elgar (SA)

42.58​

11​

12​

6​

30.98​

2​

11​

7​

-11.6​

-27%​

IR Bell (ENG)

47.57​

12​

24​

5​

34.09​

5​

11​

4​

-13.48​

-28%​

SM Gavaskar (IND)

57.68​

18​

17​

4​

41.23​

7​

12​

4​

-16.45​

-29%​

HM Amla (SA)

57.83​

17​

20​

3​

39.33​

7​

14​

6​

-18.5​

-32%​

SCJ Broad (ENG)

18.53​

0​

4​

14​

12.59​

0​

3​

#​

-5.94​

-32%​

TG Southee (NZ)

17.78​

0​

3​

5​

11.16​

0​

2​

#​

-6.62​

-37%​

SPD Smith (AUS)

72.41​

22​

23​

2​

43.89​

6​

12​

7​

-28.52​

-39%​

CA Pujara (IND)

50.16​

15​

19​

6​

29.98​

1​

15​

6​

-20.18​

-40%​

R Ashwin (IND)

32.82​

4​

11​

3​

19.06​

1​

1​

3​

-13.76​

-42%​

RW Marsh (AUS)

33.43​

3​

9​

3​

19.36​

0​

4​

6​

-14.07​

-42%​

V Kohli (IND)

58.32​

22​

16​

7​

32.9​

3​

9​

6​

-25.42​

-44%​

There are of course some examples of players improving after that - Gooch (+22%), Chanderpaul (10%), Tendulkar (8%) - all improved post 36 compared with 31-35. (I only looked at those with 50 innings in all three age brackets so there are probably players who played the bulk matches in their 30s).

 

[Aislabie]

Would you prescribe similar to Kohli?

Yes.

The difference is that Kohli could retire from international cricket and keep collecting that RCB meal ticket for another decade. Smith will retire from international cricket and go into business, possibly playing in some low-stakes T20s - maybe that Legends League stuff - purely for his own enjoyment.

 

[Umair7]

Wake up at 7am, take the day off from work, watch your team collapse to 7/67 - FML!

 

[CerealKiller]

Take this with a pinch of salt cause I'm liable to have made an error or Cricinfo have some quirk I haven't foreseen. It of course doesn't cover a players entire career, just blocks based on their age.

But I looked at Smith and Kohli and their peak average both occured almost exactly five years ago. Then I looked at players averages between the ages 25-30 and then 31-35 (those who had batted 50 innings in both age ranges). Came up with 80 players.

Kohli has the biggest percentage decrease in average: 44%

Smith isn't far ahead/behind with a 39% drop. Although between 25-30 he averaged 72 which was always likely to be unsustainable.

Interestingly, there are only four players who averaged above 50 (aged 25-30) and increased their average between 31-35; Sangakkara (6%), Border (1%), Hayden (6%), Chanderpaul (5%). Of the ten batters with the biggest increase, only one averaged 45+ (Inzamam) during 25-30. One is also Shane Warne.

Despite his decline Smith still has what would be considered a good average (during the 31-35) whereas Kohli does not.

Spoiler: Data

Player

Ave

100​

50​

0​

Ave

100​

50​

0​

Diff

TT Samaraweera (SL)

39.72​

4​

13​

4​

60.26​

9​

16​

6​

20.54​

52%​

A Flower (ZIM)

40.67​

4​

10​

3​

60.08​

7​

14​

2​

19.41​

48%​

PA de Silva (SL)

36.33​

5​

10​

4​

53.43​

11​

8​

3​

17.1​

47%​

DJ Cullinan (SA)

35.9​

3​

11​

6​

52.36​

11​

9​

4​

16.46​

46%​

FDM Karunaratne (SL)

37.22​

8​

20​

11​

52.31​

8​

15​

0​

15.09​

41%​

JG Wright (NZ)

32.07​

4​

6​

2​

44.36​

6​

9​

2​

12.29​

38%​

Inzamam-ul-Haq (PAK)

45.36​

8​

20​

7​

62.31​

13​

13​

4​

16.95​

37%​

GP Thorpe (ENG)

40.12​

5​

21​

6​

53.3​

10​

15​

4​

13.18​

33%​

SK Warne (AUS)

15.03​

0​

3​

16​

19.89​

0​

7​

#​

4.86​

32%​

G Kirsten (SA)

39.12​

7​

15​

6​

50.26​

12​

18​

7​

11.14​

28%​

NM Lyon (AUS)

11.28​

0​

0​

12​

14.45​

0​

0​

4​

3.17​

28%​

RC Fredericks (WI)

37.72​

2​

11​

3​

47.07​

6​

15​

4​

9.35​

25%​

AJ Stewart (ENG)

36.69​

4​

13​

3​

44.49​

8​

17​

2​

7.8​

21%​

CEL Ambrose (WI)

11.38​

0​

1​

10​

13.71​

0​

0​

#​

2.33​

20%​

BB McCullum (NZ)

37.11​

4​

17​

8​

44.19​

6​

8​

3​

7.08​

19%​

Mohammad Yousuf (PAK)

51.17​

12​

15​

5​

60.33​

11​

11​

4​

9.16​

18%​

CG Greenidge (WI)

46.53​

4​

17​

4​

54.44​

8​

10​

2​

7.91​

17%​

BC Lara (WI)

48.1​

10​

21​

3​

55.84​

15​

17​

9​

7.74​

16%​

SC Ganguly (IND)

40.14​

7​

17​

6​

46.41​

6​

14​

3​

6.27​

16%​

JE Root (ENG)

47.86​

15​

36​

7​

54.62​

12​

11​

3​

6.76​

14%​

TM Dilshan (SL)

40.45​

3​

10​

5​

44.93​

10​

11​

5​

4.48​

11%​

MC Cowdrey (ENG)

46.98​

9​

14​

3​

52.04​

8​

13​

3​

5.06​

11%​

JM Bairstow (ENG)

36.56​

6​

17​

9​

40.24​

6​

5​

7​

3.68​

10%​

GA Gooch (ENG)

37.36​

4​

14​

3​

40.56​

4​

14​

4​

3.2​

9%​

JL Langer (AUS)

44.13​

9​

9​

2​

47.83​

13​

17​

6​

3.7​

8%​

VVS Laxman (IND)

49.02​

8​

17​

5​

52.82​

8​

24​

5​

3.8​

8%​

KC Sangakkara (SL)

57.27​

13​

18​

3​

60.73​

16​

16​

5​

3.46​

6%​

ML Hayden (AUS)

51.6​

9​

10​

7​

54.67​

18​

17​

4​

3.07​

6%​

S Chanderpaul (WI)

50.96​

12​

18​

7​

53.7​

8​

19​

3​

2.74​

5%​

AD Mathews (SL)

45.61​

7​

20​

2​

48​

7​

10​

3​

2.39​

5%​

ST Jayasuriya (SL)

43.69​

6​

11​

7​

44.54​

8​

14​

5​

0.85​

2%​

M Azharuddin (IND)

43.18​

7​

7​

1​

43.95​

8​

8​

3​

0.77​

2%​

MV Boucher (ICC/SA)

30.43​

1​

17​

8​

30.86​

1​

9​

2​

0.43​

1%​

CL Hooper (WI)

40.03​

5​

9​

6​

40.56​

5​

11​

0​

0.53​

1%​

DC Boon (AUS)

45.51​

9​

15​

8​

46.09​

11​

13​

7​

0.58​

1%​

RGD Willis (ENG)

11.33​

0​

0​

7​

11.44​

0​

0​

4​

0.11​

1%​

AR Border (AUS)

52.22​

13​

22​

3​

52.72​

5​

21​

2​

0.5​

1%​

DL Haynes (WI)

41.93​

5​

18​

4​

42.3​

8​

12​

5​

0.37​

1%​

AJ Strauss (ENG)

40.79​

10​

11​

6​

41.01​

11​

16​

9​

0.22​

1%​

IA Healy (AUS)

28.25​

2​

15​

11​

28.1​

2​

6​

5​

-0.15​

-1%​

MS Atapattu (SL)

40.94​

8​

9​

12​

40.34​

8​

6​

5​

-0.6​

-1%​

BJ Watling (NZ)

38.71​

5​

10​

6​

37.73​

3​

8​

3​

-0.98​

-3%​

Azhar Ali (PAK)

43.37​

9​

20​

8​

42.11​

8​

13​

8​

-1.26​

-3%​

LRPL Taylor (NZ)

48.94​

10​

19​

7​

47.4​

7​

10​

7​

-1.54​

-3%​

GS Chappell (AUS)

56.66​

9​

15​

5​

54.78​

10​

11​

6​

-1.88​

-3%​

MA Taylor (AUS)

42.25​

11​

25​

3​

40.64​

6​

10​

2​

-1.61​

-4%​

SMH Kirmani (IND)

27.67​

1​

6​

5​

26.4​

1​

6​

2​

-1.27​

-5%​

JH Kallis (ICC/SA)

64.34​

18​

28​

5​

61.15​

16​

14​

1​

-3.19​

-5%​

KP Pietersen (ENG)

48.16​

17​

23​

7​

45.25​

6​

12​

3​

-2.91​

-6%​

N Hussain (ENG)

39​

7​

10​

7​

36.17​

6​

22​

6​

-2.83​

-7%​

A Kumble (IND)

19.24​

0​

2​

4​

17.72​

0​

1​

5​

-1.52​

-8%​

M Vijay (IND)

39.88​

5​

10​

3​

36.61​

7​

5​

5​

-3.27​

-8%​

V Sehwag (ICC/IND)

52.31​

11​

14​

9​

47.94​

8​

14​

6​

-4.37​

-8%​

WR Hammond (ENG)

66.5​

13​

9​

1​

59.95​

8​

10​

3​

-6.55​

-10%​

DA Warner (AUS)

47.94​

20​

24​

6​

43.1​

4​

10​

5​

-4.84​

-10%​

MJ Clarke (AUS)

53.74​

17​

17​

6​

47.96​

9​

6​

3​

-5.78​

-11%​

ME Waugh (AUS)

44.23​

10​

22​

7​

39.25​

8​

20​

#​

-4.98​

-11%​

CA Walsh (WI)

9.27​

0​

0​

12​

8.05​

0​

0​

#​

-1.22​

-13%​

M Muralidaran (SL)

12.24​

0​

1​

12​

10.51​

0​

0​

#​

-1.73​

-14%​

DPMD Jayawardene (SL)

53.03​

13​

15​

8​

44.97​

9​

15​

3​

-8.06​

-15%​

SR Waugh (AUS)

61.61​

8​

15​

6​

51.46​

14​

14​

5​

-10.15​

-16%​

RT Ponting (AUS)

62.31​

19​

23​

5​

50.23​

14​

24​

6​

-12.08​

-19%​

AJ Lamb (ENG)

38.92​

7​

8​

3​

31.14​

4​

4​

4​

-7.78​

-20%​

SR Tendulkar (IND)

59.97​

17​

18​

8​

47.86​

9​

16​

2​

-12.11​

-20%​

JM Anderson (ENG)

10.59​

0​

0​

11​

8.43​

0​

1​

#​

-2.16​

-20%​

R Dravid (IND)

58.91​

15​

20​

2​

45.55​

10​

21​

6​

-13.36​

-23%​

AN Cook (ENG)

51.18​

19​

26​

4​

39.01​

5​

11​

2​

-12.17​

-24%​

PBH May (ENG)

51.91​

10​

15​

5​

38.6​

6​

16​

6​

-13.31​

-26%​

AC Gilchrist (AUS)

58.55​

6​

13​

5​

43.01​

11​

11​

9​

-15.54​

-27%​

D Elgar (SA)

42.58​

11​

12​

6​

30.98​

2​

11​

7​

-11.6​

-27%​

IR Bell (ENG)

47.57​

12​

24​

5​

34.09​

5​

11​

4​

-13.48​

-28%​

SM Gavaskar (IND)

57.68​

18​

17​

4​

41.23​

7​

12​

4​

-16.45​

-29%​

HM Amla (SA)

57.83​

17​

20​

3​

39.33​

7​

14​

6​

-18.5​

-32%​

SCJ Broad (ENG)

18.53​

0​

4​

14​

12.59​

0​

3​

#​

-5.94​

-32%​

TG Southee (NZ)

17.78​

0​

3​

5​

11.16​

0​

2​

#​

-6.62​

-37%​

SPD Smith (AUS)

72.41​

22​

23​

2​

43.89​

6​

12​

7​

-28.52​

-39%​

CA Pujara (IND)

50.16​

15​

19​

6​

29.98​

1​

15​

6​

-20.18​

-40%​

R Ashwin (IND)

32.82​

4​

11​

3​

19.06​

1​

1​

3​

-13.76​

-42%​

RW Marsh (AUS)

33.43​

3​

9​

3​

19.36​

0​

4​

6​

-14.07​

-42%​

V Kohli (IND)

58.32​

22​

16​

7​

32.9​

3​

9​

6​

-25.42​

-44%​

There are of course some examples of players improving after that - Gooch (+22%), Chanderpaul (10%), Tendulkar (8%) - all improved post 36 compared with 31-35. (I only looked at those with 50 innings in all three age brackets so there are probably players who played the bulk matches in their 30s).

Great stats.
Would be curious to see the data for 36 onwards too, to see where Younus and Misbah end up

 

[wasteyouryouth]

Great stats.
Would be curious to see the data for 36 onwards too, to see where Younus and Misbah end up

Younis missed the cut off, only 47 innings in 31-35. He remained consistent though.
25 to 30 55.06
31 to 35 56.04
36+ 54.27

I do wonder if we recognise those who have great peaks during their career more than the consistent players, who we only look at when they've retired.

Misbah had a Gooch-esque increase post 36. 22% jump when comparing those age ranges. But he hardly played before he was 30 unlike Gooch.

Looking at the five Pakistan batters with the best career averages they all peaked at 30-34 (I looked at different age ranges).

 

[cricfan123]

Kholi diet made him a worse player when he stopped eating meat

 

[Aravind.]

That slower ball to Starc at final ball of the day, almost got his wicket, bumrah used bowl this same ball just before tea/lunch/end of the match, if I'm right, he got Shaun Marsh out with same slow ball, just before lunch on our previous tours. Good to see it is effective in test cricket.

 

[cricfan123]

Kholi scores a 100 2nd innings i am calling it now

 

[Bigby Wolf]

Kholi diet made him a worse player when he stopped eating meat

 

[Bigby Wolf]

The last wicket partnership for Australia is looking good.

20 more runs will be crucial here.

 

[icyman]

Same old- tailenders getting the better of us. Imperative that India get either Starc or Hazlewood before they cross 110.

 

[cricfan123]

Kholi needs to play positive and look for the cut shots 2nd innings

 

[Bigby Wolf]

Kholi needs to play positive and look for the cut shots 2nd innings

Also eat nonveg in the lunch.

 

[asprin]

Starc being able to play 100 deliveries should be encouraging for the Indian batsmen. Although it could also have been because the ball got old and stopped misbehaving.

In any case, after the way Indian innings ended, I would take this 46 run lead any day.