Silly point: What’s with India’s obsession with Stuart Binny?

Tags: India, Stuart Terence Roger Binny

Published on: Nov 18, 2015

Even as Roger Binny has been sacked as selector, his son Stuart Binny continues to be in the limelight. He keeps getting selected even though he hasn’t been doing enough to retain his place, at least his record so far suggests so

Even as Roger Binny has been sacked as selector, his son Stuart Binny continues to be in the limelight. He keeps getting selected even though he hasn’t been doing enough to retain his place, at least his record so far suggests so. In the first match after Roger Binny being sacked as selector, Stuart was back in the team for the Bangalore Test as a seam bowling all-rounder in place of Amit Mishra, who had dismissed AB de Villiers in both innings at Mohali. As Stuart’s place in the Indian team remains a bone contention, here’s a look at his performance in international cricket so far.

Tests: Binny has so far featured in six Tests and has scored 194 runs at an average of 21.55 with one fifty. With the ball, he has only managed three wickets averaging a hefty 86. He made 1 and 78 with the bat in his Test debut at Nottingham in July 2014 against England, but failed to claim a wicket. Since his debut he hasn’t scored any other fifty. His Test scores have been 9 and 0 at Lord’s in July 2014, 5 and 25 not out at The Oval in August 2014. He went wicketless in these matches as well.

The three wickets Binny has in his Test career so far came in Sri Lanka. He scored 10 and 17 at the P Sara Oval in August 2015, and claimed 1 for 44 with the ball. In the other Test at the SSC (Colombo), he scored 0 and 49 before chipping in with 2 for 73 with the ball. These remain his best Test bowling figures till date. He did not have much to do in the rained out game at Bangalore against South Africa.

ODIs: Binny has done slightly better in one-dayers, and expectedly so. In 14 matches, he has scored 230 runs at an average of 28.75, and has picked up 20 wickets averaging 21.95. After going wicketless in his first two one-day matches, he came up with a sensational performance with the ball in his third game at Dhaka against Bangladesh on June 17, 2014, claiming six wickets while conceding only four runs. During this effort, he overtook Anil Kumble’s two decade-old record of the best bowling performance by an Indian bowler in ODIs – 6/12 against West Indies in 1993.

Binny’s best batting effort of 77 came against Zimbabwe at Harare on July 10, 2015. It was a significant innings as it came after India experienced a collapse in the game. It was a good all-rounder performance as Binny also claimed 2 for 54 in the match. He had another good game with the ball in the third match against Zimbabwe at Harare in the same series as he claimed 3 for 55. He also picked up 3 for 33 against England at Perth in January 2015. Binny’s only other innings of note has been 44 against England at Brisbane in January 2015. Are these numbers enough to justify Binny’s inclusion?

--By A Cricket Analyst

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