[Sohel]

Stats don't tell us the whole truth about a player's quality in terms of technique, luck or the cricket culture slash infrastructure he is a product of. That said, those numbers don't really lie either, and establish the real context for improvement. We need to improve a lot to do better than we ever have in 2011. Here are my expectations for the WC2011 XV and their batting averages, if we are to do better. I hope they have the opportunity to play enough matches to do this.

1. Tamim Iqbal Khan: ODI and Test average- 35.00
2. Junayed Siddique: ODI average- 35.00
3. Shahriar Nafees Ahmed: ODI and Test average- 35.00
4. Mohammad Ashraful Matin (C): ODI average- 35.00, Test average- 40.00
5. Alok Kapali: ODI and Test average- 35.00
6. Aftab Ahmed: ODI and Test average- 30.00
7. Mohammad Mushfiqur Rahim (WK): ODI average- 30.00, Test average- 40.00
8. Mashrafe Bin Mortaza (VC): ODI and Test average- 25.00
9. Abdur Razzak: ODI average- 20.00
10. Kazi Shahadat Hossain: ODI and Test average- 15.00
11. Syed Rasel: ODI and Test average- 12.00
12. Shakib Al Hasan: ODI and Test average- 30.00
13. Nazmus Sadat or Mohammad Nafees Iqbal: ODI average- 30.00, Test average (for MNI only, I don't expect NS to make a test debut until after the WC)- 35
14. Dollar Mahmud or Talha Jubair: ODI and Test average- 12.00
15. Dhiman Ghosh (Extra WK): ODI and Test average- 30.00

A lot of work ahead ...