I'd just did this for another forum, but I thought it would be useful here. Just a copy and paste of my own post.
Regarding someones comment about India being better in batting and bowling than Australia, I will reel out the stats.
These are just projected line ups btw. The Indian one is manee's line up, and the Australia is what I think we will run with, not what I want.
BATTING:
Openers:
Matthew Hayden - 53.51 - 61 in India
Gambhir - 37.11 - 22 in India
Simon Katich - 39.47 - 39.42 in India
Virender Sehwag - 52.62 - 54.90 in India
1 - 1 there
*Comments*
If you put Katich on Gambhir and Hayden on Sehwag, Australia takes it out 2-0. I would prefer Jaques to Katich.
Middle order - 3-6:
Ricky Ponting - 58.37 - 12.28 in India
VVS Laxman - 43.79 - 44.66 in India
Michael Hussey - 68.38 - Yet to play in India
Sachin Tendulkar - 54.23 - 54.95 in India
Michael Clarke - 47.06 - 57.14 in India
Rahul Dravid - 53.92 - 50.36 in India
Shane Watson - 20.25 - Yet to play in India
Sourav Ganguly - 41.74 - 42.00 in India
2 - 2 there
3 - 3 so far
*Comments*
I went off overall averages for Hussey and Watson, due to them not yet playing a test match in India thus far in their career.
Wicketkeepers:
Brad Haddin - 30.20 - Yet to play in India
MS Dohni - 33.76 - 34.20 in India
0 - 1 there
3 - 4 so far
*Comments*
Close here, hoping Haddin can have a big series. I have a bet over at CricketWeb that he will make a half century, so I'm hoping he can score some big ones.
The tail:
Cameron White: Debut - FC average 41.47
Anil Kumble: 17.66 - 21.50 in India
Mitchell Johnson - 33.40 - Yet to play in India
Harbahajan Singh - 15.30 - 11.32 in India
Brett Lee: 21.45 - Yet to play in India
Zaheer Kahn: 11.77 - 9.26 in India
Stuart Clark - 11.80 - Yet to play in India
Ishant Sharma - 18.40 - Yet to lose his wicket in India
3-1 there.
6-5 now.
*Comments*
Interesting to see Sharma with a better test batting average than Clark, Clark is easily the best batsmen out of the 2. Still, have to go with the stats.
Batting summary:
Australia = 396.79
India = 363.55
In the end, player average wise, Australia won 6-5.
Without White, Australia would have lost that, he just got us over the line. But that silences the critics over our batting line up.
Now for the bowling.
BOWLING:
*Comments*
These are specialist bowlers only, however I had to include a spinner - Michael Clarke (seeing as White has only played FC, cant judge him by a test record) - to make up for India having the extra bowler, who happens to be a spinner.
Brett Lee: 289 @ 29.58 - Yet to play in India
Ishant Sharma: 23 @ 36.21 - 10 @ 21.30
Stuart Clark: 81 @ 21.46 - Yet to play in India
Zaheer Kahn: 178 @ 34.06 - 42 @ 40.09 In India
Mitchell Johnson: 34 @ 32.88 - Yet to play in India
Anil Kumble: 616 @ 29.33 - 347 @ 24.27 in India
Michael Clarke: 16 @ 21.31 - 6 @ 2.16 in India
Harbhajan Singh: 291 @ 30.87 - 191 @ 26.26 in India
*Comments*
2-2 there, it should be Lee over Sharma and Singh over Clarke, but the stats never lie.
Bowling summary:
Australia = 86.08
India = 111.92
Once again, Australia dominate the statistics. We are clearly the better side, even without a top spinner.
I just hope you know I wasted over 3 hours of my evening to do that for you.
I do appreciate the three hours of effort but there are some problems here.
Number 1, Katich hasn't opened in a test in India before. Last time he played, he played mainly at 3 as a replacement for Ponting. I'm not sure what the point of comparing openers averages against each other are when they'll be facing each others bowling? I can understand wanting to find out who has the better opening partnership, but IIRC Sehwag and Gambhir didn't open last time around, and neither did Hayden and Katich. In fact Hayden and Katich is a new pairing, who will be making their first run of it in India.
For the others, I don't see why you'd include the players stats who haven't played in India yet against those who have and only their stats in India.
The tails batting is fairly chalk and cheese as well. I wouldn't place too much into Stuart Clarks batting average in comparison to Sharma's (or lack thereof).
Then we turn to the bowling, where none of the Australians bar Clarke have played a test. Even then Clarke got his amazing figures on a pitch that was latter described as disgraceful by both sides.
I know you're trying to analyse it in a sensible way, but first of all, stats don't tell the complete story. Humans have too many variable characteristics to definitely say this will or won't happen using stats as the basis. They are a good guide, though, on determining the chances of how a player will fare on their next tour.
If you want to look at stats alone to see who has the edge based on how the players have gone on Indian grounds, then how about the following:
Australia (seemingly likely XI) vs India in India
Matthew Hayden: 7 matches 14 innings 793 runs @ 61.00, 7.0 overs 31 runs conc 0 wickets @ 0
Simon Katich: 4 8 276 @ 39.42, 2 7 0 @ 0
Ricky Ponting: 8 14 172 @ 12.28, 14 43 0 @ 0
Michael Hussey: N/A
Michael Clarke: 4 8 400 @ 57.14, 7.2 13 6 @ 2.16
Shane Watson: N/A
Brad Haddin: N/A
Cameron White: N/A
Brett Lee: N/A
Mitchell Johnson: N/A
Stuart Clark: N/A
Total: 23 matches 44 innings 1641 runs @ 37.29, 30.5 overs, 94 runs conceded, 6 wickets @ 15.67 E/R 3.03
Inda (likely) vs Australia in India
Gautam Gambhir 1 2 4 @ 2
Virendar Sehwag 4 8 299 @ 42.71, 9 45 0 @ 0
Rahul Dravid 11 19 768 @ 42.66
Sachin Tendulkar 9 17 830 @ 51.87, 75.2 239 4 @ 59.75
Sourav Ganguly 9 16 383 @ 27.35, 40 114 4 @ 28.50
VVS Laxman 9 16 742 @ 46.37 2 2 0 @ 0
Mahendra Singh Dhoni N/A
Anil Kumble 8 11 166 @ 18.44, 453.3 1231 59 @ 20.86
Harbhajan Singh 7 13 107 @ 11.88, 386.2 1185 55 @ 21.54
Ishant Sharma N/A
Zaheer Khan 6 11 77 @ 11, 179 557 13 @ 42.84
Total: 64 matches 113 innings 3376 runs @ 29.88, 1145.1 overs 3373 runs conceded 135 wickets @ 24.99 E/R 2.95
If you go by those stats alone, Australia clearly has the edge.