India, July 28 -- Cricket, more than any other sport, is a numbers' game. Don't let anyone try to convince you otherwise. And cricketers, more than any other sportspersons, know exactly what their statistics are, never mind that they insist that they don't much care for individual milestones.

Batters are judged and measured by centuries and averages, bowlers by five-wicket hauls and strike-rates. That's the nature of the beast.

Why, only the other day at Old Trafford, an entire country and all those populating the English dressing-room were going gaga after Joe Root became Test cricket's second-highest run-maker behind Sachin Tendulkar as he went past Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis and Ricky Ponting, all in the matter of minutes. Along th...