On the Bowling side, the top 5 were Nuwan Zoysa, Warne, Robert Croft, Murali &
Joshi.
Everyone must be asking why Zoysa?? Well, this is called a "PADDING" technique,
as he was picked because he was cheap ($650) & also to fill up the minimum requirment for
the bowling department.
Unfortunately, he didn't play, hence the 0% return. It shouldn't be a surprise
to see Warne & Murali in the top 5. Robert Croft was the surprise pick, being in 7.23% of the teams.
It can also be noted that none of the Aussie pacemen were picked heavily, as
McGrath was in 4.47% of the teams, Fleming (1.60%) & Gillespie (3.09%). This came as a big surprise, since the
Indian batsmen are known to be uncomfortable against the new ball bowlers.
The bottom five comes as no surprise with Lokuarachchi, Hoggard, Jason Brown,
Hirwani & Sanghvi. Out of this 5, only Sanghvi saw action, gaining 4.92%.
The biggest omission was of course Harbhajan Singh, who was picked 2.45% of the teams and he
returned 22.62% for his $650 price tag.
Gough was picked 1.70%, while Caddick was picked 2.66% and was the only player
to bring in a negative earning.
Another mind twister was the picking of Agarkar (4.89%) & Zaheer Khan(4.89), who
were notably absent from the return colum. For a total investment of $1750, they could
have bought Fleming for $975, a more proven bowler or a combination of Gillespie
who was priced at $1,000 and any tier $700 - $750 bowlers.