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Was Vishwanath a better batsmen against pace than any other Indian batsmen?

Harsh Thakor

By Harsh Thakor
in Cricket Talk

Was Vishwanath the best ever Indian batsmen against genuine pace?  

24 members have voted

  1. 1. Who was the best ever Indian batsmen against genuine pace?

    • Rahul Dravid
      3
    • Gundappa Vishwanath
      2
    • Sachin Tendulkar
      13
    • Sunil Gavaskar
      5
    • VVS Laxman
      0
    • Virat Kohli
      2
    • Mohinder Amarnath
      1
    • Dilip Vengsarkar
      0
    • Virendra Sehwag
      0
    • M.K.Pataudi
      1
    • Vijay Hazare
      0

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Harsh Thakor Contributor

Harsh Thakor

Posted
Posted (edited)

To me against pure pace Vishy displayed more skill than Gavaskar or Tendulkar.Both were technically superior overall and better against fast -medium.Even if they had more power they did not posess Vishy's wristwork or equal his ability to tackle the short rising delivery.I have still not sen even a Tendulkar innings equal the virtuosity of Vishy against the sheer pace of Andy Roberts at Kolkata and Madras in 1974-75 or the ferocity of Sylvester Clarke at Madras in 1978-79.Vishy on bouncy tracks was more effective than Sunny against Lillee,Thomson and Roberts.In defence Sunny was ahead of all but for counter-attack Vishy was on the top of the tree against sheer pace.

 

In the sub-continent Vishy's equal amongst  attacking batsmen against sheer pace were Majid Khan nad Inzamam Ul Haq or arguably VVS Laxman.

Edited by Harsh Thakor
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Straight Drive Newbie

Straight Drive

Posted
Posted

Amarnath was the most successful one against the deadliest pace attack in cricketing history. The second phase of WI pace quartet (when Marshall replaced Colin Croft). He was way ahead of all Indian batsman in that series. Otherwise i consider Sunny as the best test batsman ever from India, be it against pace or spin or whatever the conditions. But Amarnath was simply amazing in 1982.

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Gollum Grand Master

Gollum

Posted
Posted

Answer to OP, resounding yes. But if you want peak version, I'd say peak Amarnath was the greatest against pace and I am not limiting to Indian batsman in that case...world over. Vishy did it quite often without helmets and even the helmets those days didn't have grill. I have seen Kohli, Sachin, Dravid getting smashed on their helmets, needless to say I know what would happen to them sans protection. No modern era batsman can be compared to past greats as far as batting against pure pace is concerned because of the safety features available today. I'd add Sunny to complete the top 3, he was the greatest defensive batsman against genuine quicks and more consistent. But they way the other 2 attacked the short ball, the way Amarnath conquered pain and punishment......that deserves special respect. 

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rkt.india Grand Master

rkt.india

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, Gollum said:

Answer to OP, resounding yes. But if you want peak version, I'd say peak Amarnath was the greatest against pace and I am not limiting to Indian batsman in that case...world over. Vishy did it quite often without helmets and even the helmets those days didn't have grill. I have seen Kohli, Sachin, Dravid getting smashed on their helmets, needless to say I know what would happen to them sans protection. No modern era batsman can be compared to past greats as far as batting against pure pace is concerned because of the safety features available today. I'd add Sunny to complete the top 3, he was the greatest defensive batsman against genuine quicks and more consistent. But they way the other 2 attacked the short ball, the way Amarnath conquered pain and punishment......that deserves special respect. 

It's all relative. This is the biggest reason comparing is difficult.

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putrevus Grand Master

putrevus

Posted
Posted

I think Vishy is being overrated here, he was great for batting standards of 1970s but he is not better batsman of either spin or fast bowling than Sachin, Dravid, or Sunny to name few. He would barely make second XI all time Indian line up.

 

97 Madras knock while very good would not be great knock against pace bowling , there were no other pace bowlers in the WI team.

 

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vvvslaxman Grand Master

vvvslaxman

Posted
Posted

He was dropped after 1982/83 series where he couldn't handle the pace and swing of Imran. Your memory needs to be refreshed. Every player had their moments against good pace. Mohinder had his high in 2 series. Really low later with 0,0,0,1,0 scores against WIndies, Same way Sunny had his highs and lows. But he was overall consistent. Tendulkar rarely bothered by raw pace either. Most of the players are bothered by movement not "raw pace". Sehwag is the perfect example. He could slice and dice steyn, Akhtar at will when there is no movement. Kapil dev was good against pace as well.  If you purely talk about counter attack check how Srikkanth took on patterson in his peak even with his woeful hacker technique.

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Gollum Grand Master

Gollum

Posted
Posted (edited)
15 minutes ago, vvvslaxman said:

He was dropped after 1982/83 series where he couldn't handle the bottle caps and home umpires of Imran.

Corrected. Do you disagree with the edit? Or should I not point out certain inconvenient facts? 

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Tendulkar rarely bothered by raw pace either.

Then why did he run away from battle against Akhtar despite not gloving it, talking about Rawalpindi 2006 on a patta. Anyone who saw that innings could see he was uncomfortable against the pace. And the number of times I have seen him get hit on the helmet, lemme tell you in the no helmet era he would be a corpse.

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Sehwag is the perfect example.

Except when the line/length of attack was on his ribs...even with zero movement. 

Quote

 

Mohinder had his high in 2 series.

A high no other batsman has reached in the last 120 years of test cricket. 

Edited by Gollum
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vvvslaxman Grand Master

vvvslaxman

Posted
Posted

SO viswanath was setting Pakistan ablaze in India? He is averaging even worse in India against Pakistan. He was completely uncomfortable facing Imran Khan. Even ROokie like Ravi shastri as a makeshift opener did a better job than Viswanath in that series. Viswanath not even remotely faced any bowler as quick as Akhtar in his era. Viswanath being a shorter guy had some advantage against bouncers just like Sunny had. Not that he was known the "greatest hooker" like Mohinder AMarnath was.  Laxman had issues against pacy fully balls. That doesn't mean he is weak against pace. He was weak against medium pace full balls as well.  An outstanding player against pace would have had better average 

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Gollum Grand Master

Gollum

Posted
Posted (edited)

Irfan Pathan handled P@k!s better in 2006, so Irfan>>>Sachin. What the hell are you smoking man? Enough with the Imran worship...proper fraud if ever there was one. What a stupid example, that Shastri one. I can give 100 similar examples to run down greats and hype up nobodies. Why the need to bring up Pakistan again and again and again....was Imran the only quick of that era? Were the WI and Aus quicks dead when Vishy played them? 

 

Vishy faced scary bowlers like Thommo, Lillee, Holding, Roberts...1 of those 4 was damn well quicker than Akhtar and 2 others were almost if not equally quick. Don't believe everything the goat-shaggers tell you.

 

So he was short and had advantage, so what? Granted he wasn't as good a hooker as Mohinder but he could handle the short stuff in his own way. BTW Mohiner averaged 42 as well, so he wasn't an outstanding player against pace?

 

All those who praised Vishy to the moon like Roberts, Bradman, Hadlee, Lillee, Greig were doing it for IPL contract, clearly. 

Edited by Gollum
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