In an all-time test xi who would you choose between Viv Richards,Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara?

[Harsh Thakor]

Lara,Viv and Tendulkar are up there with the greatest batsmen of all time if not the best.All took cricketing skill to heights of the sublime and acheived what few men ever achieved in their lifetime.Here I am comparing their merits to be selected for an all-time xi.

 

Viv was the most destructive of the 3 or mercurial.He was not technically the best but intimidated great opposition more than any batsmen ever .,taking batting domination to regions never traversed.No batsmen could turn a complexion of a game as much as Viv.Viv was the best player of genuine pace ever in the game treating Lille or Thomson at their fastest with disdain.In his peak period from 1976-80 he was 2nd to only Bradman if you consider the opposition he faced in WSC Packer Cricket whee ha averaged 0ver 86 in the 1st season and 100 for the world xi.No batsmen devoured English bolwing after Brdaman as much as Viv did in 1976 when he amasssed 829 runs at an average of 118.42.Viv averaged above 70 more than any great batsmen apart from Bradman in a single series.Viv performed outstandingly in all types of conditions,from the seaming Englsih pitches,bouncy Australian tracks to the turning wickets on the sub-continent.In the late 1970's and early 80's he was simply head and shoulders above any batsmen ,arguably more than any since Bradman.No batsmen in peak era was more impactful in England and Australia.He lost his form marginally in the 1980's but still had some oustanding series and innings.Most of the fast-bowling greats rank Viv as the greatest batsmen they ever bowled to like Dennis Lillee,Wasim Akram and Imran Khan.He was virtually more of a unanimous choice for the most difficult batsmen to bowl to in an era than any batsmen ever.Modern Pakistan greats like Saed Anwar and Inzamam Ul Haq rank Viv as the best they ever saw.Viv was not at his best against great spin bowling .He also had an advantage of playing for a champion test team.It was a more daunting task to bowl to Viv for a great fast bowler than anyone.Still it must be said that Viv was not at his best facing his own country's bowlers in the Shell shield cricket from Barbados.

 

Tendulkar was the ultimate epitome of consistency and closest to the perfect or most complete batsmen.Blended technical skill with attacking agression like nonone else.No batsmen dominated test cricket at the top for such a prolonged period .He perhaps batted more like Bradman than anyone  and faced more pressure eve than nay great middle order batsmen.He wast he youngest batsmen to achieve all the 1000 run barriers and achieved quite a few of them in the fastest time.Technically he was amongst the soundest of all time with mastery of strokes in the 'V ' region as no batsmen ever.Equally adept against pace and spin and on fast ,seaming or turning tracks.Only batsmen ever to cross landmark of 50 test c enturies.Often not regarded as being the greatest of match-winners he still averaged over 65 in games won.No great batsmen ever made such a comeback as Sachin did after a tennis elbow in 2008.Alan Donald rated Tendulkar the most perfect and compact batsmen he ever bowled to .Bradman chose Sachin instead of Lara or Viv in his all-time xi.Shane Warne rated Sachin in a league above any bating great of his time.Sachin was more complete but to me marginally less talented and explosive as Lara or Viv.He also often did not have the punch to bang the nails in the coffin or deliver the final knockout punch to win games .However at his best he received no support which is significant.Technically Tendulkar has played more great innings than any batting great taking mastery to it's supreme height.

 

 

Lara was simply the equivalent of a magician to batting depicting the skill of a Michelangelo or Rembrandt.Although not flawless or technically perfect his batting penetrated regions of divinity  enabling him to sit with the Gods of Olympus.No great batsmen ever single- handedly bore the brunt  of a weak batting line up like Lara , single-handedly turning many games if not winning them.At his best like in the 1999 Frank Worrel trophy he single-handedly turned the series with successive knocks of 211,153 n.0 and 104,amassing 546 runs at an average above 90.He also amassed the record aggregate for a batsmen away in a 3 test series when scoring 688 runs in Sri Lanka.He also amassed runs at a more mercurial strike rate than any batsmen of his time,especially after crossing 3 figures.No batsmen of his era displayed such attacking agression even when their side was in the depths of despair.He had the greatest penchant ever of amassing mamoth scores,breaking the world record twice.Fell out in term sof consistency and wa statistically overshadowed even by Ricky Ponting .Still considering he single-handedly carried the burden of his team on his shoulders he was the best batsmen in his peak even if Sachin and Ponting had better statistical records.Glen Mcgrath ranks Lara as the best batsmen he ever bowled to while Jacques Kallis ranks him the best batsmen he ever saw.Lara was to me the best batsmen ever against spin bowling.Some critqies may rank him as selfish as his 375 and 400 did not win games but they should never forget his match-winning unbeaten 153 at Barbados v Australia or his 277 at Sydney in 1992-93 .Lara has the highest average percentage score of an innings than any batsmen after Bradman.Even if he did not equal Viv's intensity he could be in command for a longer period.For pure talent I rate Lara at the top of the 3.One flaw in Lara is that his home record is better than his overseas one unlike Viv and Sachin.He was also unsuccessful in India.

 

In the end perhaps a dead -heat may be the fairest verdict.On fast track or against great pace Viv would be my unanimous choice.On a turning track I would choose Lara or Sachin above Viv.In a crisis I would choose Lara and then Sachin but Viv hardly faced those situations.To win a match my choice would unanimously be Viv.Maybe it is unfair to even compare them.Viv received 64 votes,Tendulkar 42 and Lara 25 in the selection of all-time .xi's by cricketers .However many selectors were from Viv's or past eras.My subjective order weighing all the factors would be Lara,Tendulkar and then Viv.Significant that in the evaluation of ranking great batsmen cricket expert Anantha Narayana rated Lara with the highest match-performance Index,then Viv,then Tendulkar.Here the level of opposition,state of wicket,situation of game and impact in match is evaluated.Lara was rate at 21.7,Viv at 21.3 and Sachin at 20.5.Overall Anantha ranks Lara as only 2nd to Bradman in test matches with Tendulkar just a notch below.Lara surprisingly has no test hundred against a great genuinely fast bowler like Wasim Akram,Waqar younus or Alan Donald unlike Tendulkar.No doubt Tendulkar was more consistent than Viv or Brian but not as effective in turning games.Pertinent that Viv and Tendulkar have a better overseas test record than Lara .

 

                        STATISTICAL RECORDS

 

                        VIV RICHARDS(BY S.RAJESH OF CRICINFO)

Viv Richards in Tests

	Matches	Innings	Runs	Average	100s	50s
Overall	121	182	8540	50.23	24	45
1974-1980	40	63	3629	60.48	11	16
1981-1988	62	89	3933	47.38	12	19
1989- 1991	19	30	978	36.22	1	10

Viv Richards in World Series Cricket

Matches	Innings	Runs	Average	100	50
14	25	1281	58.23	4	4

 

Richards' best years were between 1976 and 1988. In 92 Tests during this period he scored 22 hundreds and was the only batsman to average more than 55 (among those who scored more than 4000). That was an era when several all-time greats were around - Greg Chappell, Allan Border, Sunil Gavaskar and Javed Miandad are all listed in the table below - but Richards' average was marginally higher than theirs (though he obviously didn't have to face his own bowlers, who were easily the most fearsome attack during that period). He averaged more than 50 in 13 out of the 23 series he played during this period.

 

Performance of top batsmen in Tests between 1976 and 1988 (Qual: 4000 runs)

Batsman	Matches	Innings	Runs	Average	100	50
Viv Richards	92	135	7091	55.39	22	34
Greg Chappell	50	87	4233	54.97	13	18
Javed Miandad	95	146	7033	54.94	19	35
Allan Border	100	175	7670	52.17	23	35
Sunil Gavaskar	108	180	8655	51.51	29	36
Gordon Greenidge	83	139	6025	48.58	14	30

 

The table below summarises Richards' career series averages. Of the 29 series he played, 14 times he averaged more than 50, and less than 30 on just seven occasions, most of them coming either during the early years or at the end.

 

Viv Richards' series averages

Total no. of series	Ave > 70	Ave between 50-70	Ave between 40-50	Ave between 30-40	Ave < 30
29	5	9	3	5	7   SACHIN TENDULKAR(.BY S.RAJESH OF CRICINFO)     Tendulkar's Test career, in blocks of 50 Tests
	Period	Runs	Average	100s/ 50s
First 50 Tests	Nov 1989-Mar 1997	3438	49.82	11/ 16
51-100 Tests	Mar 1997-Sep 2002	4967	65.35	19/ 18
101-150 Tests	Oct 2002-Aug 2008	3472	46.91	9/ 15
151-200 Tests	Aug 2008-Nov 2013	4044	52.51	12/ 19
Career	Nov 1989-Nov 2013	15,921	53.78	51/ 68

 

His best phase

In 1992, Tendulkar scored three hundreds, and all of them were masterpieces - 148 not out in Sydney, 114 in Perth, and 111 in Johannesburg. He was ready for bigger things, but he still finished with a calendar-year average of 41.90, because in the remaining eight innings that year he totalled 46 runs - his scores in those innings read 6,17,5,0,11,1,6,0 - clearly, he needed to become more consistent.

Being a quick learner, Tendulkar grasped that lesson fast, and over the next ten-year period he was the most prolific batsman in world cricket. That was also the time when most opposition teams had a couple of world-class fast bowlers in their ranks: the overall batting average in those ten years was 29.59; in the next 11-year period it went up to 32.67.

For Tendulkar, though, that period between 1993 and 2002 was when he was head and shoulders above all other batsmen in world cricket. He averaged 62.30 from 85 Tests; the next-best, Steve Waugh, averaged 55.07. His masterpieces during that period included 122 at Edgbaston in 1996, 169 in Cape Town the following year, 113 in Wellington in 1998, 136 against Pakistan in Chennai in 1999, 116 against Australia in Melbourne later that year, and 155 in Bloemfontein in 2001. That India ended up losing all six of those matches was a reflection of the rest of the batsmen, and the Indian bowling attack, that Tendulkar had to play with and carry along. Not all his hundreds were in defeats, though: he also scored nine in wins during that period, most famously conquering Shane Warne when scoring an unbeaten 155 in the second innings in Chennai in 1998.

 

Highest averages in Tests between Jan 1993 and Dec 2002 (Qual: 3000 runs)

Batsman	Tests	Runs	Average	100s/ 50s
Sachin Tendulkar	85	7726	62.30	27/ 31
Steve Waugh	109	7765	55.07	25/ 33
Rahul Dravid	69	5614	53.46	14/ 28
Matthew Hayden	37	3079	53.08	12/ 10
Andy Flower	60	4630	52.02	12/ 25
Jacques Kallis	65	4455	50.62	11/ 25
Brian Lara	86	7328	50.53	18/ 34
Inzamam-ul-Haq	80	6056	50.46	17/ 31
Ricky Ponting	63	4246	48.80	14/ 17
Mohammad Yousuf	42	3099	48.42	10/ 16

 

Pace and bounce? No problem

What stood out, and differentiated him from other Indian batsmen during that period, was the way he performed outside the subcontinent. The period from his debut to the end of 2001 was one where he had to shoulder the bulk of the run-scoring burden on tours; the golden period for Dravid was to start from 2002. The difference between him and the other batsmen was especially glaring in Australia and South Africa, because Dravid and Sourav Ganguly did score runs in England and New Zealand. Between 1991 and 2001, Tendulkar scored six centuries in 17 Tests in Australia and South Africa; all the other Indian batsmen put together managed only eight. In fact, of the first 21 Tests Tendulkar played, only one was at home, while 16 were outside the subcontinent (including one in Zimbabwe). Tendulkar had little experience of these conditions, but he coped quite well.

The table below shows how badly the other Indian batsmen struggled in those conditions between 1991 and 2001. Mohammad Azharuddin scored only 472 runs in 21 innings despite getting two hundreds - 14 times in those 21 innings he was dismissed for 15 or fewer; Sanjay Manjrekar's highest in 16 innings on those tours was 46; Dilip Vengsarkar totalled 158 from 9 innings, while VVS Laxman scored 244 from 11, excluding that memorable 167 in Sydney. Amid such batting failures, Tendulkar was a shining exception: in four of those five series, he averaged more than 40. Overall in those 17 Tests, he scored 19% of the total runs that were scored by all the Indian batsmen.

 

BRIAN LARA(BY S.RAJESH OF CRICINFO)

 

An important criterion when discussing that is performance against the best team in the world, and Lara's numbers against Australia indicated his class: in Tests he averaged 51 against them from 31 games, with nine centuries - each of them a gem, and one, the matchwinning unbeaten 153 in Barbados, arguably his best Test innings. His ODI numbers against them were pretty good too - an average of nearly 40 from 51 games.

Part of the thrill of watching Lara was the uncertainty over which version would turn up - the sublime version could send spectators and critics into raptures, but equally, the scratchy version could be painful to watch. Lara's Test career lends itself to a neat three-way partition - for the first five years the runs came easily and he averaged 60; then came a more difficult period, when he averaged less than 40 over four seasons, and while it wasn't all bleak - that memorable Barbados innings came during this period, as did a fantastic series against Australia - for large periods it was hugely disappointing. In his last five seasons - starting with the outstanding series against Sri Lanka in 2001-02 - he has been among the runs again. In his last Test series - against Pakistan late last year - he averaged 89.60, with two hundreds, including a double. Talk about finishing with a flourish.

Break-up of Lara's Test career

Period Tests Runs Average 100s/ 50s

1990-91 - 1995-96 33 3197 60.32 7/ 17

1996-97 - 2000-01 47 3356 39.95 8/ 16

2001-02 - 2006-07 51 5420 60.90 19/ 15

 

Through much of his career, Lara has had to battle for the mantle of best batsman with Sachin Tendulkar. Between 1992 and 1995 there was little to choose between the two, but Lara's slump coincided with a golden period for Tendulkar, when he averaged almost 62. Since November 2001, though, Lara has clearly been the superior batsman, and one of only five to average more than 60; over the same period Tendulkar average 49.70 only, with nine hundreds in 50 Tests.

 

Top Test batsmen since November 2001

BatsmanTests Runs verage 100s/ 50s

Ricky Ponting 62 6501 71.43 25/ 22

Mohammad Yousuf42 4318 66.43 16/ 15

Jacques Kallis54 5001 62. 51 15/ 27

Rahul Dravid 5851 28  61.78 14/ 25

Brian Lara 5154 20 60.89 19/ 15

Being a part of a mediocre West Indian team meant enduring more than his fair share of defeats - Lara is the only batsman with more than 5000 runs in defeats, more than 2000 runs clear of the second-placed Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

 

Most number of runs in Test defeats

 

Batsman Tests Runs Average 100s/ 50s

 

Brian Lara 6353 16  42.19 14/ 22

Shivnarine Chanderpaul4 93059  33.6  13/ 19

Alec Stewart 5429 93 29.9  30/ 23

Sachin Tendulkar 3927 83 35.67  8/ 11

Allan Border 462771  33.38 5/ 13

Andy Flower 342713 43.06 7/ 15

Lara has had his share of personal battles, and victories, against fast bowlers, but he was clearly at his best against spin - it wouldn't be far-fetched to call him the best against spin in the last 20 years. The tables below display the numbers since November 2001 in both forms of the game, and the stats lend further credence to that theory.

 

Lara against pace & spin in Tests since Nov 2001

Runs Balls Dismissals Averag Runs per over

Pace3144 5377 61 51.54 3.50

Spin2276 3510 28  81.29  3.89

Edited April 2, 2019 by Harsh Thakor

[Khota]

Big Sachin fan here but I will go along with Dravid and pick Lara.

[zen]

Depends upon the combination. Viv averages 60+ as a top order batsman so would consider him to open w/ Gavaskar. Therefore would be my first pick among the 3 

 

The 12 

Gavaskar

Richards

Bradman

Lara

Tendulkar 

Sobers

Gilly 

Hadlee

Warne

Marshall

Ambrose 

Murali 

 

[Gollum]

I will choose Inzi because as per the words of Cricket God (Taliban Khan) he was simply the greatest batsman against pace. Lara decent, Sachin good, Viv better, Aloo best.

Sent from my SM-G350E using Tapatalk

[rtmohanlal]

If it is tests only then it is Sachin,Lara,Viv in that order.

Over all it is  Viv,Sachin,Lara in that  order

[Ankit_sharma03]

Lara 

[kubrickian]

Sachin. Better player of spin than Lara and and also because of his longevity and consistency.

[jusarrived]

4 hours ago, kubrickian said:

Sachin. Better player of spin than Lara and and also because of his longevity and consistency.

On the contrary Sachin was better against pace , Lara was touch better against spin imo 

[sarcastic]

15 hours ago, Gollum said:

I will choose Inzi because as per the words of Cricket God (Taliban Khan) he was simply the greatest batsman against pace. Lara decent, Sachin good, Viv better, Aloo best.

Sent from my SM-G350E using Tapatalk
 

BTW< Inzi actually has a very high average in test matches won..> Much higher than the other legends from sub-continent at least and he is particularly good in 4th innings which most of our best batsmen cannot say.

Remember, we could not chase 120 vs WI with a very good batting lineup but Inzi saved Pakistan with a 138* in the great escape vs Bangladesh.... 

 

It is the inspirational leadership of Imran Khan that Inzi first flowered. If we are honest with ourselves, it is hard to get one player to contribute so much for his national team as Imran Khan did for Pakistan. 


Having said all this, none of the above means I will pick him above a SRT or Dravid in a test XI. 

[kubrickian]

19 hours ago, jusarrived said:

On the contrary Sachin was better against pace , Lara was touch better against spin imo 

Lara averaged 33 in India in spin friendly conditions. How was he touch better against spin than Sachin who took the greatest spinner of all time, Warne regularly to the cleaners ? 

[Nikhil_cric]

13 hours ago, kubrickian said:

Lara averaged 33 in India in spin friendly conditions. How was he touch better against spin than Sachin who took the greatest spinner of all time, Warne regularly to the cleaners ? 

Lara could destroy spinners in a manner that Sachin simply could not. Maybe on a couple of occasions but that's it. Lara and Sehwag were the ultimate spinner killers. Against genuine pace though , I'd rate tendulkar ahead of Lara against pace though. Until his tennis elbow injury , he was brilliant against pace second only to Ponting. 

[Harsh Thakor]

On 4/4/2019 at 12:31 PM, Nikhil_cric said:

Lara could destroy spinners in a manner that Sachin simply could not. Maybe on a couple of occasions but that's it. Lara and Sehwag were the ultimate spinner killers. Against genuine pace though , I'd rate tendulkar ahead of Lara against pace though. Until his tennis elbow injury , he was brilliant against pace second only to Ponting. 

Agree,HIS domination of Murlitharan testifies thisi-688 runs n 3 tests in  a single series!To me the bets ever against spin

[Harsh Thakor]

On 4/3/2019 at 3:50 AM, jusarrived said:

On the contrary Sachin was better against pace , Lara was touch better against spin imo 

Better statistical record but in full flow would Lara not take genuine pace more by the sword than Sachin.Sachin never equalled Lara's best efforts in Australia like his 277 at Sydney or 219 in 2004-05. at Melbourne.Was Lara in full flow more dazzling against the likes of Wasim ,Brett Lee,Shoaib Akhtar  or Alan  Donald.Almost a drawbut Lara's divine artistry may have given him the slight edge.

[Nikhil_cric]

2 hours ago, Harsh Thakor said:

Better statistical record but in full flow would Lara not take genuine pace more by the sword than Sachin.Sachin never equalled Lara's best efforts in Australia like his 277 at Sydney or 219 in 2004-05. at Melbourne.Was Lara in full flow more dazzling against the likes of Wasim ,Brett Lee,Shoaib Akhtar  or Alan  Donald.Almost a drawbut Lara's divine artistry may have given him the slight edge.

Against quality fast bowlers, Lara's record is suspect. He doesn't have a great record against teams when quality fast bowlers like Donald, McGrath , Wasim, Waqar were in the opposition. Tendulkar has knocks against these bowlers and a rampant Steyn as well and McGrath himself rated tendulkar harder to bowl to because of a better technique. What Lara could do was score runs in large volume against weaker attacks and score at a rapid pace as well. And as discussed earlier, he was a destroyer of spin and medium pacers but against high quality pace he has played only a couple of knocks and largely failed . Also didnt have to face Amby, bish and Walsh. 

[raki05]

On 4/2/2019 at 1:02 PM, Harsh Thakor said:

Lara,Viv and Tendulkar are up there with the greatest batsmen of all time if not the best.All took cricketing skill to heights of the sublime and acheived what few men ever achieved in their lifetime.Here I am comparing their merits to be selected for an all-time xi.

 

Viv was the most destructive of the 3 or mercurial.He was not technically the best but intimidated great opposition more than any batsmen ever .,taking batting domination to regions never traversed.No batsmen could turn a complexion of a game as much as Viv.Viv was the best player of genuine pace ever in the game treating Lille or Thomson at their fastest with disdain.In his peak period from 1976-80 he was 2nd to only Bradman if you consider the opposition he faced in WSC Packer Cricket whee ha averaged 0ver 86 in the 1st season and 100 for the world xi.No batsmen devoured English bolwing after Brdaman as much as Viv did in 1976 when he amasssed 829 runs at an average of 118.42.Viv averaged above 70 more than any great batsmen apart from Bradman in a single series.Viv performed outstandingly in all types of conditions,from the seaming Englsih pitches,bouncy Australian tracks to the turning wickets on the sub-continent.In the late 1970's and early 80's he was simply head and shoulders above any batsmen ,arguably more than any since Bradman.No batsmen in peak era was more impactful in England and Australia.He lost his form marginally in the 1980's but still had some oustanding series and innings.Most of the fast-bowling greats rank Viv as the greatest batsmen they ever bowled to like Dennis Lillee,Wasim Akram and Imran Khan.He was virtually more of a unanimous choice for the most difficult batsmen to bowl to in an era than any batsmen ever.Modern Pakistan greats like Saed Anwar and Inzamam Ul Haq rank Viv as the best they ever saw.Viv was not at his best against great spin bowling .He also had an advantage of playing for a champion test team.It was a more daunting task to bowl to Viv for a great fast bowler than anyone.Still it must be said that Viv was not at his best facing his own country's bowlers in the Shell shield cricket from Barbados.

 

Tendulkar was the ultimate epitome of consistency and closest to the perfect or most complete batsmen.Blended technical skill with attacking agression like nonone else.No batsmen dominated test cricket at the top for such a prolonged period .He perhaps batted more like Bradman than anyone  and faced more pressure eve than nay great middle order batsmen.He wast he youngest batsmen to achieve all the 1000 run barriers and achieved quite a few of them in the fastest time.Technically he was amongst the soundest of all time with mastery of strokes in the 'V ' region as no batsmen ever.Equally adept against pace and spin and on fast ,seaming or turning tracks.Only batsmen ever to cross landmark of 50 test c enturies.Often not regarded as being the greatest of match-winners he still averaged over 65 in games won.No great batsmen ever made such a comeback as Sachin did after a tennis elbow in 2008.Alan Donald rated Tendulkar the most perfect and compact batsmen he ever bowled to .Bradman chose Sachin instead of Lara or Viv in his all-time xi.Shane Warne rated Sachin in a league above any bating great of his time.Sachin was more complete but to me marginally less talented and explosive as Lara or Viv.He also often did not have the punch to bang the nails in the coffin or deliver the final knockout punch to win games .However at his best he received no support which is significant.Technically Tendulkar has played more great innings than any batting great taking mastery to it's supreme height.

 

 

Lara was simply the equivalent of a magician to batting depicting the skill of a Michelangelo or Rembrandt.Although not flawless or technically perfect his batting penetrated regions of divinity  enabling him to sit with the Gods of Olympus.No great batsmen ever single- handedly bore the brunt  of a weak batting line up like Lara , single-handedly turning many games if not winning them.At his best like in the 1999 Frank Worrel trophy he single-handedly turned the series with successive knocks of 211,153 n.0 and 104,amassing 546 runs at an average above 90.He also amassed the record aggregate for a batsmen away in a 3 test series when scoring 688 runs in Sri Lanka.He also amassed runs at a more mercurial strike rate than any batsmen of his time,especially after crossing 3 figures.No batsmen of his era displayed such attacking agression even when their side was in the depths of despair.He had the greatest penchant ever of amassing mamoth scores,breaking the world record twice.Fell out in term sof consistency and wa statistically overshadowed even by Ricky Ponting .Still considering he single-handedly carried the burden of his team on his shoulders he was the best batsmen in his peak even if Sachin and Ponting had better statistical records.Glen Mcgrath ranks Lara as the best batsmen he ever bowled to while Jacques Kallis ranks him the best batsmen he ever saw.Lara was to me the best batsmen ever against spin bowling.Some critqies may rank him as selfish as his 375 and 400 did not win games but they should never forget his match-winning unbeaten 153 at Barbados v Australia or his 277 at Sydney in 1992-93 .Lara has the highest average percentage score of an innings than any batsmen after Bradman.Even if he did not equal Viv's intensity he could be in command for a longer period.For pure talent I rate Lara at the top of the 3.One flaw in Lara is that his home record is better than his overseas one unlike Viv and Sachin.He was also unsuccessful in India.

 

In the end perhaps a dead -heat may be the fairest verdict.On fast track or against great pace Viv would be my unanimous choice.On a turning track I would choose Lara or Sachin above Viv.In a crisis I would choose Lara and then Sachin but Viv hardly faced those situations.To win a match my choice would unanimously be Viv.Maybe it is unfair to even compare them.Viv received 64 votes,Tendulkar 42 and Lara 25 in the selection of all-time .xi's by cricketers .However many selectors were from Viv's or past eras.My subjective order weighing all the factors would be Lara,Tendulkar and then Viv.Significant that in the evaluation of ranking great batsmen cricket expert Anantha Narayana rated Lara with the highest match-performance Index,then Viv,then Tendulkar.Here the level of opposition,state of wicket,situation of game and impact in match is evaluated.Lara was rate at 21.7,Viv at 21.3 and Sachin at 20.5.Overall Anantha ranks Lara as only 2nd to Bradman in test matches with Tendulkar just a notch below.Lara surprisingly has no test hundred against a great genuinely fast bowler like Wasim Akram,Waqar younus or Alan Donald unlike Tendulkar.No doubt Tendulkar was more consistent than Viv or Brian but not as effective in turning games.Pertinent that Viv and Tendulkar have a better overseas test record than Lara .

 

                        STATISTICAL RECORDS

 

                        VIV RICHARDS(BY S.RAJESH OF CRICINFO)

Viv Richards in Tests

	Matches	Innings	Runs	Average	100s	50s
Overall	121	182	8540	50.23	24	45
1974-1980	40	63	3629	60.48	11	16
1981-1988	62	89	3933	47.38	12	19
1989- 1991	19	30	978	36.22	1	10

Viv Richards in World Series Cricket

Matches	Innings	Runs	Average	100	50
14	25	1281	58.23	4	4

 

Richards' best years were between 1976 and 1988. In 92 Tests during this period he scored 22 hundreds and was the only batsman to average more than 55 (among those who scored more than 4000). That was an era when several all-time greats were around - Greg Chappell, Allan Border, Sunil Gavaskar and Javed Miandad are all listed in the table below - but Richards' average was marginally higher than theirs (though he obviously didn't have to face his own bowlers, who were easily the most fearsome attack during that period). He averaged more than 50 in 13 out of the 23 series he played during this period.

 

Performance of top batsmen in Tests between 1976 and 1988 (Qual: 4000 runs)

Batsman	Matches	Innings	Runs	Average	100	50
Viv Richards	92	135	7091	55.39	22	34
Greg Chappell	50	87	4233	54.97	13	18
Javed Miandad	95	146	7033	54.94	19	35
Allan Border	100	175	7670	52.17	23	35
Sunil Gavaskar	108	180	8655	51.51	29	36
Gordon Greenidge	83	139	6025	48.58	14	30

 

The table below summarises Richards' career series averages. Of the 29 series he played, 14 times he averaged more than 50, and less than 30 on just seven occasions, most of them coming either during the early years or at the end.

 

Viv Richards' series averages

Total no. of series	Ave > 70	Ave between 50-70	Ave between 40-50	Ave between 30-40	Ave < 30
29	5	9	3	5	7   SACHIN TENDULKAR(.BY S.RAJESH OF CRICINFO)     Tendulkar's Test career, in blocks of 50 Tests
	Period	Runs	Average	100s/ 50s
First 50 Tests	Nov 1989-Mar 1997	3438	49.82	11/ 16
51-100 Tests	Mar 1997-Sep 2002	4967	65.35	19/ 18
101-150 Tests	Oct 2002-Aug 2008	3472	46.91	9/ 15
151-200 Tests	Aug 2008-Nov 2013	4044	52.51	12/ 19
Career	Nov 1989-Nov 2013	15,921	53.78	51/ 68

 

His best phase

In 1992, Tendulkar scored three hundreds, and all of them were masterpieces - 148 not out in Sydney, 114 in Perth, and 111 in Johannesburg. He was ready for bigger things, but he still finished with a calendar-year average of 41.90, because in the remaining eight innings that year he totalled 46 runs - his scores in those innings read 6,17,5,0,11,1,6,0 - clearly, he needed to become more consistent.

Being a quick learner, Tendulkar grasped that lesson fast, and over the next ten-year period he was the most prolific batsman in world cricket. That was also the time when most opposition teams had a couple of world-class fast bowlers in their ranks: the overall batting average in those ten years was 29.59; in the next 11-year period it went up to 32.67.

For Tendulkar, though, that period between 1993 and 2002 was when he was head and shoulders above all other batsmen in world cricket. He averaged 62.30 from 85 Tests; the next-best, Steve Waugh, averaged 55.07. His masterpieces during that period included 122 at Edgbaston in 1996, 169 in Cape Town the following year, 113 in Wellington in 1998, 136 against Pakistan in Chennai in 1999, 116 against Australia in Melbourne later that year, and 155 in Bloemfontein in 2001. That India ended up losing all six of those matches was a reflection of the rest of the batsmen, and the Indian bowling attack, that Tendulkar had to play with and carry along. Not all his hundreds were in defeats, though: he also scored nine in wins during that period, most famously conquering Shane Warne when scoring an unbeaten 155 in the second innings in Chennai in 1998.

 

Highest averages in Tests between Jan 1993 and Dec 2002 (Qual: 3000 runs)

Batsman	Tests	Runs	Average	100s/ 50s
Sachin Tendulkar	85	7726	62.30	27/ 31
Steve Waugh	109	7765	55.07	25/ 33
Rahul Dravid	69	5614	53.46	14/ 28
Matthew Hayden	37	3079	53.08	12/ 10
Andy Flower	60	4630	52.02	12/ 25
Jacques Kallis	65	4455	50.62	11/ 25
Brian Lara	86	7328	50.53	18/ 34
Inzamam-ul-Haq	80	6056	50.46	17/ 31
Ricky Ponting	63	4246	48.80	14/ 17
Mohammad Yousuf	42	3099	48.42	10/ 16

 

Pace and bounce? No problem

What stood out, and differentiated him from other Indian batsmen during that period, was the way he performed outside the subcontinent. The period from his debut to the end of 2001 was one where he had to shoulder the bulk of the run-scoring burden on tours; the golden period for Dravid was to start from 2002. The difference between him and the other batsmen was especially glaring in Australia and South Africa, because Dravid and Sourav Ganguly did score runs in England and New Zealand. Between 1991 and 2001, Tendulkar scored six centuries in 17 Tests in Australia and South Africa; all the other Indian batsmen put together managed only eight. In fact, of the first 21 Tests Tendulkar played, only one was at home, while 16 were outside the subcontinent (including one in Zimbabwe). Tendulkar had little experience of these conditions, but he coped quite well.

The table below shows how badly the other Indian batsmen struggled in those conditions between 1991 and 2001. Mohammad Azharuddin scored only 472 runs in 21 innings despite getting two hundreds - 14 times in those 21 innings he was dismissed for 15 or fewer; Sanjay Manjrekar's highest in 16 innings on those tours was 46; Dilip Vengsarkar totalled 158 from 9 innings, while VVS Laxman scored 244 from 11, excluding that memorable 167 in Sydney. Amid such batting failures, Tendulkar was a shining exception: in four of those five series, he averaged more than 40. Overall in those 17 Tests, he scored 19% of the total runs that were scored by all the Indian batsmen.

 

BRIAN LARA(BY S.RAJESH OF CRICINFO)

 

An important criterion when discussing that is performance against the best team in the world, and Lara's numbers against Australia indicated his class: in Tests he averaged 51 against them from 31 games, with nine centuries - each of them a gem, and one, the matchwinning unbeaten 153 in Barbados, arguably his best Test innings. His ODI numbers against them were pretty good too - an average of nearly 40 from 51 games.

Part of the thrill of watching Lara was the uncertainty over which version would turn up - the sublime version could send spectators and critics into raptures, but equally, the scratchy version could be painful to watch. Lara's Test career lends itself to a neat three-way partition - for the first five years the runs came easily and he averaged 60; then came a more difficult period, when he averaged less than 40 over four seasons, and while it wasn't all bleak - that memorable Barbados innings came during this period, as did a fantastic series against Australia - for large periods it was hugely disappointing. In his last five seasons - starting with the outstanding series against Sri Lanka in 2001-02 - he has been among the runs again. In his last Test series - against Pakistan late last year - he averaged 89.60, with two hundreds, including a double. Talk about finishing with a flourish.

Break-up of Lara's Test career

Period Tests Runs Average 100s/ 50s

1990-91 - 1995-96 33 3197 60.32 7/ 17

1996-97 - 2000-01 47 3356 39.95 8/ 16

2001-02 - 2006-07 51 5420 60.90 19/ 15

 

Through much of his career, Lara has had to battle for the mantle of best batsman with Sachin Tendulkar. Between 1992 and 1995 there was little to choose between the two, but Lara's slump coincided with a golden period for Tendulkar, when he averaged almost 62. Since November 2001, though, Lara has clearly been the superior batsman, and one of only five to average more than 60; over the same period Tendulkar average 49.70 only, with nine hundreds in 50 Tests.

 

Top Test batsmen since November 2001

BatsmanTests Runs verage 100s/ 50s

Ricky Ponting 62 6501 71.43 25/ 22

Mohammad Yousuf42 4318 66.43 16/ 15

Jacques Kallis54 5001 62. 51 15/ 27

Rahul Dravid 5851 28  61.78 14/ 25

Brian Lara 5154 20 60.89 19/ 15

Being a part of a mediocre West Indian team meant enduring more than his fair share of defeats - Lara is the only batsman with more than 5000 runs in defeats, more than 2000 runs clear of the second-placed Shivnarine Chanderpaul.

 

Most number of runs in Test defeats

 

Batsman Tests Runs Average 100s/ 50s

 

Brian Lara 6353 16  42.19 14/ 22

Shivnarine Chanderpaul4 93059  33.6  13/ 19

Alec Stewart 5429 93 29.9  30/ 23

Sachin Tendulkar 3927 83 35.67  8/ 11

Allan Border 462771  33.38 5/ 13

Andy Flower 342713 43.06 7/ 15

Lara has had his share of personal battles, and victories, against fast bowlers, but he was clearly at his best against spin - it wouldn't be far-fetched to call him the best against spin in the last 20 years. The tables below display the numbers since November 2001 in both forms of the game, and the stats lend further credence to that theory.

 

Lara against pace & spin in Tests since Nov 2001

Runs Balls Dismissals Averag Runs per over

Pace3144 5377 61 51.54 3.50

Spin2276 3510 28  81.29  3.89

If it's all time xi for test sachin and lara would be sure shot in that. No all time test xi would be complete without these 2 pioneers. If it's all time odi xi than sachin and richards would be sure shot selection and if it's overall all time xi than only sachin deserved to be there. As other 2 were not that impressive in one of the format.

[Vilander]

Lara

 

Viv

 

Daylight

Tubelight

Bathroom light

Torch light

 

Others. 

 

Obviously

[Vilander]

Where is Inzi  and Saeed anwar Zaheer abbas wtf.

[rtmohanlal]

10 hours ago, Vilander said:

Lara

 

Viv

 

Daylight

Tubelight

Bathroom light

Torch light

 

Others. 

 

Obviously

how could you vote for both Lara & Viv ?

[Nikola]

10 hours ago, rtmohanlal said:

how could you vote for both Lara & Viv ?

cause there is option added by op to add multiple votes for same question on this poll.

[putrevus]

On 4/3/2019 at 1:25 PM, kubrickian said:

Lara averaged 33 in India in spin friendly conditions. How was he touch better against spin than Sachin who took the greatest spinner of all time, Warne regularly to the cleaners ? 

Lara is better player against spin than Sachin. Lara played one series in India, anyone can have bad series.