Which batsmen scored the most runs against the greatest bowlers?

[Harsh Thakor]

Viv Richards,Bradman,Tendulkar,Lara or Sobers are probably the greatest of all batsmen dominating opposition to a pinnacle never reached.Others like Pollock,Gavaskar,Hutton ,Hammond ,Wekes etc were morally in their club but maybe a whisker below.

However not all the greatest batsmen were neccesarily the most prolific against the greatest bowlers .Bradman did not face speedsters bowling at around 150 k.ph or 95m.p.h. or great spinners.Viv did not have to face the pace quartet of his own team.Lara and Sachin got many opportunities to s core against fast-medium instead of express pace Sobers was very prolific versus Trueman but scored quite a lot of his big scores versus India and Pakistan and averaged under 50 in Australia.

The 3 I pick for being most prolific against the best bowlers are Alan Border,Greg Chappel and Sunil Gavaskar.

Chappell morally scored 7 centuries against West Indies attack at his best including 621 runs at an average of 69 with 3 centuries in 5 supertests in 1979 in West Indies.Ke also scored a 174 and 246 v a Rest of the World attack including Imran and Roberts in 1977.In 1975-76 he amassed 702 runs at 117 including an unbeaten 183 v West Indies.He also scored 2 double centuries facing Imran at Lahore in 1980 and Brisbane in 1981-82.Facing the great Richard Hadlee Chappell scored 247 n.o and 133 n.o in 1974 and an unbeaten 176 in 1982.He also scored a double century facing Kapil Dev at Sydney in 1980-81.Overall no batsmen was more prolific against a full strength Calypso attack.

Border averaged 74.21 in West Indies in 1984 with match-saving epic knocks at Trinidad and averaged over 67 in 1981-82 in the Frank Worrell trophy.He mastered a spin attack in Pakistan in 1980 averaging 131.22,including 2 150's at Lahore.Border was a n epitome of consistency in England plundering runs against Botham,Wilis etc in 1981 and 1985 when he averaged 0ver 59 and 66 respectively.At home and away he was prolific against Kapil Dev and Indian spinners.To top it all he also scored a lot of runs against the great Sir Richard Hadlee.Above al Border had to carry the mantle of a weak batting side .Thus a lot of his runs were scored against great bowlers like .
Marshall,Garner,Holding,Hadlee and Botham.

Gavaskar opened the innings which was all the more remarkable .He has to his credit a heroic 221 facing Botham and Wilis in 1979 and aggregating 542 runs at 77.42 in the series.He also scored 4 centuries facing Imran at his fastest in 1978-79 and best in 1983-83.He averaged over 89 in Pakistan in 1978-79.Gavaskar also scored 5 centuries against top quality West Indies bowlers and a 90 at Ahmedabad .He scored his centuries in West Indies in 1975-76 facing Holding and Roberts and scored his unbeaten 147 at Georgetown,121 at Delhi and unbeaten 236 at Madras against West Indies attack at full strength. He also score centuries facing Hadlee in 1975-76 and 3 centuries facing Jeff Thomson in 1978 in Australia.Ironically he was never successful facing Dennis Lillee.Considering he recived litte support it is remarkable that he wa s prolific against the likes of Roberts,Holding,Marshall,Imran ,Hadlee and spinners like Abdul Qadir and Iqbal Qasim or even Derek Underwood.

My final ranking in terms of runs scored against quality bowling would be Border at no1,Greg Chappell at no2 and Gavaskar at no 3.Even if he was best of the 3 Gavaskar had the opportunity of facing the lesser West Indies and Australian bowling attacks in 1977-78.1978-79 and was not tested in Wsc cricket supertests like Chappell.Sunny also averages around 43 against the top West Indies pace attack and the performances of Greg and Border were better against the best West Indies pace attacks if you asess records in 1979 and 1984.Chappell did not prove himself as much as Border in England but dominated the like sof Botham in 1979-80 .His outstanding agregate of 1416 runs in Wsc Supertests against top quality attacks may be give him the edge over Gavaskar in rankings in terms of runs scored against best quality attacks.

Edited August 20, 2019 by Harsh Thakor

[Deleted_User_1]

Even though I grew up idolizing Sunny (used to cry when he got out), he was in his prime in the late 70s during Packer era where feasted on a B-side Aus in Aus where I believe he scored 3 centuries (although he faced a past prime Thomson’s, but still quick) and a B-side WI which included a very young and raw Marshall. He mightily struggled against a full WI attack in WI just before the WC 1983 and also against Lillee and Pascoe in Aus.

 

Nonetheless, at a time where Indians rarely won abroad and very few could face raw pace, he was head and shoulders above others except maybe Jimmy Amarnath for a brief period in the early 80s.

 

[Straight Drive]

Always liked watching Sunny bat with the floppy hat and score loads of runs on poorly prepared wickets and against great bowlers.

 

 

 

[Laaloo]

Majid Khan obviously

[New guy]

No one can beat Majid Jahangir Khan

Edited August 21, 2019 by New guy

[R!TTER]

5 hours ago, New guy said:

No one can beat Majid Jahangir Khan

How dare I mean how could you, it's the royal HE  ماجد جہانگیر خان 

[Ajju]

Kohli in bilateral series

[Khota]

Very hard to answer this question.

[cricketfan28]

which batsman scored the most against weak bowlers only ?

[R!TTER]

3 hours ago, cricketfan28 said:

which batsman scored the most against weak bowlers only ?

11 hours ago, Ajju said:

Kohli in bilateral series

[Vijy]

the one and only God... aka Majid Akbar Jahangir Shah Jahan Aurangazeb Khan.