Evaluate your favorite cricketers!

[zen]

Who are your favorite cricketers and how do they stack up against the top performers? For a cricketer to qualify on your list, you must have watched at least 3 years of cricket of the cricketer. Try to limit your list to 3 cricketers. Below is my list in no particular order: 

 

 

Virender Sehwag

 

• Tests: I see Sehwag as the most impactful test batsman from India. He revolutionized opening in tests. There is probably no one like him. I also like the fact that he has played a few gems (esp. v Pak) and hit big 100s to unsettle the bowlers, helping others in the team to big scores as well at times. He would certainly be in my Indian AT Test 11, however, I cannot find a place for him in a World AT Test 11 at least in the first team unless selecting him to dominate attacks in subcon, Aus, etc. 
• ODIs: In ODIs, again he has a class leading SR for his time but lacks consistency relatively speaking (a trait associated with high SR batting). He was Ind's best ODI batsman in the 2008-2011 period (Link). Will find a place in my Ind AT 11. There are more optimal options than him for a World AT11 place but like in tests, can get into 2nd or 3rd 11. 

 

 

Hardik Pandya

 

• Nothing much to write about at the moment except potential and a few performances here and there. What I like about him is his clean hitting capabilities, fearless attitude, and ability to bowl at 140+. He is among the unique cricketers that I have seen emerge from India. If you look at Kapil Dev, he had great potential but it was not translated into matching performances. For e.g., in ODIs, Kapil went without scoring a 50 in the last 6-7 years of his career. If a player of Kapil's caliber goes through that, it hurts. I hope that Pandya can utilize most of his potential and give India most of what it missed out through Kapil's inconsistency with the bat. If you want to encourage this talented cricketer, make sure to join his fan club - Link

 

 

To be relatively neutral, my list would need at least an international cricketer. Now I like many cricketers from the pre 90 era but have not watched 3 years of their cricket. Post 90 too, there are a lot options. I think I will have to go back to the 1992 World Cup, where I saw some great cricket. I had not seen a consistent performance like Martin Crowe's - both in batting and captaincy. The atmosphere at stadiums when Crowe was playing was unbelievable. The commentators' energy levels went up as well. Even though I write against Imran Khan (ball tampering for e.g.), I am impressed by his captaincy and performances - winning and performing in the 89 Nehru Cup and 92 World Cup. He is a cricketer who worked hard to improve his game. And of course there are others as well. Let me go with:

 

 

Martin Crowe: There is a thread on him which talks about his highlights - Link

 

• Tests and ODIs: As good as any modern batsman but will probably miss out on a place in the first World AT11 unless you consider his captaincy as well. Of course, an automatic choice for a place in NZ AT11. What about a hypothetical place in an Ind 11? I rate him on par with the top Indian batsmen so will not only find a place but can also captain it. 

 

Edited August 11, 2020 by zen

[sandeep]

Veeru made watching test cricket so entertaining, he was like nothing else before him.  Warner is at best a poor man's Veeru.  

 

Bumrah and Bhuvi (with new ball) are the bowling versions of Veeru for me - must see TV.  Love Bumrah, and just hope he stays fit for a decent career length, and maybe even might make a great captain. 

 

Prithvi Shaw has shown that he follows the Veeru principle in batting approach, if he's even 70% as successful, he's going to entertain us for a while. 

 

Pat Cummins and Jos Buttler are my favorite non Indian cricketers, Cummins I view as the spiritual heir to Jason Gillespie, in terms of his lion-heart, commitment and consistency, even in conditions that don't help pace.  But Cummins I think is more blessed than Dizzy as a bowler, and especially as a batsman.  Buttler, I think has one of the best temperaments in the white ball game.  He's a 'gun' player.  And I respect him a lot.

 

Amongst the young ones, I like Alzarri Joseph and Naseem Shah.  Both of these guys have something special about them, but are still raw and not  guaranteed to find consistent success at the highest level.  But still, I like rooting for young talent, so that's that. 

[Ankit_sharma03]

Mcgrath - 1st name in my list in any Atg Xi.

Pin point accuracy , wrist that cud generate extra bounce and flick of the wrist that got him his seam movement. The man had a number on every best batsman of his era, sachin, inzy, lara all looked under doubt against him. Bowler for all conditon n situation. If their was any chink in anyone technique he ll exploit it . 

 

Warne - the magician, he had an aura around him. Warne was a show with mystery. Watching him setting up a batsman was a show. I always use to try to guess what will he bowl next. 

 

Lara - no one made batting more watchable then him. The madness to break wc and concentration he had once he was set was impecable. As warne once said , if u wanna chase 400 in last innings u need lara. If warne was magic show with the ball then lara was with bat. 

 

Since the list said just 3 tht wud be my top picks. 

[Adamant]

Yuvraj Singh-When Yuvraj hits the ball it stays hit.The gap that yuvi left in the team has still not been filled.An aggressive batsman who can hit from ball one and also build a partnership.I am sure if we had someone like him in our 2019 team we would have won the world cup.Also a good bowler in subcontinent.

 

Glenn Freaking Mcgrath-

The number of times this man has terrorised opposition is just incredible.

As an indian he was the most dangerous opponent,Dominated great players and almost always delivered in crunch situations.

 

Current favourite-Rishab Pant:Dynamic batsman keeper who can hit from ball one ,but I am more excited about his potential in test matches than anything else.This is the era of batsman keeper and although I'll like to see him work on improving his keeping against spin but he is still a very good option away from home ,he can be our Gilchrist.

Sadly people expect him to play as a finisher in ODIs which he will never be,he can be the pinch hitter or even the new Yuvraj if kohli sticks with him got some time.

[Straight Drive]

Considering various contexts, individual performances, challenges faced, impact on major trophies, setting a culture with a great benchmark i would rank as follows. Added 4th because I didn't feel it was fair of me to leave out Marshall.

 

Sobers

Kapil

Sunny

Marshall

 

 

 

[zen]

18 hours ago, sandeep said:

Pat Cummins and Jos Buttler are my favorite non Indian cricketers, Cummins I view as the spiritual heir to Jason Gillespie, in terms of his lion-heart, commitment and consistency, even in conditions that don't help pace.  But Cummins I think is more blessed than Dizzy as a bowler, and especially as a batsman.  Buttler, I think has one of the best temperaments in the white ball game.  He's a 'gun' player.  And I respect him a lot.

Damien Fleming has also compared Cummins with Lillee: 

“Speaking on SEN’s Whateley, Damien Fleming compared Cummins to one of Australia’s greatest fast bowlers.

 

“I think he (Pat Cummins) is the closest thing to Dennis Lillee,” Fleming said. 
 

“Glenn McGrath was easily as effective as Dennis Lillee, but as good a mate as Glenn is, he didn’t have the charisma of Dennis and Cummins has got it. 

 

“By the end of his career he might be bunched into Lillie, McGrath and in there it’s Patrick Cummins.“

 

https://www.sen.com.au/news/2019/09/17/is-pat-cummins-the-closest-thing-to-dennis-lillee/

[zen]

8 hours ago, Adamant said:

 

Current favourite-Rishab Pant:Dynamic batsman keeper who can hit from ball one ,but I am more excited about his potential in test matches than anything else.This is the era of batsman keeper and although I'll like to see him work on improving his keeping against spin but he is still a very good option away from home ,he can be our Gilchrist.

Sadly people expect him to play as a finisher in ODIs which he will never be,he can be the pinch hitter or even the new Yuvraj if kohli sticks with him got some time.

You may like this comment by Ponting on Pant:

 

https://youtu.be/qIi1Up4SdYQ

[maniac]

I don’t like to tune into watch same old same old

 

I tune into watch Players create something unique never before seen records. That’s what excites me.

 

I used to tune into watch Kapil because his stories and legend was strong when I was a kid but unfortunately he was towards the end of his career.

 

Sachin,Sehwag,Rohit,Kohli,Ishant,Bumrah,Yuvraj or in international cricket guys like Stokes,Butler who won some impossible games or guys like Warner,Smith, Ross Taylor and even youngsters like Pooran, Rahul,Pope etc.

 

Give me something different. Dazzle me with something special :)

Edited August 11, 2020 by maniac

[BacktoCricaddict]

I take it that, by favorite, we don't mean "who is the best in your opinion, just whom do you like the most - for whatever reason?"  From that standpoint:

 

(1) Malcolm Marshall:  As a 13 - 16 yr old just learning how to play cricket, being a short, regularly built guy, it was inspiration to see MDM at work.  If you passed him in the market, you would just smile and nod at this normal-looking guy, but put a cricket ball in his hand and you'd be peeing your britches!  Along with Hadlee, MDM's action was the most no-frills, economical one I've seen.  It was so simple that, as a teenager, I would imitate it over and over again.  From a performance standpoint, there are a few who come close, but no one who was both statistically superb *and* devastatingly fearsome as this guy.  What a story, one that ended too early.    

 

(2) Krishnamachari Srikkanth:  A regular guy-next-door with an incredibly deceptive ability to take on the best and thrash them into submission before they even knew what hit them.  People talk about Sehwag, Jayasuriya, Greatbatch as guys who changed opening batting, and they all deserve the adulation.  But there was something unique about Srikkanth, in the 80s, taking on the likes of Imran, Marshall and Pat Patterson and nonchalantly hooking and pulling them, then walking to square leg sniffling and rubbing his nose.   To me, he was not even close to being the best opening aggressor, but was certainly among the first to do it well at a highest level.  Also don't forget he had the highest score in the WC83 final (ooh .. that square drive off Roberts) and was the best performer in the 1985 B&H WCC.  To this day, I believe he deserved the Audi more than RJS.  And he was an electric fielder, to boot.      

 

(3) VVS Laxman:  He changed it, he changed it all.  Forever.  

[zen]

5 minutes ago, BacktoCricaddict said:

 

I take it that, by favorite, we don't mean "who is the best in your opinion, just whom do you like the most - for whatever reason?"  

 

Yep. Favorite can be for a variety of reasons!

[zen]

8 minutes ago, BacktoCricaddict said:

1) Malcolm Marshall:  As a 13 - 16 yr old just learning how to play cricket, being a short, regularly built guy, it was inspiration to see MDM at work.  If you passed him in the market, you would just smile and nod at this normal-looking guy, but put a cricket ball in his hand and you'd be peeing your britches!  Along with Hadlee, MDM's action was the most no-frills, economical one I've seen.  It was so simple that, as a teenager, I would imitate it over and over again.  From a performance standpoint, there are a few who come close, but no one who was both statistically superb *and* devastatingly fearsome as this guy.  What a story, one that ended too early.    

In my AT Test 11, I would have both Marshall, the premier test match pace bowler, and Hadlee, one of the biggest match winners with the ball. Both add batting depth as well, which can be important like we saw in the recent Eng vs Pak Test. 

[sandeep]

1 hour ago, zen said:

In my AT Test 11, I would have both Marshall, the premier test match pace bowler, and Hadlee, one of the biggest match winners with the ball. Both add batting depth as well, which can be important like we saw in the recent Eng vs Pak Test. 

Maco is my personal favorite out of the Windies pace machine.  

[sandeep]

1 hour ago, BacktoCricaddict said:

I take it that, by favorite, we don't mean "who is the best in your opinion, just whom do you like the most - for whatever reason?"  From that standpoint:

 

(1) Malcolm Marshall:  As a 13 - 16 yr old just learning how to play cricket, being a short, regularly built guy, it was inspiration to see MDM at work.  If you passed him in the market, you would just smile and nod at this normal-looking guy, but put a cricket ball in his hand and you'd be peeing your britches!  Along with Hadlee, MDM's action was the most no-frills, economical one I've seen.  It was so simple that, as a teenager, I would imitate it over and over again.  From a performance standpoint, there are a few who come close, but no one who was both statistically superb *and* devastatingly fearsome as this guy.  What a story, one that ended too early.    

 

(2) Krishnamachari Srikkanth:  A regular guy-next-door with an incredibly deceptive ability to take on the best and thrash them into submission before they even knew what hit them.  People talk about Sehwag, Jayasuriya, Greatbatch as guys who changed opening batting, and they all deserve the adulation.  But there was something unique about Srikkanth, in the 80s, taking on the likes of Imran, Marshall and Pat Patterson and nonchalantly hooking and pulling them, then walking to square leg sniffling and rubbing his nose.   To me, he was not even close to being the best opening aggressor, but was certainly among the first to do it well at a highest level.  Also don't forget he had the highest score in the WC83 final (ooh .. that square drive off Roberts) and was the best performer in the 1985 B&H WCC.  To this day, I believe he deserved the Audi more than RJS.  And he was an electric fielder, to boot.      

 

(3) VVS Laxman:  He changed it, he changed it all.  Forever.  

Cheeka was a total 70s cricketer in the 80s - a complete character, idiosynchratic, chainsmoker, guy who had no business being as successful as he was.  His batting stance and his facial tics were memorable, so was the frequent chaos inflicted by his running between the wickets.  It was a simpler time.

[maniac]

17 minutes ago, sandeep said:

Cheeka was a total 70s cricketer in the 80s - a complete character, idiosynchratic, chainsmoker, guy who had no business being as successful as he was.  His batting stance and his facial tics were memorable, so was the frequent chaos inflicted by his running between the wickets.  It was a simpler time.

We are over sensitized in the T20 generation with all these players filled with flair but for that generation tuning into watch a guy who provides so much entertainment even if he comes off or even if he fails must be something else.

 

In fact I remember the 91 B&H series when he played some destructive innings against Patterson,Marshall etc and also against the Aussie attack. Looked like a million bucks at the start of the season .Too bad his form dipped around the same time as the WC and that was the end of that.
 

Also I mentioned this before one of my earliest cricketing memories is Srikkanth picking up 2 fifers vs a hapless kiwis with his bowling or when he promoted Chetan Sharma to open/1-down and he ended up getting a 100.

 

So always thought of him as a super entertaining cricketer even though just like Kapil his reputation preceded him so for people like us who started watching towards the end of his career are a little disappointed. 
 

On a lesser note it is like judging SRT based on his last 2-3 years. I know not the same level of players but you get my analogy.

[BacktoCricaddict]

22 hours ago, zen said:

In my AT Test 11, I would have both Marshall, the premier test match pace bowler, and Hadlee, one of the biggest match winners with the ball. Both add batting depth as well, which can be important like we saw in the recent Eng vs Pak Test. 

The other thing about both Marshall and Hadlee - I don't ever remember them engaging in abusive shenanigans (unlike GMcG).  They just let the ball talk.  Now, there are likely some incidents that I missed, but it wasn't part of their MO (unlike GMcG).  To me, that matters a great deal. 

 

That said, he harbored a deep and long-standing hatred of Dilip Vengsarkar.  Apparently, on his debut tour in 1978 (he was 20 yrs old), DBV kept insulting him from slips when he came out to bat, and kept appealing repeatedly until the umpire was pressured to raise the finger.  And MDM never forgave him for it.  

Edited August 12, 2020 by BacktoCricaddict

[Ajju]

Dhoni- The Name is Enough

All Time

[zen]

2 hours ago, BacktoCricaddict said:

The other thing about both Marshall and Hadlee - I don't ever remember them engaging in abusive shenanigans (unlike GMcG).  They just let the ball talk.  Now, there are likely some incidents that I missed, but it wasn't part of their MO (unlike GMcG).  To me, that matters a great deal. 

 

That said, he harbored a deep and long-standing hatred of Dilip Vengsarkar.  Apparently, on his debut tour in 1978 (he was 20 yrs old), DBV kept insulting him from slips when he came out to bat, and kept appealing repeatedly until the umpire was pressured to raise the finger.  And MDM never forgave him for it.  

Cricketers of that time had an unique aura. 

 

I recall reading about Marshall's dislike for Vengsarkar. Who knows, if that inspired him to score a 92 and pick up 8 wickets vs. Ind at Kanpur in 1983

 

Scorecard

 

Greenidge scored 194 as well. 

 

 

PS even at Kol in the 83 series, he scored a 50 to build p'ship with Lloyd and picked up 9 wkts - Scorecard

Edited August 12, 2020 by zen

[Rightarmfast]

On 8/11/2020 at 11:37 PM, maniac said:

We are over sensitized in the T20 generation with all these players filled with flair but for that generation tuning into watch a guy who provides so much entertainment even if he comes off or even if he fails must be something else.

 

In fact I remember the 91 B&H series when he played some destructive innings against Patterson,Marshall etc and also against the Aussie attack. Looked like a million bucks at the start of the season .Too bad his form dipped around the same time as the WC and that was the end of that.
 

Also I mentioned this before one of my earliest cricketing memories is Srikkanth picking up 2 fifers vs a hapless kiwis with his bowling or when he promoted Chetan Sharma to open/1-down and he ended up getting a 100.

 

So always thought of him as a super entertaining cricketer even though just like Kapil his reputation preceded him so for people like us who started watching towards the end of his career are a little disappointed. 
 

On a lesser note it is like judging SRT based on his last 2-3 years. I know not the same level of players but you get my analogy.

Players in retrospect look larger than they actually were. Have seen Srikanth from almost 83 onwards. more often than not, he would flop. There'd be some heroics here and there but they were few and too far in between. 

[BacktoCricaddict]

12 hours ago, Rightarmfast said:

Players in retrospect look larger than they actually were. Have seen Srikanth from almost 83 onwards. more often than not, he would flop. There'd be some heroics here and there but they were few and too far in between. 

Very true.  You look at Srikkanth's lifetime batting achievements and they are less than mediocre.  But, in the two major tournaments that propelled India to ODI prominence, he played a huge role.  He brought an unprecedented fearlessness and nonchalance to opening batting, managing to overshadow the great SMG by playing with a technique-free, anti-Gavaskar style.  And he scored important, albeit fleeting, victories over feared fast bowlers including MDM, Patterson and Imran (who was not really fast, but you get the point.).  Srikkanth will never be the gold crown.  He will always be the gem on the crown that shines the brightest ... but only at the right moment.    

Edited August 13, 2020 by BacktoCricaddict