The Unpopular Cricket Opinions Thread

[Gollum]

3 minutes ago, MechEng said:

13.) A great test player should not be compared with a great t20 player. While the common opinion is that great test players are always better than great limited overs cricketers, they are 2 different formats with different approaches. It's like comparing Haile Gebrselassie with Usain Bolt.

 

14.) While Laxman's 281 is in top 3 greatest test innings of all time, Sachin's 136 at Chennai in 1999 and Sehwag's 201* at Galle came in tougher conditions. I'm saying this because Sri Lankan spinners and Pakistani bowlers are more effective on Asian pitches than their Aussie counterparts due to more familiarity with conditions.

Boss please that is blasphemy. Laxman's innings came when we were following on and in deep trouble against a team on a 16 match winning streak. Plus Mcgrath alone is enough to send shivers down the spine of any batsman. Sachin was plumb LBW below 10 in Chennai, a match where he ultimately choked near the finish line and Sehwag scored against a decent (not great) bowling attack on a difficult pitch. 

 

But since this is an unpopular opinions thread I am not complaining , just expressing my thoughts about the subject. 

Edited January 16, 2018 by Gollum

[Gollum]

62. Indian batsmen by and large are FTBs and massively over rated. Once upon a time at least we could play spin well, now we are masters of only slow turning pattas. We might be ahead of Pak and Lanka on the batting front but our batting legacy is a big fat joke compared to WI, Aus, SA, Eng.

[MechEng]

6 hours ago, Gollum said:

62. Indian batsmen by and large are FTBs and massively over rated. Once upon a time at least we could play spin well, now we are masters of only slow turning pattas. We might be ahead of Pak and Lanka on the batting front but our batting legacy is a big fat joke compared to WI, Aus, SA, Eng.

Actually I'd say you're overrating batsmen from WI, Aus, SA and Eng. The thing is those teams have had very good bowling attacks in the past which strengthened the team's aura and which in turn made their batsmen look bigger than they actually were. For example if Viv Richards played for the 1980s Sri Lankan cricket team, he would not have been rated as highly as he's been rated now, and if Gavaskar's team had bowlers like Imran, Wasim, Waqar and Shoaib, he would have been unarguably best since Bradman.

[MechEng]

9 hours ago, Gollum said:

Boss please that is blasphemy. Laxman's innings came when we were following on and in deep trouble against a team on a 16 match winning streak. Plus Mcgrath alone is enough to send shivers down the spine of any batsman. Sachin was plumb LBW below 10 in Chennai, a match where he ultimately choked near the finish line and Sehwag scored against a decent (not great) bowling attack on a difficult pitch. 

 

But since this is an unpopular opinions thread I am not complaining , just expressing my thoughts about the subject. 

I'm not saying Sachin's or Sehwag's knocks were better, but the bowling they faced was tougher than what Laxman faced. Wasim was way more lethal on dusty Asian pitches which offer reverse swing compared to Mcgrath, and off spinners have traditionally been more effective on Asian pitches than leggies. So I'd say for Asian dustbowls,Wasim/Waqar/Saqlain/Shoaib would be more effective than Mcgrath/Warne/Gillespie/Kasprowicz.

[MechEng]

15.) Pakistani fast bowlers are natural fast bowlers at heart. The Australian, West Indian and South African fast bowlers got a lot of support in form of strength conditioning, nutritionists, organized domestic structure, regular exposure to county cricket, whereas Pakistani fast bowlers had no other option besides running in 40 degrees heat, that's how Shoaib and Waqar got their pace.

[Gollum]

63. India is a minnow in test cricket, has always been. 70 saal ho gaye aazadi ke baad, abhi tak Asia ke bahar joote khaa rahe hai. No wonder we are even below Pak and Lanka in test W/L, we are useless in this game. We used to get kicked overseas when my grandpa was my age, we will continue to get kicked even when all of us become grandpas and cricket loses its relevance in non Asian countries. Might as well parade 11 random barmaids from SA/Aus and make us play them in overseas pitches, we will still find ways to lose. Also reinforces my point 60, we South Asians are inferior in cricket to goras, humse naa ho payega. 

 

I am done with Indian cricket, mofos can go * themselves. Tennis season started, some big field hockey tournaments in the near future starting with Sultan Azlan Shah, CWG 2018, Sindhu/Saina/Srikanth/Prannoy/Sai...............who' ll waste time on the bunch of feckless corrupt inept shameless losers playing in SA?  IPL jaaye bhaad mein, ghatiya league for ghaitiya log, I am outta here. Once again * Team India. 

[vayuu1]

That we are mental midgets while chasing

Sent from my vivo 1601 using Tapatalk

[MechEng]

16.) Pakistan are a better test team than India. At least they drew 2-2 in England which is awesome, with our kaptaan's attitude we are surely goint to lose 5-0 

 

Edited January 17, 2018 by MechEng

[sscomp32]

Has anyone mentioned yet that Koach is an ABSOLUTELY **** CAPTAIN. 

If we have to compete in 19 wc Rohit has to take over ODI captaincy. 

 

Edited February 5, 2018 by sscomp32

[Gollum]

64. Younis Khan is a test ATG. He is an improved version of Mahela Jayawardene in this format and easily above Inzi and Mohd Yousuf. Rate him as the 2nd greatest test batsman from Pakistan behind the legendary Javed Miandad. YK right till his retirement remained a killer on Asian tracks, his game against spin is probably the best in the post 2005 period, I rate him even higher than Sehwag against spin because of his consistency and the value he always put on his wicket, add to that his penchant for daddy 100s and a stellar 4th innings record which is a rarity for SC batsmen since pitch plays its worst on days 4 and 5. I want Pujara to be an Indian version of YK but he only keeps letting me down . Che has one base covered, he is a monster in Asia but unfortunately rubbish outside Asia. YK was never a world beater outside SC but played some handy knocks at various points in his career, IIRC he has 100s in all countries, in NZ and Eng he has a tremendous record. Time is running out for Che, hope he can emulate YK who himself had limited strokeplay against quicks but found a way to get his runs. 

Edited January 20, 2018 by Gollum

[Gollum]

65. Shane Bond is over rated. Great talent but also largely unproven. Played all his life on NZ greentops or in other favourable conditions. Hardly ever sit foot in Asia, never played on pattas. I get it he is a tragic hero because of the way his career ended but can people please stop putting him alongside Mcgrath, Steyn, Marshall, Akram, Hadlee etc who proved their mettle all around the world and in all kinds of tracks.  The true ATG quicks dominated ATG batsmen away from home, Bond never did that. If SA play Philander only on Cape Town type tracks even his stats will look other worldly. 

[MechEng]

17.) Kohli despite his natural tendency of giving in to his close friends can bring back life into our team's overseas performances. I'm not anti Dhoni at all, but under his test captaincy you could sense a vibe of passiveness in the team, he's the greatest LOI captain no doubt. Under Kohli whether we win or lose, there is always a sense of hope and I saw that after AB D got out in today's test highlights.

Edited January 27, 2018 by MechEng

[MechEng]

On 20/01/2018 at 2:34 AM, Gollum said:

64. Younis Khan is a test ATG. He is an improved version of Mahela Jayawardene in this format and easily above Inzi and Mohd Yousuf. Rate him as the 2nd greatest test batsman from Pakistan behind the legendary Javed Miandad. YK right till his retirement remained a killer on Asian tracks, his game against spin is probably the best in the post 2005 period, I rate him even higher than Sehwag against spin because of his consistency and the value he always put on his wicket, add to that his penchant for daddy 100s and a stellar 4th innings record which is a rarity for SC batsmen since pitch plays its worst on days 4 and 5. I want Pujara to be an Indian version of YK but he only keeps letting me down . Che has one base covered, he is a monster in Asia but unfortunately rubbish outside Asia. YK was never a world beater outside SC but played some handy knocks at various points in his career, IIRC he has 100s in all countries, in NZ and Eng he has a tremendous record. Time is running out for Che, hope he can emulate YK who himself had limited strokeplay against quicks but found a way to get his runs. 

He made 214 at The Oval against full strength England attack with 31 fours and 4 sixes, not bad for a 39 year old at all!

[MechEng]

18.) Pakistan having poor batting legacy is a myth, often when an India vs Pakistan game is on it is touted to be India's batting vs Pakistan's bowling, giving an impression that Pakistan's batsmen are as bad as Indian bowlers. They had the likes of Zaheer Abbas, Miandad, Inzy, Saeed Anwar, YK, Md Yousuf, Ejaz Ahmed, that's plenty of good bastmen.

[adi B]

20k) saf are cowards !

[The Dark Horse]

18 hours ago, MechEng said:

17.) Kohli despite his natural tendency of giving in to his close friends can bring back life into our team's overseas performances. I'm not anti Dhoni at all, but under his test captaincy you could sense a vibe of passiveness in the team, he's the greatest LOI captain no doubt. Under Kohli whether we win or lose, there is always a sense of hope and I saw that after AB D got out in today's test highlights.

While there are some issues certainly with Kohli, at least he goes for the win more often than not whereas Dhoni is happy with a draw.

[Gollum]

66. Aravinda De Silva is the greatest under achiever with the bat. At his best in the 90s he could make even Lara and Sachin look boring, pity he never achieved greater heights with such a good technique and a strong mind. Sanga is the best batsman to have come out of Lanka but I genuinely think even he would admit that Aravinda was no less. IMO his 100 while chasing a formidable total against Mcgrath-Warne is the joint greatest knock (tied with Lloyd's 100 in 1975 F) in WC history considering the occasion, context, opposition and the lead up to that match. 

[sandeep]

33 minutes ago, Gollum said:

66. Aravinda De Silva is the greatest under achiever with the bat. At his best in the 90s he could make even Lara and Sachin look boring, pity he never achieved greater heights with such a good technique and a strong mind. Sanga is the best batsman to have come out of Lanka but I genuinely think even he would admit that Aravinda was no less. IMO his 100 while chasing a formidable total against Mcgrath-Warne is the joint greatest knock (tied with Lloyd's 100 in 1975 F) in WC history considering the occasion, context, opposition and the lead up to that match. 

In a lot of ways Aravinda is similar to Vinod Kambli - flashy and talented, but not as much grit.  Good for Aravinda that he was playing for a smaller country and had less competition to deal with.  

[Gollum]

2 minutes ago, sandeep said:

In a lot of ways Aravinda is similar to Vinod Kambli - flashy and talented, but not as much grit.  Good for Aravinda that he was playing for a smaller country and had less competition to deal with.  

I am not sure about the grit part but he was terrific against the quicks unlike Kambli. Kambli was a sitting duck against the short ball (his generation's Raina) but Aravinda is even till today probably the greatest Asian batsman against short stuff, seen him pull/hook Mcgrath, Wasim, Waqar, etc to submission.

[Jimmy Cliff]

48 minutes ago, Gollum said:

66. Aravinda De Silva is the greatest under achiever with the bat. At his best in the 90s he could make even Lara and Sachin look boring, pity he never achieved greater heights with such a good technique and a strong mind. Sanga is the best batsman to have come out of Lanka but I genuinely think even he would admit that Aravinda was no less. IMO his 100 while chasing a formidable total against Mcgrath-Warne is the joint greatest knock (tied with Lloyd's 100 in 1975 F) in WC history considering the occasion, context, opposition and the lead up to that match. 

SRW's 100 against SA in 1999 right up there as well.