Most intelligent among top quality cricketers

[Vk1]

who is that.. I would go for Shane Warne.. Guy was a genius.. made batsman look like fools at times.. among modern day players, it has to be Ashwin...a brilliant strategist 

[King6]

Ms Dhoni

[zen]

From the guys that I have seen in action for a considerable time (from 1990), more or less in of debut: 

Dave Houghton 

Imran Khan

Miandad 

Ranatunga 

Martin Crowe

Steve Waugh

Wasim

Mark Taylor 

Warne

McGrath

Cronje 

Gilchrist 

Nasser Husain 

Jayawardene  

Sangakkara 

Dhoni 

Rohit 

Pujara 

SDP (can make a cool captain) 

and many more ...

 

^ you can make a good 11 out of the above 

 

If I have to pick one, will go with Crowe! 

Edited March 12, 2021 by zen

[diga]

^ you missed Kumble/Dravid but included Imm the Dimm  & SDP ?  

[zen]

1 minute ago, diga said:

^ you missed Kumble/Dravid but included Imm the Dimm  & SDP ?  

Covering from oldest to present that stood out  to me w/o making a laundry list ... There are so many intelligent cricketers 

[dilliboy]

Deep Dasgupta, Akash Chopra, Nikhil Chopra and Vikrant Gupta

[express bowling]

Bumrah

Marshall

Ganguly

Kumble

Warne

Hussain

Ashwin

 

 

Edited March 12, 2021 by express bowling

[WC2011INDIA]

Those who speak english well without funny beard style and tatoos.

[Sandeep99]

Waiting for fangirls to say LOLLI here

[Ankit_sharma03]

warnie

ashwin

[R!TTER]

5 hours ago, Vk1 said:

Guy was a genius

Hardly, did you see some of his comments during the last Oz series? I'd say Gilly/Mcgrath/Steve Waugh are the ones that come straight to mind!

[kohli]

Fleming 

dhoni 

sachin 

warne 

ashwin 

dravid 

mcgrath 

 

[Vk1]

15 minutes ago, R!TTER said:

Hardly, did you see some of his comments during the last Oz series? I'd say Gilly/Mcgrath/Steve Waugh are the ones that come straight to mind!

he does say things which sometimes  can become controversial.. however his cricketing acumen, awareness of game is top class

[R!TTER]

19 minutes ago, Vk1 said:

he does say things which sometimes  can become controversial.. however his cricketing acumen, awareness of game is top class

Maybe maybe not, I'd say a lot of the batters got out because he was Warne - part of Oz greatest ever lineup! He bamboozled them for sure but a lot more were just overawed & fell to the name - take Lara, SRT, VVS, Sehwag, Sanath, Aravinda etc. How many batters played Warne just like another spinner or had the ability to? IMO McGrath was the superior brain of the two, Warne though had more ability - he could do what McGrath or arguably any other bowler couldn't - like that SF/finals performances in 99 WC!

Edited March 12, 2021 by R!TTER

[Mariyam]

50 minutes ago, sarchasm said:

He was droning on and on and on about how AUS should declare early in both Sydney and Brisbane tests. The more he speaks, the more we learn he's a 'tard of Kohli's calibre.

Begs the question:

What is a better metric to judge a cricketers' "game intelligence": his reading of the game as an analyst or his on field exploits?

 

By the nature of the game, a spinner always has to be more intelligent than a fast bowler to be as successful. The use of guile and a pronounced thought process are necessary to get the better of a batsman. Whereas a speedster relies mainly on musculature. Biased question!

 

I'd rate Kumble and Warne right up among the smarter ones I've seen.

 

 

 

Edited March 12, 2021 by Mariyam

[Mariyam]

Citing instances would be a good idea:

 

During an India vs BD game, when the fielder threw the ball towards Dhoni, he feigned a misfield. The batsman ran for the second and got run out.

 

To pull that off taking a split second decision while collecting the ball! And making it look convincing so that the batsman ran for the second. 

to Dhoni's reading of the game/people.

[Tattieboy]

One of the best over the years  I have seen was Mike Brearley.

Very intelligent man and used his profession of  pyscoanalysis to have a very good cricket brain and made him a very good captain .