Players that one was initially wrong about

[SRT100]

At one stage I thought Kohli would clearly and easily surpass SRT as India's greatest batsman, when he was at his peak about 6-8 years ago.

He has now reached a stage where I back Ashwin the batsman in Test Cricket over Kohli.

[Vijy]

1 hour ago, SRT100 said:

At one stage I thought Kohli would clearly and easily surpass SRT as India's greatest batsman, when he was at his peak about 6-8 years ago.

He has now reached a stage where I back Ashwin the batsman in Test Cricket over Kohli.

heh... but the thread is implicitly about the opposite, i.e., players one thought were duds and who went on to achieve a lot.

[Forward Defence]

Ravindra Jadeja the test bowler has exceeded my initial expectations. When he arrived on the scene I thought he was a limited over player exclusively. Was underwhelmed by his batting for a long time but he has addressed that issue somewhat. Has definitely grown in stature throughout his career which is great.

[Gollum]

Jaddu the test champ

 

Amla, used to laugh at his batting during our 2006-07 tour to RSA

 

Gambo, disliked him in the 2004-05 period

 

Steve Smith obviously, never knew he could bat before 2013 Ashes

 

Zampa, from nobody to (arguably) world's best T20I bowler

 

Shakib...his 2019 WC show changed my mind about him, permanently

 

Bairstow and Moeen in white ball cricket

 

Warner, Stokes, Ashwin, Broad, Shami, Southee....underrated their test potential in the beginning. All went on to become some of the finest test matchwinners of this era though short of undisputed ATG tag. 

Edited June 18, 2022 by Gollum

[Vijy]

47 minutes ago, Gollum said:

Jaddu the test champ

 

Amla, used to laugh at his batting during our 2006-07 tour to RSA

 

Gambo, disliked him in the 2004-05 period

 

Steve Smith obviously, never knew he could bat before 2013 Ashes

 

Zampa, from nobody to (arguably) world's best T20I bowler

 

Shakib...his 2019 WC show changed my mind about him, permanently

 

Bairstow and Moeen in white ball cricket

 

Warner, Stokes, Ashwin, Broad, Shami, Southee....underrated their test potential in the beginning. All went on to become some of the finest test matchwinners of this era though short of undisputed ATG tag. 

Jaddu does stand out more than others. at first, he looked like a LOI specialist. then he became a gun test bowler, and then a gun test batter.

[MechEng]

Bumrah, saw him as a pure IPL bowler and now he has the potential to enter the tier 1 ATG bowlers list.

[vvvslaxman]

3 hours ago, MechEng said:

Bumrah, saw him as a pure IPL bowler and now he has the potential to enter the tier 1 ATG bowlers list.

 

Same here. I could never imagine him being successful in Tests given his awkward action.

[goose]

at first look i thought ishant was sh%t. turns out he was very shi%t

[putrevus]

Jadeja, I thought he was just bits and pieces player. But happy that he has proved me wrong. He has kept on improving himself. Gambhir on other hand disappointed me, I thought he would end up being better than Cook as he was better player of spin and could play all formats.

 

[Jay]

15 hours ago, vvvslaxman said:

 

Same here. I could never imagine him being successful in Tests given his awkward action.

Any bowler who has good pace and bounce will be good in any format. I had a feeling he would do well. Having played for so long, you develop this ability to discern the qualities of a talented player when you see one. 

 

My only concern with him was in regards to his action which could potentially lead to injuries. Turns our his action is fairly safe as he is a straight arm bowler. He has perfect posture and his knee Is braced so it worked well for him.

[vvvslaxman]

1 hour ago, Jay said:

Any bowler who has good pace and bounce will be good in any format. I had a feeling he would do well. Having played for so long, you develop this ability to discern the qualities of a talented player when you see one. 

 

My only concern with him was in regards to his action which could potentially lead to injuries. Turns our his action is fairly safe as he is a straight arm bowler. He has perfect posture and his knee Is braced so it worked well for him.

 

Yes. It looked like his action was highly injury prone. It is just not natural. Good to be surprised by his progress.

[jiggs]

Steve Smith hands down.But his Sheffield Shield &FC batting stats were decent enough even when he had just joined the national side.but jeez..who would have thought that the youngster from suburban Sydney would go on to become an Aussie ATG!!Passion,Determination,Sheer hardwork..#Golden words

[Vijy]

On 6/21/2022 at 12:03 AM, MechEng said:

Bumrah, saw him as a pure IPL bowler and now he has the potential to enter the tier 1 ATG bowlers list.

he had good domestic stats, but to see him reach these levels has been great (and a welcome surprise)

[WC2011INDIA]

At first, I thought Rahane was potential ATG all format batsman, but soon I realized, he was a fraudster. 

Edited June 23, 2022 by WC2011INDIA

[Nikola]

If i have to pick one guy then it's Steve Smith cause i was wrong about him multiple times. Around 2012-13 when i saw him first i did not rate him at all as cricketer. When i saw him score runs against india in 2014 series i felt he is another flat track bully. He played 3 clutch knocks in knockout stage of 2015 worldcup and had good ashes series yet i did not rate him highly and felt he will fail in sub continent conditions but i guess i just became fan of him around 2017 when he toured india.

 

Others would include

Jamieson - Never though he would do this well. I know this is started to his career but he has given amazing performance and won WTC for NZ

Zampa - Started to watch him from 2016 & felt he is pretty average spinner

Markram - Expected him to be great by now but he has gone similar to KL Rahul (atleast rahul has started to do well recently)
Jadeja - Did bit better than i expected from him as batsman but his bowling has surely gone downhill (atleast in limited overs)

Bumrah - Watched him in 2014 and did not rate him but i always rated him from his debut match for india

Labuschagne - I considered him as mediocre player in his debut test series.

 

Edited June 23, 2022 by Nikola

[Jay]

I 100% expect prasidh to be a star bowler. He will be deadly in tests Nd odi. Will be bamboozled like kohli vs off spin if this kid doesn't turn out to be better than shaheeni in tests.