"Virendra sehwag" best opener of all time?

[don_corleone840]

He got an average of 55 in test cricket with sr of 80+.6 double centuries,2 triple one and one 290+. I dont think any opener has ever dominated lilke him:hatsoff::hatsoff::hatsoff::hatsoff:

[Kumar]

Sunny Gavaskar?? He dominated the west indies like no other player 13 centuries against them with a freak average of 65!!! first player to reach 30 test centuries and 10000 test runs better than sehwag

[sudheer kumar]

Absolutely Sehwag is all time best opener. not only for India even he is the best opener for entire world. I think Sehwag is the opener should be added in "ALL TIME WORLD TEST XI" If he continue like this...he can reach 40 hundreds in tests. And also we can expect another Triple hundred from him.

[don_corleone840]

Sunny Gavaskar?? He dominated the west indies like no other player 13 centuries against them with a freak average of 65!!! first player to reach 30 test centuries and 10000 test runs better than sehwag

Both average and strike rate is lower than sehwag

[vvvslaxman]

Veeru is one of a kind. There has never been a Veeru. There will never be a Veeru. Maintaining a strike rate of 80 plus while maintaining an average of 55 is next to impossible for pretty much any cricketer ever played in any era. Even Gilly's average dropped below 50 while maintaining a strike rate of 80 plus.

[Serani]

Why dont you wait till he retires, his story is still being written. Although I am expecting him to hit some bad form soon, no one can keep up this kind of performance year after year.

[Kumar]

Both average and strike rate is lower than sehwag

well has sehwag faced world class pacers like the west indies or Australia for that matter? ......and to mention that the level of bowling class in terms of fast bowlers has decreased since the time of sunny! Majority of sehwags centuries are on the sub continent and 5 out of 20 are on sub continent I know sehwag has a number of great achievemnts but look at these by sunny Achievements. The first cricketer to score 10,000 runs in Test cricket. First player to reach 30 centuries The only cricketer to hit a century in each innings of a Test thrice. Only cricketer to score 1000 runs or more in a calendar year on 4 occasions. Only cricketer to score 5000 runs or more abroad. The first cricketer to make fastest 1000 runs - in 78 days and 6 Tests. The only cricketer to top score in both the completed innings of a Test on five occasions. The only cricketer to top score in 58 completed innings. The only cricketer to have the highest match aggregate on 36 occasions. Highest runs (774) by a debutant. Highest runs by any player in a series (774) against West Indies. Maximum no. of runs & centuries scored by a player against West Indies - 2749 runs & 13 centuries. Only cricketer to score 4 consecutive centuries at 2 venues - Port of Spain & Wankhede. The only cricketer to hit hundreds in 3 consecutive innings twice. Only cricketer with 58 century partnership with 18 different players. btw these records have probably been broken! still quite impressive

[vvvslaxman]

Why dont you wait till he retires, his story is still being written. Although I am expecting him to hit some bad form soon, no one can keep up this kind of performance year after year.

That happens to everyone. Already happened to him once. He came back even better. Only those are not really good don't come back after couple of good seasons.

[Serani]

Both average and strike rate is lower than sehwag

Why are you talking about strike rate? If an opener from gavaskars era tried what Sehwag does against the West Indies they probably would have ended up dead, thats no exaggeration either. Also Sehwags average has every possibility of dropping a few.

[achilles]

Sunil Gavaskar and Vijay Merchat. Sehwag needs to travel a bit of distance before being the Best EVER.

[putrevus]

Veeru is one of a kind. There has never been a Veeru. There will never be a Veeru. Maintaining a strike rate of 80 plus while maintaining an average of 55 is next to impossible for pretty much any cricketer ever played in any era. Even Gilly's average dropped below 50 while maintaining a strike rate of 80 plus.

You cannot compare Gilly with Sehwag , It is much tougher to open than playing in middle order, Gilly was great but he is no Sehwag.

[putrevus]

Why are you talking about strike rate? If an opener from gavaskars era tried what Sehwag does against the West Indies they probably would have ended up dead, thats no exaggeration either. Also Sehwags average has every possibility of dropping a few.

When Viv Richards could play shots in that era against Lillee and thompson why cant Sehwag play against those bowlers.

[saneindian]

I want Viru to dominate the bowling attacks in the upcoming 3 tests in SA and then 4 tests in Eng next year. If he does that, he goes right at the top of the openers list. Till then SMG stays ahead.

[Bumper]

well has sehwag faced world class pacers like the west indies or Australia for that matter? ......and to mention that the level of bowling class in terms of fast bowlers has decreased since the time of sunny! Majority of sehwags centuries are on the sub continent and 5 out of 20 are on sub continent I know sehwag has a number of great achievemnts but look at these by sunny

Kumarji, no disrespect to Sunny Gavaskar. He was one of the best opening batsman ever. But you should know your numbers better! I dont know if you bothered to check who manned the WI pace attack in the diff series Gavaskar played against the WI. Gavaskar did not face the WI pace quartet that comprised of Roberts, Marshall, Garner and Holding in majority of the games he played against WI. He plundered runs when one or none of these bowlers manned the WI attack. I dont have the time for this exercise. But if you carefully scrutinize Gavaskar's numbers against the pace quartet (when at least 3 of the 4 pacemen played), it wont be as impressive as you think. Sehwag is a very very unique player. Averaging 55 in tests is a fantastic achievement. Having a strike rate of 80+ while doing so is mind boggling & doing all this as an opener, is "insanity" and that is what Sehwag is. He is "insane" and i say that in a complementary way. Bloody genius at work, this man!

[Serani]

When Viv Richards could play shots in that era against Lillee and thompson why cant Sehwag play against those bowlers.

Viv hooked and pulled easy like a sunday morning, Sehwag cant.

[vvvslaxman]

Why are you talking about strike rate? If an opener from gavaskars era tried what Sehwag does against the West Indies they probably would have ended up dead, thats no exaggeration either. Also Sehwags average has every possibility of dropping a few.

Srikkanth used to do that. Just that he had zero technique. He smashed first ball from Marshall for 6 then next ball for 4 3rd ball out. He was able to dominate Windies bowlers on occasions.

[vvvslaxman]

Viv hooked and pulled easy like a sunday morning' date=' Sehwag cant.[/quote'] SO was Mohinder amarnath, Ijaz Ahmed and few others. A opener cannot be successful without being very good against pace.

[Kumar]

Kumarji, no disrespect to Sunny Gavaskar. He was one of the best opening batsman ever. But you should know your numbers better! I dont know if you bothered to check who manned the WI pace attack in the diff series Gavaskar played against the WI. Gavaskar did not face the WI pace quartet that comprised of Roberts, Marshall, Garner and Holding in majority of the games he played against WI. He plundered runs when one or none of these bowlers manned the WI attack. I dont have the time for this exercise. But if you carefully scrutinize Gavaskar's numbers against the pace quartet (when at least 3 of the 4 pacemen played), it wont be as impressive as you think. Sehwag is a very very unique player. Averaging 55 in tests is a fantastic achievement. Having a strike rate of 80+ while doing so is mind boggling & doing all this as an opener, is "insanity" and that is what Sehwag is. He is "insane" and i say that in a complementary way. Bloody genius at work, this man!

no disrespect to sehwag at all, Im a huge fan of hisB-> I agree that sehwag is a unique player and one of a kind certainly but IMO I just feel that Sunny was a better test opener, considering he actually was a proper opener unlike sehwag who started middle for a while. Sehwag, the most destructive opening batsmen?? agreed better than sunny? No, its debatable of course, but IMO sunny is that wee bit better:winky:

[Serani]

Srikkanth used to do that. Just that he had zero technique. He smashed first ball from Marshall for 6 then next ball for 4 3rd ball out. He was able to dominate Windies bowlers on occasions.

Well then he didnt dominate if he got out 3rd ball...

[Serani]

SO was Mohinder amarnath' date=' Ijaz Ahmed and few others. A opener cannot be successful without being very good against pace.[/quote'] I know he is good against pace, he just cant hook or pull so playing as he does today would have been very hard back in the day because he wouldnt get anything to drive.