Sehwag's the best, says Graeme Pollock

[vamos_rafa]

DURBAN: Watching South African great Graeme Pollock defend balls that were easily hittable while playing for South Africa in the World Cricket Legends In The Wild match at Phinda Game Reserve gave you the feeling that this guy still reads the game well. With the double-wicket six-a-side 12-over contest already in the bag, the southpaw just needed to bat out the last over without getting out and costing his team 15 runs. That's just what he did as South Africa won the game. While Pollock batted for just four overs and scored just 10, he did show a glimpse of his trademark cover drive with zero footwork. Pollock was renowned to score heavily without paying too much attention to the rule book, technique and footwork. "Footwork is over-rated," he says with quintessential dismissiveness. "Your main concern should be to get into a good position," he adds. The 67-year-old narrated an incident about Hansie Cronje which explained in plenty his distaste for becoming a slave of technique. "I remember years ago the South African think tank wanted me to spend some time with the team and Hansie Cronje told me that he wanted the bowler to deliver and wanted to be back and across. I told him what stops him from starting there. Batting is all about getting into the right position and not worrying whether you are getting in line. You just got to be balanced and transfer your weight." Pollock is a great fan of Virender Sehwag and he says the explosive batsman is a prime example of players without a great footwork but still immensely successful. "Sehwag is in a great position to play his shots. The whole essence of batting is being in a good position and taking advantage of the bad balls." Pollock feels there are too many modern-day batsmen who allow bad balls to go unpunished. "Everybody plays to protect their wicket, which is of course very important. But you also have to score and put the pressure back on the bowler. People are not doing that enough. Just see how many bad balls don't get scored off in a session. We need both sorts of players in the team, one who can get a hundred in one session and the ones who can score a ton in three-four hours. But guys who do the former are the ones who help you win Tests as they help the bowlers get more time to take 20 wickets." Talking about Sehwag, Pollock sympathized with his plight as he lives by the sword and often dies by it. "He is the best player in the world today and certainly the most dangerous. He has got a triple hundred in a day. He is incredible and has been largely responsible for turning Indian cricket around and set up Tests for bowlers to win. I don't know why he is always criticised. I think he has worked out a way for him, which is very effective and successful. If he tries to change it, he will get into trouble." Pollock ridicules the fixation of coaches asking their young charges to put the bat behind the pad. "Why do we need to put the bat behind the pad? Why can't we just stand still like a baseball player and play your shots. It saves precious seconds for the batsman." Pollock feels more and more unorthodox players are making it big in international cricket these days.

:omg: and I thought the modern day batsman was trying to punish the good deliveries and hence get out.

[gakgupta]

good article from a champion player

[Sir john]

What new.

[amiret]

We can forgive Pollock because he is South African and ignorant of Sehwag's cricket Stats. But i wonder why some of us echo such uninformed opinions. Sehwag Averages 25 in South Africa. 20 in New Zealand, & 27 in England. Dravid Averages 29.71 in South Africa. 63.83 in New Zealand. 68.80 in England. Dravid > Sehwag. i don't even need to substantiate my point by citing Dravid's Match Winning knocks in Australia and England. Sehwag avgs more than Dravid in Aus but his knocks were of no consequence . By the way Sachin averages more than Sehwag in all the countries listed above and matches Sehwag's average in Australia. If the argument is Sachin has not played any match winning knocks in these countries in these countries then neither has Sehwag.

[thongale]

One of the members said

You just brought up Dravid when some one mentioned longetivity' date='People have compared him with Bradman,Lara hell [b']even a nobody(in international terms) like Greame Pollock.

:--D

[achilles]

We can forgive Pollock because he is South African and ignorant of Sehwag's cricket Stats. But i wonder why some of us echo such uninformed opinions. Sehwag Averages 25 in South Africa. 20 in New Zealand, & 27 in England. Dravid Averages 29.71 in South Africa. 63.83 in New Zealand. 68.80 in England. Dravid > Sehwag. i don't even need to substantiate my point by citing Dravid's Match Winning knocks in Australia and England. Sehwag avgs more than Dravid in Aus but his knocks were of no consequence . By the way Sachin averages more than Sehwag in all the countries listed above and matches Sehwag's average in Australia. If the argument is Sachin has not played any match winning knocks in these countries in these countries then neither has Sehwag.

But how can a middle-order batsman and an opening batsman having different batting styles be compared to each other?

[carnish]

Sehwag:yay:

[amiret]

But how can a middle-order batsman and an opening batsman having different batting styles be compared to each other?

Even if i don't compare him with Dravid , ANY batsman averaging 20 - 25 in Eng , NZ & SA does not deserve to be called the best . Such a record should be considered very poor.

[daryl1985]

Even if i don't compare him with Dravid ' date=' ANY batsman averaging 20 - 25 in Eng , NZ & SA does not deserve to be called the best . Such a record should be considered very poor.[/quote'] I agree he is not the best in the world because he struggles a bit in swinging conditions but i would argue that he is the greatest ever batsman in subcontinental conditions (and that includes Sachin).

[zen]

Sehwag is the best test batsman currently.... Amazing avg and SR for an opener Link In the last 10 years from today against the top 5 sides .... Veeru :hatsoff: PS that avg is despite only 3 not outs and 13 zeros! Though Lara retired in 2006, his avg is 72 From 30 odd tests

[ganeshran]

He is a very good test batsmen but not the best.

[amiret]

Sehwag is the best test batsman currently.... Amazing avg and SR for an opener Link In the last 10 years from today against the top 5 sides .... Veeru :hatsoff: PS that avg is despite only 3 not outs and 13 zeros!

In that link you have posted , NZ is missing . Once you add NZ . Dravid reaches the top Sehwag has not even scored a 50 in NZ in bowler friendly conditions. Also if you filter to only away (home of opposition) Dravid & Sachin rule with a higher average. Sehwag has not played a single match winning innings in Aus , SA, NZ Or Eng. Dravid on the other hand has played a major role in some of our finest victories abroad.

[zen]

In that link you have posted ' date=' NZ is missing . Once you add NZ . [b']Dravid reaches the top Sehwag has not even scored a 50 in NZ in bowler friendly conditions. Also if you filter to only away (home of opposition) Dravid & Sachin rule with a higher average. Sehwag has not played a single match winning innings in Aus , SA, NZ Or Eng. Dravid on the other hand has played a major role in some of our finest victories abroad.

Who cares about NZ. In fact on one of the tours, he scored 100 in trying conditions Odis to win Ind a game or two on that pathetic tour .... His 190 odd at Melbourne was pretty good too. Once he got out the pitch looked different Don't forget opening the batting is a difficult job. Dravid and Sachin are magnificent players too. But I just feel that Sehwag has been phenomenal with how he plays, I.e. SR, avg, big scores .... Don't forget he even handled mendis and murali well on that ill-fated tour to SL. If you think he is not good as some of the guys you mentioned then that's your opinion. And I have nothing against it as Dravid and/or Sachin are phenomenal players too

[amiret]

.... His 190 odd at Melbourne was pretty good too. Once he got out the pitch looked different

A little additional info about that melbourne innings that fans usually cite. It was a flat wkt.Aus had 1 good bowler. Ponting scored 257 and Hayden scored 136. It was still a good innings. His 100 on debut in SA was under more trying conditions. Sehwag is very good in batting conditions or against spinners.

[zen]

A little additional info about that melbourne innings that fans usually cite. It was a flat wkt.Aus had 1 good bowler. Ponting scored 257 and Hayden scored 136. It was still a good innings. His 100 on debut in SA was under more trying conditions. Sehwag is very good in batting conditions or against spinners.

link To make you happy, I put NZ in and Sehwag still has a higher avg :winky: And its too bad that the many of the others couldn't do well on a "flat" Melbourne pitch and against mediocro Aussie bowlers If you take Lara out, many would claim that Ponting was the best for that period. It would be difficult for likes of Dravid or Tendulkar to compete with such a claim. Only Sehwag with his phenominal avg and sr can edge past someone like Ponting .... So in trying to float the boat of some of the others, by claiming that Sehwag was not the best, you are indirect tooting for Pointing's claom as the best for that period .... There are no benefits to run down Sehwag :winky:

[Trichromatic]

Sehwag is one of best player of spin bowling in last 10 years or so. He has not only scored against best spinner, but he has dominated them with quick scoring. I think he could have done better in seamer friendly conditions, but he didn't. He scored century in SA on debut, scored 84 and 100 in England in first few matches there. He failed in NZ in 2002 test series, but he was the only one to score centuries on that tour (in ODIs though). There was a time around 2004 when he was our best batsman (Australia tour of India) and batting was heavily dependent on him.

[Manny_Pacquiao]

A little additional info about that melbourne innings that fans usually cite. It was a flat wkt. s.

:hysterical: clearly you havent seen that innings. i cant stand these indian internet nerds who claim to know cricket because they waste their puny lives on statsguru. tendulkar vs dravid, tendulkar vs sehwag, sehwag vs laxman, laxman vs tendulkar, tendulkar vs abcdefghijk....blah blah blah.

[BeautifulGame]

:hysterical: clearly you havent seen that innings. i cant stand these indian internet nerds who claim to know cricket because they waste their puny lives on statsguru. tendulkar vs dravid, tendulkar vs sehwag, sehwag vs laxman, laxman vs tendulkar, tendulkar vs abcdefghijk....blah blah blah.

That Melbourne wicket was a pretty flat one.Not sure what was funny about that. All 4 wkts we lost that day because careless shots and nothing to do with the bowling.

[jairamesh]

Sehwag puts eyeballs on TV, ODIs or Tests. I would wake-up at 3am in morning to watch Sehwag bat, knowing all the risks attached with him, the rewards are to savior. No other player in recent history comes close to matching that, maybe Lara.

[MCcricket]

Sehwag more then any other player in team India, is the one man who can influence the results in favour of India more then any one in the team, HE AVERAGES 52, SCORES AT RUN A BALL, HAS THE PENCHANT FOR SCORING BIG 100'S,can take a game away in a session, if he last's for 2 sessions India is already marching towards a victory as simple as that.The only area he needs to improve is get his average a bit higher in the 2 nd innings where I think he doesn't play his natural game or tries too hard.