Visawanath's batting footage

[youngindia]

Most of the footage would be clipped highlights.

its neither as brief as u think nor is it hours of footage. but its possible to see a 1971 test for an hour these days and repeated telecast of them ahve been going on in the past decade with cricket channels emerging. on top of my head , i can remember sunil gavaskar hosting tv series on DD with his favourite selection of test matches and one dayers in late 80's.the coverage of 70's tests in england and australia were extensive in that series. srikkanth used to host his own series on regional DD. this is in the pre star tv period. and also there were vcr videos created by WILLS and likes of arlott if you searched for it in the VCR libraries. with the explosion of cable tv, there has been amazing archival footage of the past being delivered. yes they are from australia and england.an exception is the 1978 series in pakistan where imran launched assualt vs bedi and co to seal a test win but one has opportunity to see richards make 276 in england 1976 and kallicharan taking apart Lillee in the 1975 pre WC final match. we even get pakistan's zaheer and majid playing england nowadays! yes highlights of the 1971 ,1974,1979 tests in england have been repeatedly telecast if someone cared to watch it on th umpteen cricket channels. i am only an intermittent tv watcher these days and i have seen those quite a bit. PS-i am in UK now and i can't watch any cricket without SKY

[coffee_rules]

GRV is definitely is an Indian ATG. Not a world ATG. Tendulkar is, Dravid is debatable. In terms of contribution GRV might be is as good as a Shastri or a Ganguly, but he was in the Laxman mould, very good when it is crucial. Never lost a test when he scored a 100. Basing his ability on 1983 Imran series is probably being unfair to him.

[Sachin=GOD]

its neither as brief as u think nor is it hours of footage. but its possible to see a 1971 test for an hour these days and repeated telecast of them ahve been going on in the past decade with cricket channels emerging. on top of my head , i can remember sunil gavaskar hosting tv series on DD with his favourite selection of test matches and one dayers in late 80's.the coverage of 70's tests in england and australia were extensive in that series. srikkanth used to host his own series on regional DD. this is in the pre star tv period. and also there were vcr videos created by WILLS and likes of arlott if you searched for it in the VCR libraries. with the explosion of cable tv, there has been amazing archival footage of the past being delivered. yes they are from australia and england.an exception is the 1978 series in pakistan where imran launched assualt vs bedi and co to seal a test win but one has opportunity to see richards make 276 in england 1976 and kallicharan taking apart Lillee in the 1975 pre WC final match. we even get pakistan's zaheer and majid playing england nowadays! yes highlights of the 1971 ,1974,1979 tests in england have been repeatedly telecast if someone cared to watch it on th umpteen cricket channels. i am only an intermittent tv watcher these days and i have seen those quite a bit. PS-i am in UK now and i can't watch any cricket without SKY

but.................but..................but Outy has not seen much footage so how can anyone else have seen any footage of Viswanath!!

[Lurker]

its neither as brief as u think nor is it hours of footage. but its possible to see a 1971 test for an hour these days and repeated telecast of them ahve been going on in the past decade with cricket channels emerging. on top of my head , i can remember sunil gavaskar hosting tv series on DD with his favourite selection of test matches and one dayers in late 80's.the coverage of 70's tests in england and australia were extensive in that series. srikkanth used to host his own series on regional DD. this is in the pre star tv period. and also there were vcr videos created by WILLS and likes of arlott if you searched for it in the VCR libraries. with the explosion of cable tv, there has been amazing archival footage of the past being delivered. yes they are from australia and england.an exception is the 1978 series in pakistan where imran launched assualt vs bedi and co to seal a test win but one has opportunity to see richards make 276 in england 1976 and kallicharan taking apart Lillee in the 1975 pre WC final match. we even get pakistan's zaheer and majid playing england nowadays! yes highlights of the 1971 ,1974,1979 tests in england have been repeatedly telecast if someone cared to watch it on th umpteen cricket channels. i am only an intermittent tv watcher these days and i have seen those quite a bit. PS-i am in UK now and i can't watch any cricket without SKY

I do not neccessarily disagree with you there, but it is not exactly the same as you are suggesting. Sunny's TV series, Sunil Gavaskar presents, was the first introduction for many of us to watch some of these games. Most cricket fans of my generation waited for the various episodes and the one that I remember in particular is Sandeep Patil's century after he was felled by a Lenny pascoe bouncer. However you have to keep in mind that this was a very limited series with few episodes and built mostly around 80s by which time glorious days of Vishy, and likes of him, was over. I am also against judging a player based on some random clip. Anybody looks good in highlights. You pull out Ajit Agarkar's highlights from Adelaide game in Australia where he took 5 wickets and people can go ooh aaah wondering why didnt Agarkar played more? or why was he not treated with care? Heck you can watch Kumble's century in England and think he was a great batsman. Personally I enjoy more of an extended viewing if you will where you are absolutely able to see how good a player was and not just his wickets or sixes. Coming back to Vishwanath, his 90s against a marauding Andy Roberts at Chepauk is perhaps his best innings, also noted by many as one of the greatest innings by an Indian. I havent seen that on footage at all. xxx

[Late Cut]

The man was awesome on his day. No one played the late cut like him; a thing of beauty, especially against the west indian quicks.

[pensionplan]

Just thought I would pull this from an old archive of mine which is relevant here(part bolded) on how highly Vishy is rated. A true genius with the bat. -- Sunny hooks Lillee in sledge-fest PRADEEP VIJAYAKAR TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ TUESDAY, AUGUST 12, 2003 11:15:57 PM ] MUMBAI: Little Master Sunil Gavaskar warned that players might come to blows if personal abuse on the field was not stopped immediately. Breaking his silence on the fallout of his stirring Lord Cowdrey Spirit of Cricket Lecture at LordÃÔ last month, Gavaskar reiterated that sledging has become a dangerous monster. ÃñI have seen even schoolboys in Kenya behave shockingly on the field,Ãò he told this reporter in an exclusive interview on Tuesday. The former India captainÃÔ labelling of Aussies as masters of sledging (during the lecture), however, raised a new storm. It prompted his old enemy, Dennis Lillee, to even belittle him as an ordinary player. Gavaskar, the highest century-maker in Tests, had no hesitation in agreeing that his brother-in-law Gundappa Visha-wanath was a better batsman than he was. I agree with Lillee that Vishy was better. In fact, I am on record about this and I repeat that Vishy was the best batsman of my generation because of the quality of the bowling that he faced and the conditions under which he made runs. Gavaskar, however, was quick to return to the issue of sledging. Pointing out that sledging was short for sledgehammer in the Australian vocabulary, he said: Ãñobviously, it canÃÕ be very subtle.Ãò ÃñThose who are defending sledging are (in fact) those who practise it,Ãò he charged. ÃñIf personal abuse is part of the game it is a different game that I have played. ÃñThe West Indian players never did it. Courtney Walsh, the worldÃÔ highest wicket-taker, never uttered a word. They may have indulged in eyeball-to-eyeball tussles but thatÃÔ not the same as personal abuse. ThatÃÔ not what the fans want to see,Ãò he added. Responding to LilleeÃÔ taunt about his walkout from the pitch in 1981, Gavaskar explained: ÃñIt was triggered by personal abuse on LilleeÃÔ part. If you look at the video, I am walking towards the pavilion. I turned back only on hearing the abuse and then took (Chetan) Chauhan away. Had there been no abuse I would have vented my anger out in the dressing room,Ãò he said, adding, ÃñI expressed regret about the incident then itself, and again during the Cowdrey lecture.

[StatsRock]

I saw Vishy in an exhibition game in 1985(he played Ranji till '88). He was a touch player with excellent timing and placement, in the Laxman mould. I attended another masala game where Vishy was in the line up. He had just opened his account when Gavaskar from the striker's end hammered one straight into his elbow. Retd hurt! :-(

[Trundler27]

The man was awesome on his day. No one played the late cut like him; a thing of beauty' date=' especially against the west indian quicks.[/quote'] Maybe he had no other choice against the windies quicks at the time.... If you are late in picking the line and length, then the 'late' cut comes into play :giggle: For me, a gauge of any players greatness comes from the number of opponents that genuinely praise the player in addition to the number of games he has won for his country. So when sunny says that his brother in law was great, I don't put much weight in that opinion. But I remember tony greig saying something good about vishy a long time back and have also heard ian chappell say good things about him... So I would agree that vishy was kinda special

[OriginalCopy]

I have seen Vishwanath play live in the stadia and on TV in the early 80's (when looking at their somewhat senseless ramblings probably more than half of ICF members weren't even born). He was a classy batsman and had an aura of stability around him. He would hardly ever play any shot in the air (I wouldn't be surprised if he never hit a six in his life). He was very strong on the off side; like his cover drive and his famous square cut (not to say he had a weakness on the leg, just that he preferred the off side more for strokeplay, which wasn't much). One could hardly ever say he threw away his wicket because he was very restricted in his strokeplay, extremely disciplined. He would rather forego a chance to score runs if there was any risk involved. He was more of a hard worker than talented, in my opinion. I tihnk the reason that India never lost when Vishwanath scored a century is because he took so much time scoring one that the opposition ran out of time to get India out twice. If I remember correctly, if he scored a century India would draw the match many more times than actually win one. In the context of Indian players, because he was a technically correct batsman, had an aura of stability around him, and had no apparent weakness against spin or pace (other than the outswingers troubled him as much as they did other accomplished batsmen including Gavaskar), he is considered among the better batsmen in India's history. I would still not classify him a great as such, but that's just my opinion. Too much defensive play is perhaps the reason. It was, in those days, still a virtue because India did not have good enough bowlers to bowl most sides out twice on a consistent basis, so if we didn't win, atleast Vishy could help us draw.

[Late Cut]

Late cut, not square cut, though he was sublime with both...here is cricinfo's blurb... Gundappa Viswanath was a true artist with the willow - his strokeplay, particularly the late-cut executed with lumberjack-strong wrists, was nothing less than divine. He was equally adept against pace and spin - waiting on the ball against the fastmen and using twinkling footwork against the spinners - and he came good when it truly mattered. Though statistics don't convey it, Vishy was every bit as crucial as Sunil Gavaskar to the Indian team of the 1970s. Right from his century on debut in 1969-70, he performed better when the chips were down than any other Indian batsman. Especially memorable was an unbeaten, matchwinning 97 against a rampaging Andy Roberts at Madras in 1974-75. Viswanath often excelled on pitches others found difficult - witness his matchwinning 124 out of 255 on another fiery, bouncy Madras wicket against West Indies in 1978-79, and innings of 83 and 79 against New Zealand on a Christchurch greentop in 1975-76. He played the game in its true spirit: a century had little value to him if it didnŽ¹t contribute to the team cause and he disputed an umpireŽ¹s decision only once, recalling Bob Taylor in the Golden Jubilee match against England in 1979-80. It cost him the Test, one of only two where he led India, but to Vishy, it mattered more that the game should be played fair. FYI he hit 6 sixes in tests.

[OriginalCopy]

Late cut, not square cut, though he was sublime with both...here is cricinfo's blurb... Gundappa Viswanath was a true artist with the willow - his strokeplay, particularly the late-cut executed with lumberjack-strong wrists, was nothing less than divine. He was equally adept against pace and spin - waiting on the ball against the fastmen and using twinkling footwork against the spinners - and he came good when it truly mattered. Though statistics don't convey it, Vishy was every bit as crucial as Sunil Gavaskar to the Indian team of the 1970s. Right from his century on debut in 1969-70, he performed better when the chips were down than any other Indian batsman. Especially memorable was an unbeaten, matchwinning 97 against a rampaging Andy Roberts at Madras in 1974-75. Viswanath often excelled on pitches others found difficult - witness his matchwinning 124 out of 255 on another fiery, bouncy Madras wicket against West Indies in 1978-79, and innings of 83 and 79 against New Zealand on a Christchurch greentop in 1975-76. He played the game in its true spirit: a century had little value to him if it didnŽ¹t contribute to the team cause and he disputed an umpireŽ¹s decision only once, recalling Bob Taylor in the Golden Jubilee match against England in 1979-80. It cost him the Test, one of only two where he led India, but to Vishy, it mattered more that the game should be played fair. FYI he hit 6 sixes in tests.

OK, so I didn't do any research on cricinfo to find any details on him. Just my recollection of how he played. But I would say he was more known for his square cut than anything else (yes, he did play some delectable late cuts as well, and may of his square cuts were played so late for placement that they appeared late cuts!). And now I did look into cricinfo since apparently my recollection didn't hold a candle! http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/391445.html ====== If one were to subject a cricket watcher of the 1970s to a stroke-association test, to "GR Viswanath" he would immediately reply: "Square-cut!" That shot was indeed Vishy's peculiar glory, and he played it with rare power and ease of placement . ======

[zen]

Some nice posts on Vishy .... Good read From what I remember reading abt him, he did well in difficult conditions