When McGrath mastered the Master

[BeautifulGame]

155 hit at a SR of 70 vs the best team and the toughest bowling attack of that time will always get you those extra points. Martyn also played a great knock but for me Sehwag's innings was a shade better.

Martyn scored with Gillespe for company with the match and series virtually on the line.It was a pitch when Kumble took 7 wkts in a single session in the FIRST DAY itself. Then to play a knock against Kumble and Harbajan on that wkt when Aussies were 0 for 4 or something like that on a 4th day wkt was simply majestic.Comfortably much better than the Sehwag knock.Situations define the quality of the knock for me not SR. And facing Kumble and Harbhajan on that chennai track was much tougher than facing Macgrath and Warne.

[harmuk]

Martyn scored with Gillespe for company with the match and series virtually on the line.It was a pitch when Kumble took 7 wkts in a single session in the FIRST DAY itself. Then to play a knock against Kumble and Harbajan on that wkt when Aussies were 0 for 4 or something like that on a 4th day wkt was simply majestic.Comfortably much better than the Sehwag knock.Situations define the quality of the knock for me not SR. And facing Kumble and Harbhajan on that chennai track was much tougher than facing Macgrath and Warne.

+1. Good cricketing reasons.

[Crookbond]

Martyn scored with Gillespe for company with the match and series virtually on the line.It was a pitch when Kumble took 7 wkts in a single session in the FIRST DAY itself. Then to play a knock against Kumble and Harbajan on that wkt when Aussies were 0 for 4 or something like that on a 4th day wkt was simply majestic.Comfortably much better than the Sehwag knock.Situations define the quality of the knock for me not SR. And facing Kumble and Harbhajan on that chennai track was much tougher than facing Macgrath and Warne.

The pitch was easier to bat than on day 1 - Kumble didn't get the extra zip of the pitch. Also, our great Parthiv Patel fluffed so many chances that a card board would've been better.

[The Outsider]

Martyn scored with Gillespe for company with the match and series virtually on the line.It was a pitch when Kumble took 7 wkts in a single session in the FIRST DAY itself.

Martyn's innings was great. In fact he played extremely well in Sri Lanka as well a few months back, but the wicket had lost it's bite by that time. It wasn't the typical Indian pitch where you would expect progressive wear and tear. That's also the reason India also had a decent chance of chasing the 200 odd runs. On a typical Indian day 5 wicket that would have been a tough proposition against that Australian attack - it would not have been simple even then but India did have a decent chance.

[Crookbond]

Also, to add - Irfan Pathan if I remember correctly was also carrying some injury in that Test match.

[Sooda]

On the topic of batsmen playing Mc Grath well- Micheal Vaughan in that season or two when he was so imperious...the 02 Ashes in Oz

[hhhhdmt]

As a batsman, Tendulkar was far more gifted than Mcgrath. Mcgrath was terrific at what he did (accurate bowling, subtle variations, the bounce he generated). Still, Mcgrath did not have a great deal of variety and i never understood why Tendulkar couldn't dominate him. My theory (and i could be wrong here) is that Tendulkar let Mcgrath get to him psychologically. Tendulkar never seemed to be bothered when playing a faster more intimidating bowler like Donald, for example. Mcgrath got inside his head with the constant sledging. Given how gifted tendulkar is, he should have done better vs mcgrath, alot better.

[Ultimate_Game]

As a batsman, Tendulkar was far more gifted than Mcgrath. Mcgrath was terrific at what he did (accurate bowling, subtle variations, the bounce he generated). Still, Mcgrath did not have a great deal of variety and i never understood why Tendulkar couldn't dominate him. My theory (and i could be wrong here) is that Tendulkar let Mcgrath get to him psychologically. Tendulkar never seemed to be bothered when playing a faster more intimidating bowler like Donald, for example. Mcgrath got inside his head with the constant sledging. Given how gifted tendulkar is, he should have done better vs mcgrath, alot better.

McGrath was lot more gifted than you make it sound. He had the most control of any bowler I have seen coupled with some of the best cutters (off & leg) seen in the game. He didn't move the ball much in the air but could extract every bit of assistance from the pitch - be it seam movement or bounce. You could wake up McGrath in the middle of the night and he could bowl just short of length on/outside off hitting the top of off stump. As for McGrath getting the better of Tendulkar, a few folks have already mentioned that given a face off between an ATG batsman and an ATG bowler (especially pacer), the bowler is likely to succeed more as a bowler is in the game longer and can come back, but not the batsman. A bowler can bowl a poor bowl/over and have a bad spell or even a day and still come back. All a batsman needs to make is one mistake and that's it for him in that innings/match.

[panther]

All of you are overlooking the most important stat, who mastered "pigeon" the answer is 2 Pakistanis one is the ATG saeed anwar Averaging 65 in matches against Aus with Mcgrath the other is Ijaz ahmed averaging 55 in matches against Aus with Mcgrtah.

[Muloghonto]

He still averages more than 2 points than Shewag. Doesn't he? Considering he never started as a batsman he ended up as, if anyone followed the career graph of Waugh would know, that is not surprising at all. I would take Waugh over Shewag any day of the week when I take into account that Test cricket is played for 5 days and 2 innings with varying intricacies, where a batsman may need to hold up an end for a session for example, where runs are of not the top priority.

How many openers average 50+ ? Now, how many middle order batsmen, converted to the role of opening (which is a specialist position) in Test cricket average 50+ ? Anyone who says Sehwag is not one of the greatest batsman seen in history of cricket, does not know or understand cricket. But then again, you are the same guy who thinks 2000-present times is just as good bowling standards as in the 1990s, i bet you didnt even know which pot to pee in when you were in the 1990s, kiddo.

[Muloghonto]

McGrath was lot more gifted than you make it sound. He had the most control of any bowler I have seen coupled with some of the best cutters (off & leg) seen in the game. He didn't move the ball much in the air but could extract every bit of assistance from the pitch - be it seam movement or bounce. You could wake up McGrath in the middle of the night and he could bowl just short of length on/outside off hitting the top of off stump. As for McGrath getting the better of Tendulkar, a few folks have already mentioned that given a face off between an ATG batsman and an ATG bowler (especially pacer), the bowler is likely to succeed more as a bowler is in the game longer and can come back, but not the batsman. A bowler can bowl a poor bowl/over and have a bad spell or even a day and still come back. All a batsman needs to make is one mistake and that's it for him in that innings/match.

Err, as great as McGrath is, he did not have the best control of all- that tag belongs to Curtley Ambrose & Courtney Walsh amongst fast bowlers. Not even McGrath could land an entire spell on a dime like these two could.

[Muloghonto]

All of you are overlooking the most important stat' date=' who mastered "pigeon" the answer is 2 Pakistanis one is the ATG saeed anwar Averaging 65 in matches against Aus with Mcgrath the other is Ijaz ahmed averaging 55 in matches against Aus with Mcgrtah.[/quote'] Saeed Anwar ATG :haha::haha::haha: I am sorry but Pakis have not produced a single ATG batsman. Mum and Dad comes the closest, but even he is behind Greg Chappell, Gavaskar, barry Richards, Graeme Pollock, Alan Border, Viv, Lloyd and Martin Crowe from his era.

[Vanarp22]

Ijaz Ahmed??? Definitely not an ATG. FAIL and BTW in all other matches he averages 37.67. so panther your logic is quite messed up. :hysterical::cantstop::haha::emc: Matches involving McGrath are clearly not good indicators of overall performance. So please don't just say these things based on stats.

[panther]

Saeed Anwar ATG :haha::haha::haha: I am sorry but Pakis have not produced a single ATG batsman. Mum and Dad comes the closest, but even he is behind Greg Chappell, Gavaskar, barry Richards, Graeme Pollock, Alan Border, Viv, Lloyd and Martin Crowe from his era.

Inzi is 2nd behind bradman

[Deleted_User_1]

That series we only had 3 batsmen - Tendulkar' date=' Dravid & Ganguly. Rest simply made up the numbers - Ramesh, Devang Gandhi (worst opener I've seen IMO), Jacob Martin, Kanetkar etc. Out of the top 3 Dravid couldn't do much against Warne & McGrath and it all came down to Tendulkar and he got 3 rough decisions out of 6 times he came in to bat. Once it was shoulder before the wkt, one time has given caught short leg against Warner when he didn't hit it and there was a 3rd time when he copped a bad decision as well. That series it almost looked like Aussies wanted to get Tendulkar off the field no matter what.[/quote'] I saw the shoulder before wkt in Adelaide and the lbw decision against McGrath in Sydney. Is that the one you were talking about. Also the catch against Warne in forward short leg, I thought it was legit, no? At least from the footage, I could not figure it out that it was not!!!

[Crookbond]

I saw the shoulder before wkt in Adelaide and the lbw decision against McGrath in Sydney. Is that the one you were talking about. Also the catch against Warne in forward short leg' date= I thought it was legit, no? At least from the footage, I could not figure it out that it was not!!!

:headshake: NOT OUT - off the pads.

[Deleted_User_1]

:headshake: NOT OUT - off the pads.

Just saw the highlights. Straight on, it is hard to tell. You must have seen the side frame. Also the 2nd test 2nd innings when he padded the ball from Warne, looked like a 50-50 decision. Could have gone past the off stump. Geez no wonder the convicts felt bad and gave him the Man of the Series!!!

[Ultimate_Game]

I saw the shoulder before wkt in Adelaide and the lbw decision against McGrath in Sydney. Is that the one you were talking about. Also the catch against Warne in forward short leg' date=' I thought it was legit, no? At least from the footage, I could not figure it out that it was not!!![/quote'] That's the one I am talking about. Shoulder before wkt was a joke, and the catch at fwd short leg off Warne didn't hit the bad. After replays confirmed Tendulkar didn't hit the ball one of the commies went "Oh well he deserved to get out for the poor shot he played" and another one quipped "Well if you are going to give batsmen out for bad shots you are not going to see to many hundreds" or something similar. That series Tendulkar copped rough decisions every match and it was clear he was targeted, and credit to Tendulkar for no only taking those shockers on the chin with class but also performing as the best batsman of the side :hatsoff:

[Deleted_User_1]

That's the one I am talking about. Shoulder before wkt was a joke' date=' and the catch at fwd short leg off Warne didn't hit the bad. After replays confirmed Tendulkar didn't hit the ball one of the commies went "Oh well he deserved to get out for the poor shot he played" and another one quipped "Well if you are going to give batsmen out for bad shots you are not going to see to many hundreds" or something similar. That series Tendulkar copped rough decisions every match and it was clear he was targeted, and credit to Tendulkar for no only taking those shockers on the chin with class but also performing as the best batsman of the side :hatsoff:[/quote'] Yep, looked like there were 3 or 4 decisions out of six innings that were outrageous or dodgy. :omg:

[vvvslaxman]

Yep' date=' looked like there were 3 or 4 decisions out of six innings that were outrageous or dodgy. :omg:[/quote'] 3 clear cut wrong decisions. Australian media was aware of it. They pacified us by giving man of the series to Tendulkar.