Rahuv Dravid vs Virender Sehwag - Who is bigger match winner for India in tests?

[Austin 3:!6]

Both have enormous contribution towards the success of India as a test team. Rahul Dravid A thorough gentleman of the game who always put country more than his personal milestones. Probably the best technique for a number 3 batsman I have ever seen. A pillar at Indian line up for 164 test matches with an avg of 52.31 & 36 centuries. Rahul is one of those rare Indian batsman who had more success in tough overseas conditions than at home, which makes him even greater batsman. He avgs 53.03 in overseas which is greater than his career avg. Apart from representing India, Rahul also had the privilege to feature in the ICC world XI super test match against the Aussies. Virender Sehwag A completely different batsman from Rahul, Viru was tailor made for the shorter versions of the game due his flamboyant stroke plays. However, he had enjoyed more success as a test opener for India. It happened that in early 2000's, Aussies have redefined test batting with their aggressive stroke plays. Invaribly they used to bat at a run rate of over 4.5 and put the opposition on the backfoot. Then captain Saurav Ganguly wanted to have a similar approach for team India and ask Viru to emulate Matthew Hayden style of batting. And boy that was a masterstroke both for Viru's career and the success of team India (specially overseas). It his Sehwag's aggressive opening batting that had won many many test matches for India - let it be in Multan, Chennai, Melbourne - list goes on. Avg of 49.34 with a SR of 82.23 in something unheard of in test cricket. The top 3 highest test scores for India belongs to Sehwag - 319 vs SAF, 309 vs Pak & 293 vs SL. Both the 319 and 293 were scored at a SR of over 100 which is unbelievable. He has overall 23 test hundreds. Like Rahul, Sehwag also had represented ICC world XI as an opener in 2005. So according to you who is the bigger match winner for India in tests? I know it has to be a very tough choice, but I would tend to go with Sehwag. For me Sehwag is the biggest test batsman India produced in the last decade. :nice::nice: Again its my personal choice..please let me know your views.

[Austin 3:!6]

Mods apologies - Please change the title to Rahul not Rahuv. A typo :((

[puneet28]

Rahul Dravid without any doubt. He was savior for India in 2nd innings overseas.. For Viru, I don't remember many of his match winning 2nd innings. in recent past, it is he aggressive 80 odd against England in 2008, in famous chase of 387.

[Laaloo]

Rahul Dravid without any doubt. He was savior for India in 2nd innings overseas.. For Viru, I don't remember many of his match winning 2nd innings. in recent past, it is he aggressive 80 odd against England in 2008, infamous chase of 387.

I hate this notion of 2nd innings crap. Most matches are set up and won in the first innings. Sehwag's 201 at Galle was a clear example of this. His Chennai knock in 2004 would have been a match winner too but for rain to intervene. It wasn't Sehwags fault the rest of the middle order didnt show up when he made 195 at MCG.

[adi B]

rahul dravid just edges viru for me..there was a time (2001-04) when dravid alone was the main architect of our wins,he was ultra dependable..i remember in 2002 test series in nzl,i got up early to see india tottering at 115/6,i was so confident that dravid must surely be batting and yes he was.. sehwag no doubt has set up so many matches for india to win in short laid the foundation but dravid was more dependable and won more matches (especially abroad eg rawalpindi,adelaide,sabina park)

[BeautifulGame]

In Asia Sehwag closely followed by Dravid But Outside Asia there is no comparision.Sehwag havent scored even a single 50 in matches we won outside Asia whereas Dravid has played some of our greatest knocks in these places

[moniker]

Rahul Dravid without any doubt. He was savior for India in 2nd innings overseas.. For Viru, I don't remember many of his match winning 2nd innings. in recent past, it is he aggressive 80 odd against England in 2008, infamous chase of 387.

Why do you say that?

[adi B]

Why do you say that?

he forget the space me thinks :winky:

[moniker]

^Hmm. Yes probably :D

[puneet28]

oh yeah.. Thats just a typo error. Missed a space there. Well talking about that 195 innings, he was superb there. Even in Perth his 30's in both innings were important, because in first two matches openers were awful. Middle order was terribly out of form in that series. Yuvraj and Dhoni were just walking wickets. Even bhajji was a better batsman than both.

[velu]

Clearly Dravid.. But I would watch when viru is there at the crease Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

[The Outsider]

What is the definition of a "match winner"?

[Laaloo]

What is the definition of a "match winner"?

Well being on ICF I guess someone who comes up with a extraordinary performance in the 4th innings on a tough pitch.

[vamos_rafa]

New day.. old thread.. just that Sachin's name isn't there now.

[Haarkarjeetgaye]

dravid would have saved more than sehwag

[KFC_Zinger]

If the criteria is winning matches for India, one can simply list India's test victories since 1996 (Dravid's debut) and see who won more... Overall i dont think the number should be more than 40 odd matches....

[The Outsider]

Still no definition of a "match winner" - the topic we are supposed to be discussing.

[jalebi_bhai]

Still no definition of a "match winner" - the topic we are supposed to be discussing.

Exactly what I was going to post.......is a 'match winner' the player who sets up the victory or the player who takes the team to victory?? Overall.....I would say Dravid was the better player for us in Tests.....

[Austin 3:!6]

For me a watch winner is someone who changes the course of the game. Precisely the reason I put Viru slightly ahead as his approach towards test cricket was one of those unique kinds. If match winner can be counted on the basis of Man of the match awards, here are the stats: Dravid won 11 MOM's in 164 games (1 in 15 test matches app) Sehwag has 8 MOM's in 104 games (1 in 13 matches)

[Prakat]

^ but if Sehwag is given the next sixty tests pretty sure his strike rate will rise well above Dravid's. Not unlike Dravid damaging his average in the last years. Sehwag isn't good enough anymore his hand-eye technique is a young man's game and he lacks the focus to develop a new technique based on footwork. But why mention it, everybody knows.