How good was Kris Srikanth?

[Gollum]

This is his profile from ESPNCricinfo

In his time the Indiana Jones of Indian cricket, Srikkanth's batting style was entertaining, innovative and explosive. Indeed, his approach came as a whiff of fresh air and, not unexpectedly, he was a great crowd puller. A swashbuckling opening batsman cast in the Mushtaq Ali mould, Srikkanth could destroy the strongest and most fearsome attacks in the world by fearless pulling, hooking and driving. But there were times when he could be dismissed by some pretty ordinary bowling. Gifted with a good eye and super-quick reflexes, Srikkanth's buccaneering methods quickly caught the eye of the selectors and he made his international debut at 21. Consistency however was not his watchword and he was more out of than in the Indian team. But by the mid 80s, his attacking methods had acquired some discipline and he remained the regular opening batsman till 1989. Appointed captain for the tour of Pakistan that year he achieved a major triumph when the team drew all the four Tests. But the selectors pounced on his batting failures and he only made it back after two years in the wilderness. By this time he was over 30 and he did not have the reflexes of old. And when he was not selected for the South Zone team in 1993, Srikkanth, at 33, announced his retirement. If his Test record is impressive, given his sometimes outrageous batting style, he was a natural for the limited-overs game. At the time he quit the scene, Srikkanth had scored more runs and more centuries than any other Indian cricketer and he made them in double-quick time exasperating some of the finest and fastest bowlers in the game. He was one of the heroes of the World Cup triumph in 1983 and also played in the competition in 1987 and 1992. After leaving the game, Srikkanth has worked as a cricket analyst for various Indian news channels and in February 2008, was named the ambassador for the Chennai Super Kings franchise of the Indian Premier League. Later than year, he succeeded Dilip Vengsarkar as the chairman of India's first ever paid selection panel. Partab Ramchand September 2008

www.espncricinfo.com/india/content/player/34103.html Was he the Mad Max of the 80s? ICFers those who have seen him live, how do you rate his test and ODI careers? From various sources I have come to understand that India was the only team of the 80s which used to go at > 5 RPO in the 1st ten overs(in ODIs and sometimes in tests too). Then Shastri and co would do tuk tuk for the next 25 overs leaving it to our all rounders in the *** end to make up for their negativity. He almost won us the 85 test series in Australia with the bat but biased umpiring robbed India there. He captained us to a drawn series in the Pak tour in 89 against a much superior opposition. His innings in the 83 finals(and that 6 of Roberts:hatsoff:), his integral role in the B&H World Championship of Cricket 1985 and his regular destruction of Imran and Qadir are tales of legend. In fact Imran used to underbowl himself when Cheeka was batting and once in Kolkata in 1987 he didn't give Qadir the ball fearing what Srikanth would do to him. Also he has 2 5WKHs in ODIs :hysterical: Do you rate him as an ODI legend? Can he enter an all time Indian ODI XI? How would he do in this era of big bats, flat pitches and short boundaries?

[kosingh]

For the time he was obviously a revolutionary. I don't think he'd survive modern day cricket though. Not consistent enough. A lot of players now can do what he did then, and the players now can do it with more consistency. Would be interested to see him with a modern bigger bat, smaller grounds and generally crappier bowlers of today. But I don't think he'd be in an all time Indian ODI XI with the likes of Tendulkar, Sehwag, Kohli, Ganguly etc taking batsmanship to a whole new level.

[Vijy]

This is his profile from ESPNCricinfo www.espncricinfo.com/india/content/player/34103.html Was he the Mad Max of the 80s? ICFers those who have seen him live, how do you rate his test and ODI careers? From various sources I have come to understand that India was the only team of the 80s which used to go at > 5 RPO in the 1st ten overs(in ODIs and sometimes in tests too). Then Shastri and co would do tuk tuk for the next 25 overs leaving it to our all rounders in the *** end to make up for their negativity. He almost won us the 85 test series in Australia with the bat but biased umpiring robbed India there. He captained us to a drawn series in the Pak tour in 89 against a much superior opposition. His innings in the 83 finals(and that 6 of Roberts:hatsoff:), his integral role in the B&H World Championship of Cricket 1985 and his regular destruction of Imran and Qadir are tales of legend. In fact Imran used to underbowl himself when Cheeka was batting and once in Kolkata in 1987 he didn't give Qadir the ball fearing what Srikanth would do to him. Also he has 2 5WKHs in ODIs :hysterical: Do you rate him as an ODI legend? Can he enter an all time Indian ODI XI? How would he do in this era of big bats, flat pitches and short boundaries?

Srikkanth was not as fast a scorer as people make him out to be - Patil was much faster in ODIs. Srikkanth certainly did well by the standards of his time, but he was just too inconsistent (enjoyed a brief peak). He was, however, an underrated bowler and fine fielder. People have fond memories of him because it was a time when the rest of our top-order batsmen were not that adventurous, making him look quick in comparison. In his generation of Indian batsmen and allrounders, kapil was the one genuine destructive hitter (a SR of 95+ in that era).

[kosingh]

He was more Romesh Kaluwitharana than Mad Max with the bat.

[Vijy]

My ODI all-time Indian XI: Ganguly, Tendulkar, Kohli, Dravid, MS Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Kapil Dev, Srinath, Agarkar, Kumble, Ashwin Hard pick between Yuvi, Azhar, Jadeja and Raina. All 4 were excellent fielders, but I opted for Yuvi as he was a genuine matchwinner at his peak, and the best bowler amongst the 4. Chose Ashwin at this stage, although Bhajji at his peak was arguably more effective. Nikhil Chopra did well, but played far too few matches. Agarkar is the controversial choice since people will probably want Zak in the team. But Aggy was a real wicket-taker, an excellent fielder and a useful lower-order thumper. If not him, I'd go with Prabhajar (underrated seamer in ODIs). Statistically, Irfan ought to be in the reckoning and we tend to forget these days how excellent he was as an all-rounder. Shami may make it to this team in the future if he cuts down on the 4-balls. Binny Sr and Madan Lal were genuine utility cricketers whose bowling records are also pretty decent.

[Kalia_Test]

My ODI all-time Indian XI: Ganguly, Tendulkar, Kohli, Dravid, MS Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Kapil Dev, Srinath, Agarkar, Kumble, Ashwin Hard pick between Yuvi, Azhar, Jadeja and Raina. All 4 were excellent fielders, but I opted for Yuvi as he was a genuine matchwinner at his peak, and the best bowler amongst the 4. Chose Ashwin at this stage, although Bhajji at his peak was arguably more effective. Nikhil Chopra did well, but played far too few matches. Agarkar is the controversial choice since people will probably want Zak in the team. But Aggy was a real wicket-taker, an excellent fielder and a useful lower-order thumper. If not him, I'd go with Prabhajar (underrated seamer in ODIs). Statistically, Irfan ought to be in the reckoning and we tend to forget these days how excellent he was as an all-rounder. Shami may make it to this team in the future if he cuts down on the 4-balls. Binny Sr and Madan Lal were genuine utility cricketers whose bowling records are also pretty decent.

I might be ignorant fellow but what has this post to do with a thread on Kris Srikanth? He is not even mentioned

[riya]

I think he was some one would have easily survived in todays batting conditions..

[Vijy]

I might be ignorant fellow but what has this post to do with a thread on Kris Srikanth? He is not even mentioned

OP asked about Srikkanth and possibility of him being in All-time India ODI XI. Hence, I gave my XI and indicated that Kris would not find a place.

[Gollum]

Srikkanth was not as fast a scorer as people make him out to be - Patil was much faster in ODIs. Srikkanth certainly did well by the standards of his time' date=' but he was just too inconsistent (enjoyed a brief peak). He was, however, an underrated bowler and fine fielder. People have fond memories of him because it was a time when the rest of our top-order batsmen were not that adventurous, making him look quick in comparison. In his generation of Indian batsmen and allrounders, kapil was the one genuine destructive hitter (a SR of 95+ in that era).[/quote'] Yeah he was very inconsistent. The thing with him was that he could score 120(90) on his day and also 10(40) on an off day. It looks like he used to take the pitch and opposition bowlers out of the equation on his day. Also because his partner was Gavaskar the contrast was well visible. I remember reading an interview where Sunny said that it was his life ambition to score a 50 faster than Cheeka. That day finally came to fruition(almost) in his penultimate ODI match against NZ in Nagpur in the 1987 World Cup. Gavaskar raced to 48/49(I don't remember) while Kris was something like 17 batting. Next couple of overs Srikanth raced to 50 and Gavaskar was still on 49 odd. :hysterical: That incident still cracks me up.

[Kalia_Test]

OP asked about Srikkanth and possibility of him being in All-time India ODI XI. Hence' date=' I gave my XI and indicated that Kris would not find a place.[/quote'] OK but why the need to dissect Zaheer and co. in this thread? Surely Zaheer was not competing with Srikanth in ODi X1 - even all time

[Vijy]

Yeah he was very inconsistent. The thing with him was that he could score 120(90) on his day and also 10(40) on an off day. It looks like he used to take the pitch and opposition bowlers out of the equation on his day. Also because his partner was Gavaskar the contrast was well visible. I remember reading an interview where Sunny said that it was his life ambition to score a 50 faster than Cheeka. That day finally came to fruition(almost) in his penultimate ODI match against NZ in Nagpur in the 1987 World Cup. Gavaskar raced to 48/49(I don't remember) while Kris was something like 17 batting. Next couple of overs Srikanth raced to 50 and Gavaskar was still on 49 odd. :hysterical: That incident still cracks me up.

:hysterical::hysterical: Gavaskar scored a pretty quick century in one of his last matches. If I remember correctly, his SR at the end of the Indian innings was higher than Srikkanth's.

[Vijy]

OK but why the need to dissect Zaheer and co. in this thread? Surely Zaheer was not competing with Srikanth in ODi X1 - even all time

Sorry, couldn't help speculating on what ODI Indian All-time XI may look like. :) Some really old post somewhere may exist, but it's hard to dig for it.

[Gollum]

:hysterical::hysterical: Gavaskar scored a pretty quick century in one of his last matches. If I remember correctly' date=' his SR at the end of the Indian innings was higher than Srikkanth's.[/quote'] That's the same match I was talking about. He finally scored a 100 in ODI cricket in his penultimate match where Kris shattered his dream of scoring a 50 before his daredevil partner. Here's the scorecard. http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/65114.html Sunny scored 103*(88) while Cheeka scored 75(58). When Cheeka got out the score was 136.

[Vijy]

That's the same match I was talking about. He finally scored a 100 in ODI cricket in his penultimate match where Kris shattered his dream of scoring a 50 before his daredevil partner. Here's the scorecard. http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/65114.html Sunny scored 103*(88) while Cheeka scored 75(58). When Cheeka got out the score was 136.

:giggle: :giggle: So, I see that Sri outscored him even then. Funny to see Azhar bhai bowling (quite effectively too as per the figures).

[Marut]

High impact player, numerous run a ball knocks were rare for an opener during his playing days. A typical Indian ODI win in the 80s would be orchestrated by either Cheeka or Kapil. Other batsmen were typically test match specialists and would almost always put India under pressure with their slow batting. Srikkanth just missed out on the 15 over fielding restrictions that were introduced in the late 80s - most of Srikkanth's high profile innings as an opener were played before these fielding restrictions were introduced. Can't even imagine what Cheeka would have done if he played under the modern ODI rules - he would be plundering the bowling. An underrated player, especially by modern fans. I would equate him with Sehwag as far as ODIs are concerned. He was the most innovative and high impact opener of his era. Srikkanth was more aggressive, daring and brutal than the likes of Greenidge, Gooch and Haynes. He had a strike rate of 71 as an opener when the typical was 55-60. Even in WC 83 final he was the top scorer with 38.

[Texy]

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[vvvslaxman]

I remember him smashing Patrick Patterson in one of the test when he terrorized INdian batsmen with raw pace in the first test. In the first test he was dismissed by patterson in the both innings. He came back strongly in the second test. Look at the strike rates here in a test match. http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/63467.html

[thongale]

Average of 29 and SR of 72. During the same time period Aravinda, in his Mad Max mode, av eraged 28.4 with a SR of 79. I don't see what is the big deal regarding him as a quick scorer.

[cricket.fan]

Having watched Srikanth from 1989 to 1992,I can compare him to Sehwag in odi's..at that time of slow batting Srikanth used to give the so called ' highs' of batting..as rightly said by someone,if he would have played under power play rules during his peak,he could have easily been a great of odi cricket..

[cricket.fan]

Average of 29 and SR of 72. During the same time period Aravinda' date=' in his Mad Max mode, av eraged 28.4 with a SR of 79. I don't see what is the big deal regarding him as a quick scorer.[/quote'] That I suppose bcz of his inconsistency,which was clear towards his final days of career