silentstriker
The Wheel is Forever
Because most of us realize that though stats are important, they are not the everything. You have to look at them through the lens of the times. Averaging 20 with the ball would be tremendous now, but it was less of an achievement at the turn of the century. To put this in perspective, the following batsmen average 50+ today: Tendulkar, Lara, Ponting, Kallis, Hayden, Dravid, Hussey and until recently Sehwag and Smith as well.Yes, there IS. Which is why I said I consider Sutcliffe a very worthy candidate. That average is also better than Sunil too.
However, knowing what I've seen from Hayden - and not just #s - I can say Hayden at his best was a phenom that was incomparable to any other opener I can think of. So I don't see how it's silly, or even 'ridiculous' as you suggested.
How many players were averaging 50+ in the seventies/early eighties when Gavaskar was in his pomp? Two? He might have been the only one for a stretch there.