pick the top 3 Indian test batsmen

[Sanz]

ganguly
tendulkar
laxman

followed by: Sehwag, Dravid

Ganguly has been in the best form of the Indian batsmen over the past year or so, followed by the class of Tendulkar and Laxman. Sehwag is starting to regain his blistering touch, and Dravid is here on class alone.

Ganguly gets no love from too many people when he has clearly been one of India's best batsmen of recent times!

What you saying my friend ? Ganguly was second in my love list.

Btw -Have you heard of Altoz yet ?

 

[weldone]

No doubt Sehwag has had better overall career performance than Laxman till now...Though Laxman has played for 5 more years than Sehwag, against slightly better bowling attacks, some innings being played at his not-so-favourite opening position...

Having said that, I think if Sehwag continues to play like he's playing now for 2-3 years more (no reason why he shouldn't), and if Laxman doesn't make a very good contribution in that time, Sehwag has a good chance of surpassing Laxman...Although if Laxman (or Ganguly) too turns out to be in the form of his life in years to come (that is a doubtful 'if') then Sehwag has a long way to go before he surpasses VVS...

Till then Laxman will remain slightly ahead of both Ganguly and Sehwag in my book ... Yes, slightly...

My opinion, of course...

 

[ret]

Very simple reply.

1- Tendulkar
2- Dravid
3- Laxman.

I would like to see the record of Sehwag in Australia, England, New Zealand, West Indies and South Africa. I assume that his high test average is due to his extra ordinary scores on the flat, dead tracks of sub continent.

so you gave your opinion even without knowing how Sehwag has done in those places!!!

indeed it's very simple

 

[weldone]

ganguly
tendulkar
laxman

followed by: Sehwag, Dravid

Ganguly has been in the best form of the Indian batsmen over the past year or so, followed by the class of Tendulkar and Laxman. Sehwag is starting to regain his blistering touch, and Dravid is here on class alone.

Ganguly gets no love from too many people when he has clearly been one of India's best batsmen of recent times!

I suppose the question of this thread isn't based on form...On current form only, Ganguly, Tendulkar and Sehwag are surely the best 3 Indian test batsmen (not sure in which order)...

 

[ret]

trivia

1. Javad Miandad - 71 runs per test, 47 runs per innings
2. Sunil Gavaskar - 81 and 47
3. Gary Sobers - 86 and 50
4. Viv Richards - 70 and 47
5. Brian Lara - 91 and 51
6. Steve Waugh - 65 and 42
7. Allan Border - 72 and 42
8. Greg Chappell - 82 and 47

PS and someone like Don Bradman - 134 and 87

 

[SJS]

1. Tendulkar
2. Dravid
3. Laxman

 

[sanga1337]

Ver simple reply.

1- Tendulkar
2- Dravid
3- Laxman.

I would like to see the record of Sehwag in Australia, England, New Zealand, West Indies and South Africa. I assume that his high test average is due to his extra ordinary scores on the flat, dead tracks of sub continent.

Overall record home and away

Australia: averages 53.90 and has 3 centuries
England: 32.15 with 1 century
New Zealand: 27.12 with 1 century
West Indies: 53.58 2 centuries
South Africa: 51.29 3 centuries

Away record

Australia: 59.50 with 2 centuries
England:39.50 with 2 centuries
New Zealand:10.00 with zero centuries
West Indies: 51.00 with 1 century
South Africa:26.44 with one century

Actually its not a bad record. He has a higher average in Australia and England and still has a very good record against the West Indies. Sehwag gets way too much criticism on these boards. I don't think he is a great yet, but if he bats like this for the rest of his career than he surely must be up there.

 

[Beleg]

Tendulkar
Dravid
Ganguly

The first couple of times I watched Laxman bat (against WI and Pakistan in the 90's - Wasim Akram seamed and swung circles around him) biased me against him - since then he's gone on to perform brilliantly against most teams, but he still doesn't instill in me the same fear (of a huge innings) when he comes out to bat against Pakistan which the aforementioned names do.

 

[SJS]

Tendulkar
Dravid
Ganguly

The first couple of times I watched Laxman bat (against WI and Pakistan in the 90's - Wasim Akram seamed and swung circles around him) biased me against him - since then he's gone on to perform brilliantly against most teams, but he still doesn't instill in me the same fear (of a huge innings) when he comes out to bat against Pakistan which the aforementioned names do.

Ask Ganguly to open the innings in a Test match and see what happens to him if the bowler is anywhere near Akram's class. Laxman's performance at the opening slot (completely under duress) should never be considered when making an assessment of this fabulous player's caliber.

Why just Ganguly one could say that of some more illustrious names ?

 

[Beleg]

Laxman's performance at the opening slot (completely under duress) should never be considered when making an assessment of this fabulous player's caliber.

Why not? Calibre that doesn't translate into performance is about as much use as Mohammad Sami on a cricket pitch. Aren't you the one who was so critical of cherry picking statistics yourself?

Ask Ganguly to open the innings in a Test match and see what happens to him if the bowler is anywhere near Akram's class.

He'd likely succeed on quite a few occasions.

Why just Ganguly one could say that of some more illustrious names ?

Err?

 

[Sanz]

He'd likely succeed on quite a few occasions.

Ganguly is so under-rated. Yes he has his own limitations as a batsman but If he is made to open the innings he is more likely to succeed than fail. The guys determination, self-belief, mental toughness is second to none.

 

[silentstriker]

Ganguly is so under-rated. Yes he has his own limitations as a batsman but If he is made to open the innings he is more likely to succeed than fail. The guys determination, self-belief, mental toughness is second to none.

Agreed. Admire the hell out of the guy.

 

[Cricket_God]

1-Sachin
2-dravid
3-laxman

4-shewag

 

[BhupinderSingh]

1.Tendulkar
2.Dravid
3.Ganguly
4.Laxman
5.Sehwag

 

[ret]

Let's examine some of two options below further

1. Tendulkar, Dravid and Sehwag
2. Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman / Ganguly

playing the combination one, we are likely to get 247 test runs in a test
Sachin - 80
Dravid - 83
Sehwag - 84

playing the other combination, we are likely to get 226 test runs in a test
Sachin - 80
Dravid - 83
Laxman / Ganguly - 63 [their avg]

examining further the Sehwag vs Laxman case, in the games that they both have played together

Sachin- 80
Dravid - 83
Sehwag - 86
so thats 249 runs

Sachin - 80
Dravid - 83
Laxman - 59
so thats 222 runs

that probed me to ask myself that why would a rational mind want Laxman over Sehwag and be at a loss? clearly, the majority have settled for a loss .... is it because of what Laxman did in 40 more tests that he has played with Sehwag not around? .... Let's find out

in 53 tests that Laxman and Sehwag have played together

Laxman - 3141 runs, 7 100s, avg 43 .... 59 runs per test, 39 runs per inning
Sehwag - 4563 runs, 14 100s, avg 52 .... 86 runs per test [Sobers like], 51 runs per inning

Laxman
career - 5785 runs, 93M @ 62 runs per test
w/ Sehwag - 3141R, 53M @ 59 runs per test
w/o Sehwag - 2644, 40M @ 66 runs per test

Career
Sehwag - 4818R, 57M @ 84
Laxman - 5785R, 93M @ 62

the difference 967 runs in 40 games @ 24 runs per test!!!! so Laxman has played 40 more tests than Sehwag but only has 967 more runs than him!!!!!!!

there is no comparison but still a majority went for Laxman and settled for a loss. why is that? I assume that ppl get imprinted with the first impression and then use it as an anchor to make their decisions. clearly, it's not stats or performances that have determined the choice but its the impression and preference [like the batting style]

I guess many imagined Laxman best inning of 281, along with the form he was in that period, to make the judgment, while they imagined Sehwag throwing his wkt away irresponsibly, may be along with the bad patch he went through in 2007 to judge that Laxman is a better option, even when they are at a loss selecting him!!!!!!!! May be they told themselves that Laxman would do better in bowler friendly conditions, even though it could be a 50 hit in a losing cause and even when Sehwag has a good record in most conditions

despite having the ability to think rationally, we sometimes are guided by the anchors that are imprinted in our minds, along with preferences, to become predictably irrational

 

[Sanz]

Runs per test is one of the most useless stats ever. A Top order batsman gets to bat more than a lower order batsman hence his runs per test will obviously be more than an middle order batsman.

 

[ret]

Runs per test is one of the most useless stats ever. A Top order batsman gets to bat more than a lower order batsman hence his runs per test will obviously be more than an middle order batsman.

whatever statical criteria you use, i doubt Laxman will come up tops .... And i have used runs per test [rpt], runs per inning [rpi] and averages too .... see the original post

and let's not forget that the opening batsmen get to face the new ball, along with fresh bowlers, and thus are at a slightly higher risk

in an ODI, i would say that a top order batsman gets more opportunity to get more runs than a middle order bat but not in tests where almost everyone has an equal opportunity to bat .... and in tests, it can be argued that the ability to bat longer depends upon skills too

 

[silentstriker]

Any statistical criteria? You asked for it.

Laxman when India win
Sehwag when India win

May I remind you that winning is why we play the game. If the pitch is flat, and I need to go to sleep, I'll watch Sehwag score a double century. If it has juice, and I need those 50 runs to win, bring on Laxman.

 

[Sanz]

It is a common knowledge (and simple stats wont tell you that) that Laxman's international career early on wasn't a great success mainly because of how Indian captains handled him as a youngster. That someone like him still survived and went to become India's finest batsman in crisis is a testimoney to his talent and toughness. People never had doubts about His batting skills. It is not a surprise that when India got a captain (Sourav Ganguly) who knew how to treat/handle players, Laxman Flourished greatly as a batsman.

Under Ganguly's Captaincy Laxman's average - 52.3, Under Kumble - 54.3, Under Azhar - 26.3, Under Sachin - 27.7

Despite doing so much for Indian Cricket, LAX is still treated as the Doormat of Indian Batting. I have forgotten the no. of times people on this same forum have wanted Lax out in place of a mediocre batsman like Yuvraj Singh.

Laxman's talent and skill level as batsman are far better than Sehwag's and he has delivered for India in crisis far more than any other batsman In the history of Indian Cricket.

 

[ret]

Any statistical criteria? You asked for it.

Laxman when India win
Sehwag when India win

May I remind you that winning is why we play the game. If the pitch is flat, and I need to go to sleep, I'll watch Sehwag score a double century. If it has juice, and I need those 50 runs to win, bring on Laxman.

i haven't looked at those stats yet, but that criteria is like implying that ppl don't make enough effort in games that their teams lost!!!!

So I would by that say that any Australian batsmen is better than Lara!!!!

case closed