Sehwag - an all time great?

[Precambrian]

You misunderstand me. He was struggling in ODIs but not in Tests.

I think you are mistaken. When Sehwag was dropped after SA tour, he had gone 10 innings without a 50

 

[Pratters]

I think you are mistaken. When Sehwag was dropped after SA tour, he had gone 10 innings without a 50

Yes, my mistake. I thought it was the Windies tour after which he was dropped some how.

 

[Pratters]

I thought you were one of those in favour?

Chopra was hard done by when Sehwag was picked ahead of him in my opinion.

 

[Precambrian]

Chopra was hard done by when Sehwag was picked ahead of him in my opinion.

AWTA, but the drop what was Sehwag exactly needed at that point in time. It allowed him to calm down and reassess his strategy, tinker his game accordingly and rediscover his appetite for cricket.

Chopra, for all his prowess, cannot be half the force Sehwag could be in the test matches. He had a good defense however could never provide any momentum.

 

[Pratters]

but the drop what was Sehwag exactly needed at that point in time. It allowed him to calm down and reassess his strategy, tinker his game accordingly and rediscover his appetite for cricket.

Err, I already said I made a mistake in thinking when he was dropped. I am not arguing whether it was good for Sehwag or not.

 

[anoop4real]

Sehwag is a "Rabid Wolf" hard to tame, but i too feel that he cannot be called an all time great........

 

[krkode]

I think it's fruitless to try to compare players across eras. No one knows how Bradman would've performed in the 1990s and no one knows how Tendulkar would've performed in the 1930s. And no one, for sure, knows how Sehwag would've performed against "all time greats." The question is, ultimately, irrelevant. What does matter is, Sehwag, today, is pretty darned awesome and can easily be considered a great among those players playing today. As was mentioned by one of the players at the end of the match (Tendulkar, I think), Sehwag is a one of a kind player out there today and he's very glad that Sehwag plays for India. As am I.

Frankly, I wouldn't want any other opener in the world today opening for India in place of Sehwag. Not Smith, not Hayden. He may not always be among the runs and some will argue that his test average flatters him, but it cannot be denied that he has a very useful ability to just score runs out of nowhere. Not the kind of player who can be easily tied down. And while that does get him out on plenty of occasions, when he does fire, it's oh so beautiful and helpful. India has plenty of great batsmen to play "responsible roles" - guys like Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxman are all capable of playing an anchor-style role. In that sense, it's an absolute blessing that we have a guy like Sehwag who can do something different. I absolutely, 100%, agree with the decision to give him the MoM in today's game because it was truly his rocker of an innings that set things up for Gambhir, Tendulkar and Yuvraj to finish it up today.

 

[Richard]

I think it's fruitless to try to compare players across eras. No one knows how Bradman would've performed in the 1990s and no one knows how Tendulkar would've performed in the 1930s. And no one, for sure, knows how Sehwag would've performed against "all time greats." The question is, ultimately, irrelevant. What does matter is, Sehwag, today, is pretty darned awesome and can easily be considered a great among those players playing today.

We can't, of course, know anything. But we can speculate, and it's good fun (!) to do so.

My speculation is that Sehwag, opening the batting in Test cricket, would not score very many innings' of note against the seam-bowlers of the 1990s, 1980s, 1970s, 1960s, 1950s, etc. Especially if the catching was up-to-scratch.

However, in the era of September 2001 to the current day, where pitches have been flat, bowling has been less-than-ideal, and catching of times diabolical (and far more often so against him than most), he's been an opener of excellence. No doubting that. Even without dropped catches by the crateload which he's received, he'd still have scored plenty of good knocks.

 

[Anil]

i wouldn't call him an all-time great as of now...the talent has always been there, if he sustains his good form over a few more seasons, then he will definitely enter that discussion...

 

[Precambrian]

He is the leader among Indian batsmen to play against teams excluding Ban and Zim.

He has a good record against almost all teams, esp the ones which really count like SA and Aus.

I think he's on the pathway to becoming one of the greatest openers, if he maintains the current averages till he gets to 10k runs, he will have to be counted as one of the greatest and impactful openers of all time.

 

[Ikki]

AWTA.

Sehwag is supremely talented and his SR is ridiculous for an opener in Test cricket. The fact that he averages 50+ even without minnows is unbelievable. Even if he were to average 45 but with that SR it would be an amazing feat. There are legitimate questions he'll have to answer in the coming years but let's not start the inane argument about how he'd fail in every other era, etc...

Richard, I'll save you some time: Atherton, Hussain > Sehwag.

 

[Burgey]

When Australia recently toured India and convincingly won 4-0 , Sehwag was the batsman I most wanted to be dismissed asap.

That's not taking away anything from the others, many of whom are very fine or even great players, it's just his destructiveness at the top. That's always something to fear in a player like that, but even more so I believe, once they get going on their own grounds, where they know the conditions so well.

Sehwag has played some really fine knocks away as well as at home, including some good 'uns here. But I always feel as an Australian supporter that when someone gets away from us at home, we know the conditions well enough to be able to reel them in. Away it's a whole new ball game, and Sehwag is probably the guy I'm hapiest to see the back of, along with Pietersen when we play the Poms.

 

[Pratters]

i wouldn't call him an all-time great as of now...the talent has always been there, if he sustains his good form over a few more seasons, then he will definitely enter that discussion...

Yeah, I would agree with this point of view.