The whole sentence..I didnt quite understand what you meant sorryNo prob. Which part exactly confused you?
Whatever I said, it should be fairly obvious that I didn't mean "no Pakistani batsman has ever been much good against spin". Your run-of-the-mill Pakistan batsman doesn't tend to be that good against it, and there have been many examples of Pakistan batsmen who've made it to Test level with considerable weakness against spin.You merely said Pakistani players are not good players of spin.
Even avg players are reasonably good players of spin.
All bowlers get wickets thus. In my book, a batsman has a weakness against a certain type of bowling only if they can get him out by doing something he, with his game, has no power to counter. Pietersen has regular trouble with getting himself out to balls that should not get him out, against both seam and spin, and there is no bias towards one nor the other. Nor is there a flaw in his game which allows spinners to penetrate it, as I say.You are mistaken. Spinners get wickets by making batsmen play false attacking shots rather than just defensive prods. So if Pietersen gets out playing attacking shots, that shows his lack of temperament and mental ability, and indeed a flaw against spin bowling.
There is no way either pitch was a turner. If someone described it as such - or predicted it would become such - they were wrong, plain-and-simple. I watched not that far short of every over of both games and while the odd ball turned in the Chepauk match (Kaneria being a wristspinner BTW doesn't need a turning deck to make it go so he's irrelevant - no fingerspinner got it off the straight at all at Multan) there is no way there was significant assistance for spin in either match. In any case, Pietersen's dismissals were as much due to seam as spin - especially his woeful shot against Mohammad Sami in the second-innings at Multan.Again wrong Richard, see excerpts from cricinfo
Pakistan's key bowlers before the match were always going to be Danish Kaneria and a fully-fit Shoaib Akhtar. Kaneria's four wickets, in particular, on a last day pitch that still held no major alarm but offered him bounce and turn, was crucial. "I knew Kaneria would get turn. He has been bowling really well for the last year and has won us a few matches. I was confident he would do it here as well. - On Multan test match - Cricinfo.com
Tendulkar's words on Chennai pitch - ""I told Yuvi when he played a shot off Monty [Panesar] that landed between short midwicket and long-on: 'Wait till the last run is scored. We need to make sure that both of us complete the runs'. On a track like this, when you lose a wicket, it can become hard for the new batsman. The odd ball will keep a bit low or kick up and you can lose two or three quick wickets. Better to finish the job ourselves."
Swann found turn and bounce, reward for giving the ball a tweak, although he had a tendency to drift too straight rather than making the batsmen drive...... Tendulkar century sets up famous win | India v England, 1st Test, Chennai, 5th day Report | Cricket News | Cricinfo.com
Again, there was sharp turn, but the paddle-sweep that greeted the ball was emphatic. As it streaked to fine leg, the batsman ran down the pitch and punched the air in celebration, before being held aloft by his equally delighted partner...Superstar Tendulkar writes the perfect script | Opinion | Cricinfo Magazine | Cricinfo.com (Dileep Premachandran)
And on the fourth evening, Gautam Gambhir, a mild-mannered man off the field, had absolutely no doubt that a fast-wearing and untrustworthy pitch wouldn't deter India from going for a win. - A triumph of belief | Opinion | Cricinfo Magazine | Cricinfo.com (Sambit Bal)
He is a master against any bowling when he plays well enough to do so - and he is well capable, and has several times, played both attacking and defensive innings', of substantial length, against seam and spin. However, against seam and spin he often comes a-cropper due to over-aggressiveness - and sometimes even over-passiveness.He is weak against spin in terms of sheer temparement and skill and I have produced my arguments above. He is a master player of pace bowling I agree. He has only one option against spinners and that is to attack and it often comes out a cropper.
awesome stuff, SJS.. But as I said in the comments there, I feel Lara is the better suited modern great for your point than Sachin..Here is an analysis that some of you may love and others may hate.
Bradman to Sehwag : Redefining Great Batsmanship by Defying Tradition
Sure, but next time make sure you dont take Tendy's words out of context..Hi Richard with all due respect to you I would take Sachin Tendulkar's words ahead of yours anyday.
The whole sentence..I didnt quite understand what you meant sorry
Black_Warrior said:But if you are only going to consider the top 15% as the greats, then thats fair enough but its a very high standard and many of today's greats, averaging over 50 will struggle to make it to that list, including the names I mentioned
Well all i was saying there in reference to your orginial point. Was the small 15% of modern day batsmen that show adaptability to score runs in not only the large amount of flat decks today - but also when conditions are difficult for batting (even though that has not been a regular in this 2000s era). That small 15% have to be rated higher than the general 85 % of FTBs.me said:True. But how small the 15/10/20 % is those few guys who have showed adaptability in this 2000s era to score tough runs againts top attacks in difficult conditons - rather not when the pitch is flat. For eg Ponting, Dravid, Sangakkara, KP, Hayden, Kallis, Chanderpaul, Langer etc etc...they are the very good/excellent/great batsmen.
That's great - all Tendulkar actually said was there was a bit of uneven bounce, which is not all that far short of inevitable on a fifth-day deck (there was still far less in that pitch than there will be in many BTW). Tendulkar mentioned nothing about any turn or otherwise. All the rest was written by journalists who, frankly, are absolutely no better judges of the game than me.Hi Richard with all due respect to you I would take Sachin Tendulkar's words ahead of yours anyday.
Well the article is not about Sachin or Lara, it is about unorthodox and aggressive batting. Lara was more orthodox than Sachin in his technique with a perfect grip and exemplary footwork. Sachin has very good technique but it is not classical like Lara's that's why Sachin is mentioned in the passing in that feature not for his otherwise undisputed greatness.awesome stuff, SJS.. But as I said in the comments there, I feel Lara is the better suited modern great for your point than Sachin..
Apart frm that, agree completely with every single thing you have said in the article...
No offence, SJS.. I agree about Lara's footwork and that Sachin is not as good in that. But I was talking about the backlift and that arc that is created and Lara's jumping around during the initial part.. Far more prone to danger than Sachin's technique, IMHO. But yeah, I agree that was not the point. I was juz referring it mostly in jest.. Hence the smiley..Well the article is not about Sachin or Lara, it is about unorthodox and aggressive batting. Lara was more orthodox than Sachin in his technique with a perfect grip and exemplary footwork. Sachin has very good technique but it is not classical like Lara's that's why Sachin is mentioned in the passing in that feature not for his otherwise undisputed greatness.
No offence taken HBNo offence, SJS..
aCnnot agree with you. His patience was worked over by Vaas, technique by Murali and killer blow by Malinga. KP was pushing and prodding against Murali in the whole tour.The sledging is true. But i disagree that KP was exposed technically, his technique is perfect per se. But the only problems he ever has is mental (thats why the sledging sort of worked, why Yubraj got him LBW a few times in IND last winter & why he keeps holding out stupidly to joke spinenrs like Harris). KP got out to good balls in that series almost all the time.
Sooy I beg to differ. Even in that ENG tour when Murali overcame the initial shock, he was bowling beautifully at KP. By the time of 3rd test KP vs Murali was an Equal contest. But in SL with bit of extra support from the pitch Murali totally dominated KP. To compound problems Vaas was also praying on his patience. Malinga kept sending quick stuff at him at aggressive lengths.In 06 when your guys toured ENG. Murali & Vaas where handled very well. Thats why i'd say what happened in SRI 07/08 was basically a blimp. How much batsmen ever reverse sweep Murali for 6??
Not even close. Azhar and Sidhu gone after Murali multiple times, and Murali never dominated them. But KP was struggling against Murali.Have seen Sidhu & Azhar play Warne - not Murali. The domination is comparable indeed.
Sidhu played only few times against Warne. Not as often as Murali, so lesser chance of being smoked regularly.But hey smoked hollywood in 98 given as the Warne/Murali debate goes, since he was the a one-man attack then (no McGrath, Fleming, Gillespie). In those conditions he could not contain those batsmen.
1997-2001 era Ganguly was supreme against spin. Warne did not come across him regularly, possibly once or twice in ODIs he went after Warne. (I have to check that out)Ganguly never smoked Warne in the series i saw 98, 99/00, 01 & 04, KP defiantely played Warne better than him. Saw Ganguly play Murali in 05 & 08, KP was better againts Murali.
In first SL-AUS series away and home, Ranatunga treated Warne with disdain. In Aussie tour he kept getting out to fast bowlers, but when ever he met Warne, he did smoked some boundaries.Ranatunga hmmm, smoked Warne in 96 WC Final yea. While my memory of the 99 AUS to SRI was that Warne had most of SRI batsmen in check.
Vinod Kambli at Sharjah went berserk against Warne, 25 runs off 7 balls IIRC. Kambli never played Warne after that IIRC. But that burst was as good as any assault on Warne by anyone.The only other batsmen who can really compare to dominating Warne for example like KP & Lara was Saleem Malik in 94.
I would take my own eyes however ahead of any of these...That's great - all Tendulkar actually said was there was a bit of uneven bounce, which is not all that far short of inevitable on a fifth-day deck (there was still far less in that pitch than there will be in many BTW). Tendulkar mentioned nothing about any turn or otherwise. All the rest was written by journalists who, frankly, are absolutely no better judges of the game than me.
That was how English played spin. Needless to say it is [/innings].Stands pretty still, gives it a whack.
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