Who is the greatest Indian batsman of all time?

[Ikki]

I agree with you re some people being unkind to Gavaskar because of his earlier hammerings of the WIndies bowlers - I was one of them. On the whole though, like your friend, he wouldn't get into my all-time XI because of his snail-pace approach.

 

[smash84]

haha.....snail pace he may be but in a test match it usually doesn't matter that much does it?

 

[GIMH]

Suresh Raina

 

[bagapath]

gavaskar was phenomenal against holding, imran and roberts. there have not been too many better fast bowlers in history. sorry ankit. your friend is an idiot.

and ikki... test cricket needs players who bat for time. gavaskar must be the third greatest opener of 20th century. leaving him for anyone other than hobbs and hutton is not really wise.

 

[Uppercut]

Just saw these stats on batsmen against the West Indian pace battery (at the end of the article). Gavaskar sits on top of the table even in the period of West Indian peak of fast bowling prowess. Then saw a couple of top class innings from Gavaskar against WI: 236 in Madras and counterattacking 121 in Delhi. This made me wonder if there has been a bit of unfair revisionism in assessment of Gavaskar from many of modern followers (myself included)? Do we make too much of the fact that his opening series in Caribbean was against a poor attack, and ignore a more than respectable average of 45+ against the peak period of WI?

I always thought it was a joke to put Gavaskar in top 10 of ESPN's Legends of Cricket, and I still do. But perhaps there were valid reasons for the observers of the game to rate him as highly as they did. He also received as many as 12 votes in Wisden's 5 cricketer of century voting while someone like Greg Chappell received none. Thoughts?

PS. I am still not changing my vote in this poll, but just some food for thought.

If you hoke around the forum archives, SJS wrote some long and epic posts downplaying Gavaskar's batting. I don't know how many of us that are around now took our lead from them but IIRC they were pretty influential at the time.

 

[smash84]

gavaskar was phenomenal against holding, imran and roberts. there have not been too many better fast bowlers in history. sorry ankit. your friend is an idiot.

I wanted to say this but I see Bagapath has said it already

 

[Uppercut]

If you hoke around the forum archives, SJS wrote some long and epic posts downplaying Gavaskar's batting. I don't know how many of us that are around now took our lead from them but IIRC they were pretty influential at the time.

Here we are. http://www.cricketweb.net/forum/2165949-post45.html

 

[The Sean]

SJS - WAG

z

 

[ankitj]

gavaskar was phenomenal against holding, imran and roberts. there have not been too many better fast bowlers in history. sorry ankit. your friend is an idiot.

and ikki... test cricket needs players who bat for time. gavaskar must be the third greatest opener of 20th century. leaving him for anyone other than hobbs and hutton is not really wise.

I wanted to say this but I see Bagapath has said it already

Come on guys, don't criticize someone who is not here to defend himself . Smalishah - he doesn't find a place for Imran either (neither for Tendulkar for that matter. Murali the only Asian that he picks)

 

[ankitj]

Here we are. http://www.cricketweb.net/forum/2165949-post45.html

Here is another, but this one says some strong points in favour of Gavaskar. SJS, a gun poster!

 

[indiaholic]

Tendulkar
Gavaskar
Dravid
Sehwag

And Tendulkar has one of the best defensive techniques I've seen. No problems there.

 

[smash84]

Smalishah - he doesn't find a place for Imran either (neither for Tendulkar for that matter. Murali the only Asian that he picks)

Now I have become even more firm on my view regarding your friend

But seriously he does not find Imran good enough to make it or leaves him for reasons of balance?

 

[sumantra]

sehwag's record in england is very similar to gavaskar's, as a matter of fact. in bouncy conditions - for instance, australia - sehwag is arguably better than gavaskar.

that's a shocker...

coming to the post... Gavaskar-Dravid-Sachin

 

[robelinda]

Sehwag has never experienced a bouncy Aussie pitch, our pitches have been flat for the last 10 years, not a single test pitch has been 'usual' aussie bounce.

 

[zaremba]

unless he doesn't count as an Indian player surely Ranji is worth a mention?

Enormous, unforgiveable omission from the poll.

Hasn't scored as many runs in meaningless ODIs at Sharjah as, say, Tendulkar, but was a superstar of his time and a true pioneer in a way that few if any others have matched.

Also, he gets many bonus points for his choice of county (which couldn't be said of Tendulkar obv).

 

[Burgey]

that's a shocker...

coming to the post... Gavaskar-Dravid-Sachin

Gavaskar's record in Australia is interesting. It benefits from the standard of attack he faced in 1985-86 and to an extent by his playing vs a non-WSC Australia in the 70s.

Lillee's thoughts on him are instructive

 

[sumantra]

Gavaskar's record in Australia is interesting. It benefits from the standard of attack he faced in 1985-86 and to an extent by his playing vs a non-WSC Australia in the 70s.

Lillee's thoughts on him are instructive

the post said in a bouncy condition Sehwag is better than Gavaskar, and to justify that point came their performances in australia...well, i think during the era in which Gavaskar played, with all the respect to Lillee and Thompson, a batsman's ability to play bouncy ball got much more tested in the West Indies than in Australia...(what Rob said is very true, that the tracks in Australia or for that matter in West Indies now, can come to no comparison to what they were in the 70's and 80's)...now, against West Indies in West Indies during 70's and 80's Gavaskar scored more than 1400 runs in 13 test matches with 7 centuries and had an average of 70.20...

as far as the quality of Australian bowling is concerned, in the 2 series Sehwag had in australia so far, in neither of them he faced arguably the best pace bowler of modern era, Glenn Mcgrath...

and one more thing, Sehwag at times lookes completely hopeless against short pitched stuff...forget about hook, he is no way a good puller either...can't understand how Sehwag can even come in contention with Sunil Gavaskar when it comes to facing bouncy balls...

anyway, that is his opinion...mine is a bit different

 

[Burgey]

the post said in a bouncy condition Sehwag is better than Gavaskar, and to justify that point came their performances in australia...well, i think during the era in which Gavaskar played, with all the respect to Lillee and Thompson, a batsman's ability to play bouncy ball got much more tested in the West Indies than in Australia...(what Rob said is very true, that the tracks in Australia or for that matter in West Indies now, can come to no comparison to what they were in the 70's and 80's)...now, against West Indies in West Indies during 70's and 80's Gavaskar scored more than 1400 runs in 13 test matches with 7 centuries and had an average of 70.20...

as far as the quality of Australian bowling is concerned, in the 2 series Sehwag had in australia so far, in neither of them he faced arguably the best pace bowler of modern era, Glenn Mcgrath...

and one more thing, Sehwag at times lookes completely hopeless against short pitched stuff...forget about hook, he is no way a good puller either...can't understand how Sehwag can even come in contention with Sunil Gavaskar when it comes to facing bouncy balls...

anyway, that is his opinion...mine is a bit different

I'm no comparing Gavaskar to Sehwag. I think he was better than Sehwag.

But I think his average in Australia is inflated for the reasons given. It's one of the reasons I'd have Boycott or Hutton ahead of him as an AT opening batsman. He was a great player, but I cannot help but be influenced by what I saw of him.

I'd have Tendulkar and Dravid ahead of him as Indian batsmen, but certainly there can be no disputing he'd open the batting in an AT Indian XI, and belongs in the argument as an ATG opener too.

 

[Jono]

Its funny how things change after one series. I reckon had this thread been made after the South Africa test series Sachin would have won around 85-90% of the vote and Dravid may have received close to none.

 

[Outswinger@Pace]

Its funny how things change after one series. I reckon had this thread been made after the South Africa test series Sachin would have won around 85-90% of the vote and Dravid may have received close to none.

While that would have been true for the average YouTuber, I reckon CW members stand on firmer ground. IMHO, the results wouldn't have been too different.
I see Tendulkar leading this poll and while I personally don't agree with it, it seems the CW majority is consistent in their opinions.