Who is the greatest Indian batsman of all time?

[Burgey]

Cheers fellas. They are two blokes who stood out from the 70s and 80s for me as really good players.

Dishy Vengsarkar have some insane record at Lord's as well?

 

[robelinda]

DILIP!

Dilip Vengsarkar 126* vs England 1st test 1986 - YouTube

 

[Burgey]

Cheers Rob. He was a very elegant player. Being tall and with that backlift, he reminded me in some ways of Greg Chappell.

 

[Outswinger@Pace]

That was the majesty and elegance of Colonel's batting.

This is the artistry of Vishy on his canvas.


Two contrasting styles but both something that the connoisseurs of classical batsmanship would kill to watch.

 

[Sanz]

DILIP!

Dilip Vengsarkar 126* vs England 1st test 1986 - YouTube

Wow. Would you happen to have the Gavaskar 96 Run vs. Pakistan in his last test ?

 

[Cruxdude]

Among the batsmen I have seen (not many to be fair) I have not seen a better batsman than Sachin. Have heard great things about Viswanath (other than his name literally meaning fatso viswanath in Tamil).

 

[Burgey]

That was the majesty and elegance of Colonel's batting.

This is the artistry of Vishy on his canvas.


Two contrasting styles but both something that the connoisseurs of classical batsmanship would kill to watch.

Should be said Lenny Pascoe was bowling decent wheels there.

 

[Burgey]

Wow. Would you happen to have the Gavaskar 96 Run vs. Pakistan in his last test ?

Sanz,

Came across this as I was loking at the Dilip footage...

SUNIL GAVASKAR's 96(last test innings) 1.33 to 2.03 _ EDWIN KIMBERLY - YouTube

 

[smash84]

Yeah Rob, from what I hear that 96 vs Pakistan was one of the best test match innings played in a fourth innings ever and on a rank turner too

 

[Furball]

2 100s and 0 50's in 6 innings = consistently doing well. where was dravid in all the 2nd innings of the test series???

imagine if he hadn't been dropped on 40 in the 1st innings at lords...

Probably knackered from carrying the entire team on his shoulders in the first innings.

Remains unbeaten at Lord's and singlehandedly saves the follow on, gets India into a great position to bounce back into the series at Trent Bridge before watching the entire lower middle order collapse in a heap to the new ball, would have stayed unbeaten there were it not for the fact that Dravid decided to slog to try and add quick runs, and carried his bat at the Oval when everyone else around him seemed to forget what the wooden thing they take to the middle with them was for.

Bear in mind Dravid also had to keep wicket briefly at Lord's and opened in 5 out of the 8 innings (effectively 7 out of 8 when you consider Sehwag's attempt at Edgbaston), criticising him just isn't on. Particularly when Dravid was the only Indian batsman who didn't have a technical weakness exposed then ruthlessly exploited by England's bowlers. England's only plan to Dravid was "bowl magic balls outside offstump" - that it worked so often what what limited Dravid's series output. With the exception of first innings at Trent Bridge, I don't recall Dravid losing his wicket through bad batting once in the series, which is a testament both to how well Dravid batted and how well England bowled at him.

 

[Jono]

I love Dravid, but I reckon his dismissal at Lords 2nd innings was bad batting. Not irresponsible batting though, which is what I think you mean.

 

[Furball]

I love Dravid, but I reckon his dismissal at Lords 2nd innings was bad batting. Not irresponsible batting though, which is what I think you mean.

Can't remember that, was working at the time, by bad batting I mean a technical weakness like Tendulkar constantly forgetting where his stumps were and getting caught lbw, Laxman forgetting where his off stump was and seeing it cartwheel out the ground etc. With the exception of his dismissal at Trent Bridge first innings (which I'm not bagging him for, it was absolutely the right thing to try and do), I don't really recall Dravid giving England his wicket as such, most of his dismissals were down to just awesome balls around his offstump that he was nicking to the cordon.

Pretty much every Indian batsman had their weaknesses worked out in the series, Dravid didn't, England had to work bloody hard for his wicket.

Dravid's series for me was the batting equivelant of Warne in 2005. Granted I've not been watching cricket for a long time but it's one of the finest, if not the finest, series of batting I've seen.

 

[centurymaker]

besides the innings at oval he wasn't really at his best tbh


england tried their best to exploit his slight weakness just outside offstump but dravid managed to overcome it by playing that shot through the thirdman region.

 

[Jono]

Can't remember that, was working at the time, by bad batting I mean a technical weakness like Tendulkar constantly forgetting where his stumps were and getting caught lbw, Laxman forgetting where his off stump was and seeing it cartwheel out the ground etc. With the exception of his dismissal at Trent Bridge first innings (which I'm not bagging him for, it was absolutely the right thing to try and do), I don't really recall Dravid giving England his wicket as such, most of his dismissals were down to just awesome balls around his offstump that he was nicking to the cordon.

Pretty much every Indian batsman had their weaknesses worked out in the series, Dravid didn't, England had to work bloody hard for his wicket.

Dravid's series for me was the batting equivelant of Warne in 2005. Granted I've not been watching cricket for a long time but it's one of the finest, if not the finest, series of batting I've seen.

No doubt. He was immense.

 

[Jono]

besides the innings at oval he wasn't really at his best tbh


england tried their best to exploit his slight weakness just outside offstump but dravid managed to overcome it by playing that shot through the thirdman region.

How was he not at his best at Trent Bridge?

Watch the end of day 1. England bowled magnificently and he survived through sheer grit.

You don't have to be smacking boundaries to be at your best.

 

[centurymaker]

How was he not at his best at Trent Bridge?

Watch the end of day 1. England bowled magnificently and he survived through sheer grit.

You don't have to be smacking boundaries to be at your best.

true but laxman looked better than him in that innings (although he only scored 50 odd) so i dont know how you can say dravid was at his best. (got hit a couple of times too on his gloves i think?)

(i agree that they did well to survive on day 1)

 

[centurymaker]

you dont look scratchy when you are at your best

 

[sumantra]

besides the innings at oval he wasn't really at his best tbh

england tried their best to exploit his slight weakness just outside offstump but dravid managed to overcome it by playing that shot through the thirdman region.

batting in oval was comparatively easier, the two hundreds before that had to be not only best of this series, but some of his better hundreds in real testing circumstances...

 

[Furball]

you dont look scratchy when you are at your best

You do when you're facing extremely good bowling.

 

[Spark]

Broad and Anderson were producing genuine magic balls about once an over in that little spell at the end of Day 1 at TB. More often, sometimes. To survive that takes exceptional skill, scratchy or not.