Battle of the test innings played by batsmen currently less than 30 years old

[wpdavid]

I think that's a convoluted enough title for a random battle.

All test match innings played by batsman over 30 years old at the time of this post are disqualified. Limit of a maximum of 3 per player to give non-Rahane players a chance

Off the top of my head, some of the worthy ones are:

Rahane 103 vs England, Lord's 2014
Joe Root 130 vs Australia, Trentbridge 2015
Kusal Mendis 176 vs Australia, Pallekele 2016
Dinesh Chandimal 162* vs India, Galle 2015 ()
Angelo Mathews 160 vs England, Headingley
Cheteshwar Pujara 145* vs Sri Lanka, Colombo 2015
Virat Kohli 141 vs Australia, Adelaide 2014

There are some ubelievably good innings in there and I'm sure I'm missing plenty from Smith and KW as well.

Is Angelo Mathews really under 30? It feels like he's been around for ages.

 

[91Jmay]

Kusal Mendis 176 vs Australia, Pallekele 2016

This wins it very easily for me.

 

[Furball]

I guess.. in a way. But some people will always value technical perfection in sportsmen, even though it is an intangible trait, and doesn't really contribute directly to winning. It's another factor that goes into rating someone, so it comes down to one's opinion how much you value it.

I've never thought Sachin was partucularly pleasing to the eye. Give me VVS or Dravid (when he actually played shots) over him any day.

 

[vcs]

I've never thought Sachin was partucularly pleasing to the eye. Give me VVS or Dravid (when he actually played shots) over him any day.

Late 2000's Sachin was nothing special aesthetically. Upto 2003 or so, he was awesome. Late '90s was the peak obviously.

 

[Kirkut]

Late 2000's Sachin was nothing special aesthetically. Upto 2003 or so, he was awesome. Late '90s was the peak obviously.

Sachin's batting was never really artistic right from his debut, what I loved the most about watching him was the compactness of his stance after he plays the shot and the balance.

 

[Burgey]

I remember getting really high and coming to the 'realisation' that true beauty doesn't lie in perfection, but in imperfection. Someone striving to be perfect, and is almost perfect, but is just slightly flawed.

That's why the most aesthetically pleasing athletes, artists, musicians etc aren't the ones that are flawless, but the ones that are just a little bit off being flawless. An over exaggerated backlift, a little bit of personal flair, the tendency to do something a little bit incorrectly and leaving themselves just that little bit more vulnerable to failure.

It's also why we romanticise people and players with flawed careers more than those with the perfect record. Bradman's legend wouldn't be so great if he didn't have that last innings duck to end of 99.94.

I'm gonna stop before I go full on kiwivictor here.

What were you high on?

 

[Burgey]

Sachin's batting was never really artistic right from his debut, what I loved the most about watching him was the compactness of his stance after he plays the shot and the balance.

Yeah. Balance made him always seem in control. Was always a bit surprising he actually got out

 

[OverratedSanity]

Ok, so I'll start this and see if there's interest. Final list:

Ajinkya Rahane 103 vs England, Lord's 2014
Joe Root 130 vs Australia, Trentbridge 2015
Kusal Mendis 176 vs Australia, Pallekele 2016
Dinesh Chandimal 162* vs India, Galle 2015
Angelo Mathews 160 vs England, Headingley
Cheteshwar Pujara 145* vs Sri Lanka, Colombo 2015
Virat Kohli 141 vs Australia, Adelaide 2014
Darren Bravo 116 vs Pakistan in Dubai in 2016.
Quinton De Kock 104 vs Australia, Hobart 2016.
Kane Williamson 140 vs Australia, Brisbane 2015
Kane Williamson 108* vs Sri Lanka, Hamilton 2015
Kane Williamson 242 vs Sri Lanka, Wellington 2015
Kraigg Brathwaite 142* and 60* vs Pakistan, Sharjah 2016
Ben Stokes 258 vs SA, Capetown 2015
BA Stokes 120 v Australia at Perth 2013
BA Stokes 101 v NZ at Lords 2015
Ashton Agar 98 vs Australia, Trentbridge 2013
Rahane 147 vs Australia, Melbourne 2014
Tamim Iqbal 104 vs England, Dhaka 2016
Darren Bravo 218 vs NZ, Dunedin 2013
Keaton Jennings 112 vs India , Mumbai 2016
Steve Smith 100 vs SA, Centurion 2014
Usman Khawaja 147 vs SA, Adelaide 2016
Virat Kohli 147* (and still going) vs England,Mumbai 2016

 

[harsh.ag]

Angelo's 160 was gravy and dessert all at once.

 

[cnerd123]

What were you high on?

that good kush

 

[OverratedSanity]

Battle 1:

Pick the two best out of:

Ajinkya Rahane 103 vs England, Lord's 2014: 2nd Investec Test: England v India at Lord's, Jul 17-21, 2014 | Cricket Scorecard | ESPN Cricinfo
Keaton Jennings 112 vs India, Mumbai 2016: INDIA 451/7 (142.0 ov, V Kohli 147*, J Yadav 30*, JE Root 2/18) - Stumps | Live Scorecard | ESPN Cricinfo
Kane Williamson 108* vs Sri Lanka, Hamilton 2016: 2nd Test: New Zealand v Sri Lanka at Hamilton, Dec 18-21, 2015 | Cricket Scorecard | ESPN Cricinfo
Steve Smith 100 vs SA, Centurion 2014: 1st Test: South Africa v Australia at Centurion, Feb 12-15, 2014 | Cricket Scorecard | ESPN Cricinfo

 

[Daemon]

Smith and Rahane

 

[OverratedSanity]

I vote Rahane and Smith too, btw

 

[vcs]

Rahane and Williamson

 

[morgieb]

Rahane the clear standout of the four.

As for the second....close between Smith and Williamson. Smith played an important role in getting Australia out of a sticky situation but I think the Marsh knock and the Johnson spells overshadowed it. Williamson's knock was key in knocking off a moderate sized target in a low scoring game, but that game was weird anyway.

Guess I'll go Williamson.

 

[honestbharani]

Rahane the best, followed by Smith.

 

[Howsie]

IMO Williamson's best test innings to date was his 161* in the third test against the Windies at Bridgetown. He's made a habit of scoring big runs when nobody else can get going but that game was a totally different kettle of fish.

 

[Daemon]

I would also like to nominate Abul Hasan's 113

 

[OverratedSanity]

Sure, I'll add them, but atleast vote for the first battle

 

[vic_orthdox]

Rahane
Williamson