DoG's Top 100 Test Batsmen Countdown Thread

[honestbharani]

Amazing player and an extremely important factor in the growth of the game in India as well as India's growth in the game.

 

[Logan]

Underrated because of Sachin and the emergence of Kohli. Indian cricket’s first superstar who took India from mediocrity to a respected cricket team. The greatest Test opener.

 

[stephen]

He was as good a batsman as he is bad as a pundit. Absolute ATG cricketer. Should be first picked in India's ATG side and is a good shout for any world XI.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Went out with about as good an innings as you can hope for. Worth a watch if you have an hour of free time.

 

[Coronis]

Hmmm. Well I’ll guess Bradman, Smith and Sobers. I’ll be wrong though. Great little bloke, top 4 opener of all time, slightly forgotten due to Tendulkar/Kohli.

 

[Logan]

I would rate Gavaskar ahead of Hobbs, Sutcliffe and Hutton. Unless there was a Don Bradman level difference, I would rate a modern day great batsmen ahead of a great batsman in the past who played the game when there wasn’t so much competition.

Gavaskar’s impact on Indian cricket was HUGE. He was the first world class batsman from India. For the first time in Indian cricket, there was a cricketer that the world respected for his talents. The mighty WI quicks appreciated him. The legendary Imran Khan called him a better batsman than Sachin and said his contribution was bigger than what his record showed. Even Don Bradman respected his batting talents. In the 1970s, India won a Test for the first time in WI, Eng and Aus.

When Gavaskar made his Test debut, India were minnows. When Gavaskar retired, India were a respectable Test nation. He inspired millions of kids including a Sachin Tendulkar who would take India and cricket itself to even greater heights.

 

[Burgey]

Cricket itself? Interesting take tstl

 

[h_hurricane]

Cricket itself? Interesting take tstl

Why not ? First cricketer to 10000 test runs, scored 34 tons which was the highest for a very long time and many around that time thought it will be difficult to break. He raised the bar pretty high which was of course raised further but some 2 decades after he retired.

 

[RossTaylorsBox]

Only thing I remember about this guy is him packing a massive sad at getting a bad LBW against Lillee.

 

[Logan]

Cricket itself? Interesting take tstl

Gavaskar made his debut in 1970. India was a new country and got it’s independence just two decades ago. Indian economy was at an all time low. India was just recovering from food shortage in the previous decade. The country’s democracy was suspended by then Prime Minister. India was at war with Pakistan. There were no heroes to look up to. Cricket was seen as a rich man’s sport and captain Pataudi was of royal descent. In the midst of all this gloom, Gavaskar’s arrival signified a change. Here was a short man(much like most Indians) that was able to play with the best of the best.

Gavaskar’s debut and the twin wins in WI & Eng ignited India’s passion for cricket. For the first time, India had a cricketer who was truly the world’s best. This inspired millions of cricketers to play cricket. A few years later Kapil Dev made his debut. Finally India had a world class batsman and a world class bowler. Indian cricket was at an all time high.

Gavaskar not backing down to Lillee and that too in Australia may have been a bad sporting moment but it had made him popular with the masses. My father told me when a picture of Gavaskar’s confrontation with Lillee was published in the newspapers, most of the students in his college were delighted that an Indian had the guts to stand up to an Australian(Not a racist post. It was just 30 years since Independence and we had a colonial mindset). It was a time of turmoil for India as then PM Indira Gandhi had just imposed Emergency for 3 years. And Gavaskar not backing down symbolised a new Indian fighting back.

Then 1983 happened. The 1983 win skyrocketed cricket’s popularity to the stratosphere. Soon Gavaskar and Kapil retired. Sachin picked up exactly where Gavaskar left. Sachin was the first cricketer to earn a hundred million dollars and paved the way for future millionaires in cricket.


India’s clout in cricket in the 1990s may have coincided with Sachin’s rise to the top but the seeds of modern Indian cricket were planted by another short man from Bombay two decades back.

 

[Burgey]

I don’t know about Gavaskar not backing down to Lillee. He averaged 20 in the only series he played a full strength Australian attack here, so I don’t know that he had a great deal of room to move tbh.

I appreciate your sentiments and he was certainly a fine player, but I’m not entirely sure how you’ve answered my query about how tendulkar went on to change cricket itself, as great a player as he was.

 

[ma1978]

Tendulkar brought real money into the game of cricket, as he was the first real superstar of post liberalization India. You can argue about whether this would have happened anyway (I think the rest of the Indian team was so bad in the 1990s it may notr) and whether it's a good thing (for all the issues, I think it is). That is a massive impact on the game and commercially more than any player since Bradman. He also did it while demonstrating the highest playing standards.

I also think the longevity is important. Tendulkar bridged the AB, Viv era with the Smith, Kohli era. ATG players like Warne, Lara, Ponting came and went and he was still there, and I think that exemplifies crickets enduring nature.

Finally, he was the instrumental factor in making India a top tier team. With the decline of West Indies and Pakistan, it's a very good thing for the game to have another top side.

I'd say for these factors he truly changed cricket. This applies whether he was the best since Bradman (which I believe for his longevity and consistency) organic another ATG player.

 

[harsh.ag]

 

[Starfighter]

Gavaskar’s debut and the twin wins in WI & Eng ignited India’s passion for cricket.

Lol bullshit. India were so enthusiastic for cricket pre-Gavaskar that in 1967 against WI there were so many excess spectators at Eden Gardens that they were invading the playing area. Then there was police charge, a riot and the usual attempt to burn the place down. I've watched most of the available footage of Indian Cricket prior to the 1970 on newsreels etc. and believe me they still packed the stadiums.

 

[honestbharani]

There is a difference between wanting to watch cricket and play cricket, mate. Gavaskar inspirted the next generation of batsmen in India. You really cannot argue that. Almost everyone from the next generation have talked about this.

 

[Burgey]

Yesssssss

 

[Burgey]

Why not ? First cricketer to 10000 test runs, scored 34 tons which was the highest for a very long time and many around that time thought it will be difficult to break. He raised the bar pretty high which was of course raised further but some 2 decades after he retired.

I was talking about tendulkar, but it applies to both. Each of them great players but the idea they “took cricket itself” further is just kind of, well, not true. Sort of reeks of the “Warne saved spin bowling” trope.

 

[NotMcKenzie]

There is a difference between wanting to watch cricket and play cricket, mate. Gavaskar inspirted the next generation of batsmen in India. You really cannot argue that. Almost everyone from the next generation have talked about this.

That's extremely pedantic: people would hardly not be passionate about a sport and still turn out in droves to its matches.

Gavaskar would have been inspiring in the same way Bradman or Smith or Benaud or Compton would have been inspiring, perhaps putting new life into something that was flagging, but that happens all the time. Cricket in those countries probably would have gone on afterwards, rising and falling in popularity as it has throughout history, and each such 'revival' has its heroes.

 

[Logan]

No cricketer including Don Bradman had a bigger impact on modernising the game of cricket than Sachin.


Cricket changed forever the moment Sachin Tendulkar signed a $7.5 million contract way back in 1995. Lokesh Sharma, India’s leading sports consultant said "Sachin would be earning thrice as much as all the cricketers combined in the history of Indian cricket."

For the first time, BCCI realised that cricket was a goldmine waiting to be untapped. Few years after Sachin’s contract; various cricketers began signing contracts worth millions of dollars. Today when cricketers sign contracts of millions of dollars for a weeks of IPL, they can thanks the Sachin for showing there was money making potential in cricket.

There is a difference between wanting to watch cricket and play cricket, mate. Gavaskar inspirted the next generation of batsmen in India. You really cannot argue that. Almost everyone from the next generation have talked about this.

This

 

[Logan]

That's extremely pedantic: people would hardly
not be passionate about a sport and still turn out in droves to its matches. .

A single sportsperson can make a huge difference to a sport in a country. Like Gavaskar in India, Imran in Pakistan and Ranatunga in SL. Cricket in those respective countries saw a drastic rise in popularity due to them.

Gavaskar would have been inspiring in the same way Bradman or Smith or Benaud or Compton would have been inspiring, perhaps putting new life into something that was flagging, but that happens all the time. Cricket in those countries probably would have gone on afterwards, rising and falling in popularity as it has throughout history, and each such 'revival' has its heroes.

The period between 1970-1990 was extremely crucial to Indian cricket. Gavaskar, Kapil and the 1983 win started the boom period which Sachin would go on take to the stratosphere the next decade.