The greatest cricketers from the subcontinent - how would you rank them?

[Fuller Pilch]

I rank Farok Engineer in my top 5 Keepers of all time. Enough said?

In thar case replace Bari with Engineer and bst him higher.

 

[Anil]

Imran
Murali/Tendulkar
Akram
Gavaskar

 

[Slifer]

Genuinely surprised how almost nobody has put Tendulkar as no.1.

Because he's not a greater cricketer than Imran.

 

[Pap Finn Keighl]

Imran behind Gavaskar? You're reaching there.

Imran received 13 votes in Wisden 5 cricketers of the century.
Gavaskar 12.

 

[Pap Finn Keighl]

I'm sad he's given up on Kapil ahead of Imran.

Kapil Better batsman, far better fielder, better allrounder, better odi cricketer
Imran better test cricketer.

 

[Pap Finn Keighl]

I am going over Gavaskar’s FC games on cricketarchive and every once in a while he pulls out “wow” inning out of nowhere against formidable pace attacks. He was a genius. Below is his last FC game. What a way to end the career!

View attachment 33092

Last test.. 96 runs in a minefield
2nd last ODI.. Fastest century for the country.
Last FC 188 runs against Hadlee, Marshall and Rice.

Gavaskar is the only indian cricketer to retire before becoming useless.

 

[Slifer]

Last test.. 96 runs in a minefield
2nd last ODI.. Fastest century for the country.
Last FC 188 runs against Hadlee, Marshall and Rice.

Gavaskar is the only indian cricketer to retire before becoming useless.

Gavaskar was actually plumb lbw to Marshall in that match but you know he couldn't go out that way. In the 2nd innings, Marshall didn't need the umpire; he bowled Sunny all ends up

 

[Coronis]

Imran received 13 votes in Wisden 5 cricketers of the century.
Gavaskar 12.

Lillee had 19 votes, whats your point?

 

[Pap Finn Keighl]

Lillee had 19 votes, whats your point?

Exactly.
Better the cricketrer.. Lesser the votes
Gavaskar > Imran > Lillee
( some cases may differ ?)

Btw.. Lillee > Imran > Gavaskar is also acceptable.

 

[Johan]

lack of consistency

 

[Migara]

Bias

 

[Prince EWS]

Imran definitely #1, but I find Murali v Tendulkar pretty tough. I could definitely swap them around on another day, but for now I'll go with:

1 Imran
2 Murali
3 Tendulkar
4 Gavaskar
5 Sanga
6 Wasim

 

[subshakerz]

Imran definitely #1, but I find Murali v Tendulkar pretty tough. I could definitely swap them around on another day, but for now I'll go with:

1 Imran
2 Murali
3 Tendulkar
4 Gavaskar
5 Sanga
6 Wasim

I personally have Tendulkar over Murali. Murali's lack of success in Australia is a bit of a downer for me.

 

[Shady Slim]

it’s also just rough and arbitrary to compare an all time great spin bowler with an all time great batsman imho to the extent the only real differentiator is your personal preference

 

[Shady Slim]

like you can obviously say murali is better than marcus harris

but when you’re dealing with two masters of their craft across crafts it’s jungle law

 

[subshakerz]

like you can obviously say murali is better than marcus harris

but when you’re dealing with two masters of their craft across crafts it’s jungle law

They were both masters. Tendulkar to me didn't really leave any challenge unmet by the end of his career, whereas I had that feeling with Murali. Arbitrary, yes, but a distinction.

 

[honestbharani]

For me, Murali is the greatest spinner in the history of the game. So he is a clear #1. I flip around Sachin and Imran for #2 slot though depending on my mood that day.

 

[subshakerz]

For me, Murali is the greatest spinner in the history of the game. So he is a clear #1. I flip around Sachin and Imran for #2 slot though depending on my mood that day.

Murali's competition for no.1 spinner is pretty much only Shane Warne though and then a fair drop after that. On the list of all bowlers, spin and pace, Murali may not rank so high, whereas Tendulkar is a candidate for the best after Bradman.

 

[ankitj]

it’s also just rough and arbitrary to compare an all time great spin bowler with an all time great batsman imho to the extent the only real differentiator is your personal preference

Murali's aggregates are even better than Tendulkar's relative to others in their respective crafts. Tendulkar himself an enormous benchmark on that front. 6 wickets a match and fiver every 2nd test match for 133 tests is just mental, no matter what "holes" in the record exist. That's how I view it. Murali imo is the greatest bowler there has ever been.

 

[smash84]

Murali's aggregates are even better than Tendulkar's relative to others in their respective crafts. Tendulkar himself an enormous benchmark on that front. 6 wickets a match and fiver every 2nd test match for 133 tests is just mental, no matter what "holes" in the record exist. That's how I view it. Murali imo is the greatest bowler there has ever been.

I generally rank great fast bowlers > great spinners. Murali is an interesting case because his consistency and sheer number of wickets is just incredible. However Murali's record against India and in Australia is definitely a mark against him and at such a high level (greatest ever) these "holes" will matter. It's still hard to rank Murali and SRT in the greatest SC cricketer. I might choose one of them one day and the other the next.