shortpitched713
International Captain
One is clearly better than the other. Which is it?
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Gundappa Viswanath vs Ian Bell
- Thread starter shortpitched713
- Start date
Prince EWS
Global Moderator
I was/am a huge Bell fan, but it's Viswanath and it's not close.
Socerer 01
International Captain
Gundappa ftw
trundler
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Was supposed to be an example illustrating what the poll concludes anyway. Put another way, if I'm making a team where the batsman average under 45 it's going to look something like:
Greenidge
Trumper
Hill
Viswanath
Leyland
Cowdrey
A second XI would look like:
Gooch
Hanif
I Chapell
Vengsarkar
Richardson
De Silva
Third XI:
Jayasuriya
Gayle
Boon
R Taylor
Z Abbas
M Waugh
So you'd have to go some way down the list for Bell to make an appearance even relative to blokes with similar records and that's a product of the era he played in. I may have jumbled up pecking order somewhat because I've done this off the top of my head.
Greenidge
Trumper
Hill
Viswanath
Leyland
Cowdrey
A second XI would look like:
Gooch
Hanif
I Chapell
Vengsarkar
Richardson
De Silva
Third XI:
Jayasuriya
Gayle
Boon
R Taylor
Z Abbas
M Waugh
So you'd have to go some way down the list for Bell to make an appearance even relative to blokes with similar records and that's a product of the era he played in. I may have jumbled up pecking order somewhat because I've done this off the top of my head.
Fuller Pilch
Hall of Fame Member
You could actually make pretty decent top 6s for countries with sub 45 players (not picking allrounders & keepers). Some players are a bit out of position though.
Aus
Trumper
Taylor
Hill
Macartney
I Chappell
M Waugh
England
Grace
Gooch
Gower
Cowdrey
Ranjitsinhji
Thorpe
India
Ganguly
Sidhu
Pujara
Armanath
Viswanath
Vengsakar
NZ
Turner
Richardson (or Latham in Asia)
Jones
Taylor
Sutcliffe
Fleming
Pak
Mohsin Khan
Majid Khan
Azhar Ali
Zaheer Abbas
Salim Malik
Asad Shafiq
SA
Taylor
McGlew
Gibbs
Rowan
Cullinan
Prince
SL
Karunaratne
Jayasuriya
Attapattu
Aravinda
Chandimal
Tillakaratne
WI
Greenidge
Gayle
Haynes/Fredericks
Richardson
Kallicharan
Sarwan
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Chin Music
State Vice-Captain
My dad's family who are from Mumbai, were big fans of Viswanath. I have a somewhat love/hate relationship with Bell as many ex cricket247'ers will know. Great to watch when on form but he didn't half find ways to get out when well set that had me actually shaking with rage!
CartyDurham
International Captain
Bell
Coronis
International Coach
There’s always one.
CartyDurham
International Captain
It’s opinion
I’m not a sheep to fall into line
I know that England have never had any good players on this forum
so there you go
trundler
Request Your Custom Title Now!
I'm going to assume you've blocked out Shoaib Mohammad from your memory because of trauma. 5 centuries against NZ in 7 marches. Dominated Hadlee. Strong work otherwise though.
Viswanath for me.
I don't agree with the general CW view of Bell that he was lucky to average what he did- he was anl very fine player.
But Viswanath was better, he was a cracking little player. Also he played at a time when India weren't the batting powerhouse that they've been for the last 30 years or so.
For alot of his career, India's batting revolved around him and Gavaskar. Both were targeted by the opposition and often as soon as Vishy came to the crease, the opposition brought their best bowlers on.
I don't agree with the general CW view of Bell that he was lucky to average what he did- he was anl very fine player.
But Viswanath was better, he was a cracking little player. Also he played at a time when India weren't the batting powerhouse that they've been for the last 30 years or so.
For alot of his career, India's batting revolved around him and Gavaskar. Both were targeted by the opposition and often as soon as Vishy came to the crease, the opposition brought their best bowlers on.
Coronis
International Coach
England have had many good players and many great ones (most a long time ago though).
Since your opinion is so contrary to everyone else here, would you care to elaborate?
CartyDurham
International Captain
“Most a long time ago”
does that ignore Alistair Cook, Joe Root and leading test wicket taker as a fast bowler Anderson?
I’ve made my opinion clear as day.
care to elaborate why you ignore recent England greats ?
CartyDurham
International Captain
See much of him ?
honestbharani
Whatever it takes!!!
Gundappa literally means fatty in my first language. He will always be a favorite even if he was not a great test batsman. The fact that he was just makes it better. 
Coronis
International Coach
Yes, most a long time ago. Hobbs, Sutcliffe, Hammond, Hutton, Compton, Barrington, Barnes, Verity, Laker, Trueman, all of whom played at least 55 years ago and are all better than anyone more recent except Botham and perhaps Root.
As shown above, I don’t ignore them, England have just had greater players in the past and very few have come close to matching them in recent times.
All you did was state “Bell” and proceed to get offended when I said most of England’s ATG’s were older players and didn’t elaborate on why you actually think Bell is > Viswanath, contrary to literally everybody else.
Apparently its very inappropriate to ask someone why they think one player is better than another…
a massive zebra
International Captain
Leyland didn't average under 45
Gower has to be in there somewhere surely? I would say he is better than most of your third XI. I believe Ranji was ranked ahead of Hill by contemporaries so he is also a good shout if you are including Hill in your first XI.
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