Sorry, this is nitpicking. There isn't any other series against Ashwin Jadeja comparable to Smith 2017.
Apparently easier than they believe to get caught up in the moment when you're watching in real time.
What are the other variables? Home pitches, that's what I see as the differentiating factor. Everyone will see it differently. There's a reason why most don't have Sanga top 10 all time.
He got the crucial centuries and runs thats the bottom line, yes, so he had a great series but it is somewhat balanced out by his subsequent series where he barely scored any runs. Had he scored some runs in 2023, Australia may have won the 2nd Test in Delhi and may have won the series too. But he didn't score at all.
Home pitches would literally make Kallis better than almost all SC bats by default, also Ponting, Smith and anyone else who had it easier at home. How far can you take that argument?
Well this argument was simply that Viv is also a tier above Ponting....
It would be great if Ponting could had managed a similar "lucky" series in India; or anywhere away with comparable bowling for that matter. I can't believe I am doing a Smith vs Ponting now....
Oh yes, the age old aggressive bat = superior; he can play spin or swing or not be damned.
Both Sanga and Kallis can play swing and spin well. Like I said, they are near equal on other measures. Hence I go to batting style.
Oh, I thought you were talking about Sanga, Kallis and Ponting....
Finding a game against a strong attack, a game where they needed most of his runs and a game where??? does nothing at all to refute the points that his runs were typically against weak attacks and overkill for results. I'm not claiming all of them.
Clearly you weren’t around, for a long time when Ponting, Sachin and Lara overlapped, Ponting was the best.
Then Sehwag is an ATG? Right??? I can't think of any batsman more intimidating than Viru; so he surely has to be the best and much better than the likes of the slowpokes Hutton or Gavaskar? Ponting has no ATG series away; and he was very vulnerable against good spinners in any bit of turners. Wasn't particularly good against swing as well. He was good on a flat track and good in bouncy pitches; but that doesn't pushes him above Sanga and Kallis.
Did you ever watch him play?
Short answer or long answer?? Short is yes. Long is that doesn't count. The real answer is doesn't matters. He doesn't have nowhere a good record anything close to Steve Smith.
At this stage of his career, he had a much better track record and of course you could cherry pick individual series etc but that’s not sound. He also played at a high standard for longer and achieved more.
High standard of those flat beds and those dangerous line-ups with England having Flintoff as the best ball, Kumble being India's almost sole ball, South Africa being carried by Pollock and the extremely mid attacks of New Zealand and post Wasim Pakistan. Cherry pick some individual away tours of Ponting then; show us how good of a player of spin he was. Or of swing.
But its crazy to rate Viv around there.
I agree he is too 5 likely too 3