13 overrated players of the last 20 odd years

[luckyeddie]

Flintoff is overrated.
He is a decent allrounder currently and i would put him in the same bracket as Chris Cairns, atleast as far as Tests go and a couple of notches below Botham/Hadlee/Kapil Dev/Vinoo Mankad/Tony Greig.

He has a long way to go to match some of the great allrounders in the game - Imran Khan, Sobers, Keith Miller, etc, let alone Sobers.

But the way he is hyped, you'd think he bowls like Imran and bats like Sobers......

First time in this thread for me.....

There's a lot of fair comment in what you say - apart from the fact that you consistently rubbish cricketers from any year before (pick a year), consequently any comparison you make must be taken with a pinch of salt.

All I'll say about Flintoff is that he deserves comparison with Botham, and he's better than anyone Australia have got.

That's good enough for me.

 

[luckyeddie]

Unfortunately people who base their opinions after looking at averages @howstat.com wont understand why Aravinda is a great batsman.

'Great' is a most over-used word on this forum, but let's keep things in perspective.

Aravinda was not a 'great' player, by any stretch of the imagination, and trying to establish that point by comparing him to Atherton and Gooch is flawed, because neither of those ought to be described as 'great' either.

What he did do, though, was help to establish Sri Lanka as a major force in world cricket - in that aspect, he can be said to have made a 'great' contribution.

 

[Eclipse]

8 games is more than enough to realise that hes been useless in those conditions. and if hes improved, then he needs to prove it, because until then it cant be assumed that he has.

In those same conditions in Sri Lanka he has been fine.

hes had one good series against murali, and as such i wont be convinced that he can play murali on a turner until he does it again.

one ?? his last series against him was good as well, okay he only averaged mid 30s for the series but his play of Murili was very good. Also he looked very good against him in the super series and always has in ODI's

yes seeing as how hes only played about 3 quality spin bowlers in his entire career.

I can think of more.

 

[gs_86]

'Great' is a most over-used word on this forum, but let's keep things in perspective.

Aravinda was not a 'great' player, by any stretch of the imagination, and trying to establish that point by comparing him to Atherton and Gooch is flawed, because neither of those ought to be described as 'great' either.

What he did do, though, was help to establish Sri Lanka as a major force in world cricket - in that aspect, he can be said to have made a 'great' contribution.

If not great, then Aravinda was certainly a very very good player

Although I'm still laughing from reading JasonM's post

 

[luckyeddie]

If not great, then Aravinda was certainly a very very good player

He was indeed a very good player, especially in comparison to his compatriots. Greatness, though, is a rare bird.

 

[aussie]

-McGrath and S.Waugh are/were talentless thugs.
-Kallis, Ponting and Hayden are boring, boring cricketers.
-Flower thinks he's some revoulutionary with his reverse sweeps, no substance.
-Tendulkar is just one big media driven star, i still like watching him bat but he's not been the best in the world in his era like we get it drummed into our heads.
-Gilchrist is a very ordinary batter when facing quality bowling on a pitch that is doing just a little, and he's never been under much pressure throughout his career, coming in at 6/400+ almost always.
-Pollock, see McGrath but at least he's not a thug.
-Singh, he may go ok in India but he's a shambles anywhere else.
-Pietersen, another media driven star, he is a good batter but some of the praise is going way over the top.
-Harmison, this bloke is very ordinary, sometimes he struggles to pitch the ball on the wicket let alone on a good line and length.

1. thats the most ignorance i've heard in a while

2. Well some people who like to see agressive batsmanship may think Kallis is boring & i wont argue with them but i cant see how he can be overated. I agree that Hayden is overated to an extent but to say he is boring is very bemusing, as for ponting being overated & boring well now i've heard it all

3.i understand what you are saying about Tendulkar being a media driven star but he is by no means overated, the accolades that he gets is rightly deserved come on...

4.Gilchrist doesn't come usually in at 400/6, when he gets out that may be the score though, a lot of times he comes in at 200/5 & totally takes the game from the oppostiotn. Plus its a bit unfair to label as as ordinary as quality bowling after his failures in the ashes, it was the 1st time he confronted such a quality all-round in his carrer, no one knows if more international sides had more quality bowling attacks over the past 6 years if gilly could have been as destructive or not.

5. Nonsense

6.Harbhajan is not as useless overseas as you are trying to say IMO.

7. I dont anyone is really overating KP as yet, but the accolades he is getting to date are deserved IMO.

8.To an extent Harmy is overated but to say he very ordinary is nonsene

 

[tooextracool]

In those same conditions in Sri Lanka he has been fine..

yes in one series. theres obviously a weakness in india whether its because he cant play spin from both ends or from one end, but either way hes weak against spin.

one ?? his last series against him was good as well, okay he only averaged mid 30s for the series but his play of Murili was very good. Also he looked very good against him in the super series and always has in ODI's

ODIs is always different from tests, and as stated earlier i said he has a problem against quality spin on turners.

I can think of more.

go ahead and name them.....

 

[Shahid_Afridi_6]

Flintoff, Butcher and Hussein immediately come to mind.

 

[andyc]

Given his Ashes performance, I don't think Flintoff is that overrated. He really impressed me, as much as I hate him.

 

[Benny2k1]

I dont think Gillchrist is underrated but agree with most of yer picks. Tendulkar is underrated on this board if anything.

Sachin is overated,
is he great? no doubt,
Is he a legand? absolutly!
is he the best player ever, a god, way ahead of lara, waugh, Ponting etc? no:P

 

[Goughy]

Sachin is overated,
is he great? no doubt,
Is he a legand? absolutly!
is he the best player ever, a god, way ahead of lara, waugh, Ponting etc? no:P

I think that is a very fair assessment. Exceptional player that seems to be blindly elevated to divine status by a large section of the worlds population.

 

[tooextracool]

Flintoff, Butcher and Hussein immediately come to mind.

you'd have to be out of your mind if you thought Butcher was overrated. Hes so underrated that hes not even being considered for a place in the side, when he was never dropped ITFP. Hussain too would have been a far far better player if it werent for the fact that he took over the captaincy. He was averaging 13 odd for his first year into captaincy.

 

[SJS]

How can you say ANYONE is over rated?

Over rated by whom?

Let someone rate someone and then we may say he is over rated.

Sachin is God to some so he is over rated (last time I heard God was a piece of snow covered rock somewhere in the Himalayas)

"He is absolutely rubbish and Harbhajan can teach him a thing or two about batting" according to my wife. I would say there is just a hint of under-rating Sachin in her assessment.

I think the usefulness of such a discussion is slightly to greatly over rated

 

[tooextracool]

How can you say ANYONE is over rated?

Over rated by whom?

Let someone rate someone and then we may say he is over rated.

Sachin is God to some so he is over rated (last time I heard God was a piece of snow covered rock somewhere in the Himalayas)

"He is absolutely rubbish and Harbhajan can teach him a thing or two about batting" according to my wife. I would say there is just a hint of under-rating Sachin in her assessment.

I think the usefulness of such a discussion is slightly to greatly over rated

The problem is that your wife is in a minority. The majority of the world do think that hes God or second best to Bradman. With all due respect hes not even close to either one of them.

 

[silentstriker]

The problem is that your wife is in a minority. The majority of the world do think that hes God or second best to Bradman. With all due respect hes not even close to either one of them.

Tendulkar, in my opinion, really is the second or maybe third best batsman. Bradman first, and then debatable. At the worst, I would not place him outside the top five to have ever played.

SHRUG, you can have whaterver opinions you want, but I would easily field him in my all time test and all time ODI sides without blinking. Obviously Sobers and Bradman are the only two no-argument selections, but Tendulkar finds a place comfortably.

 

[Langeveldt]

Tatenda Taibu seems to me to be the most over rated player of the modern era.. Okay, he has had to deal with a lot, and its sad to see him not playing international cricket, but I've seen the guy make many peoples world XI's which to me seems pretty insane when you have cricketers like Gilchrist knocking about.. Okay Taibu is a better keeper, but hes a mediocre batsman for the international game..

Tendulkar, an excellent batsman, but if I had to call an Indian great, it would be Rahul Dravid

 

[silentstriker]

Tendulkar, an excellent batsman, but if I had to call an Indian great, it would be Rahul Dravid

We are not speaking now, but the entire span of their careers.

 

[Anil]

Tendulkar, an excellent batsman, but if I had to call an Indian great, it would be Rahul Dravid

sure, at this point in his career, he is without doubt the third greatest indian batsman ever behind srt and smg...

 

[silentstriker]

sure, at this point in his career, he is without doubt the third greatest indian batsman ever behind srt and smg...

People like Merchant and Ranji might care to disagree. But I agree with you actually.

1) Tendulkar
2) Gavaskar
3) Dravid

Though, Dravid is climbing, and climbing fast. Sachin has ended bowling careers, it wasn't that he averaged a large amount, it was the manner in which he destroyed attacks, all over the world. While Gavaskar and Dravid were accumulators and occupied the crease for longer, they do not get on top of bowling like Sachin did in the 90's.

 

[silentstriker]

I think that is a very fair assessment. Exceptional player that seems to be blindly elevated to divine status by a large section of the worlds population.

Ponting and Lara would not be in my all time XI, tendulkar would.

Aside from the two opening spots, there's only two places for batsman.

1) Opener #1
2) Opener #2
3) Bradman
4) Bat #1
5) Bat #2
6) Sobers
7) WK
8) Bowler
9) Bowler
10) Bowler
11) Bowler

Can Ponting and Lara occupy one of those bats at #4 or #5? Sure, I guess in some ratings they could. But I don't rate either one of them as the top two batsmen of all time, (Bradman/Sobers excluded of course). I'd pretty much HAVE to give that #5 to someone like Viv Richards and so #4 would be Sachin.