Does Virender Sehwag deserve to be called an ALL TIME GREAT?

[Spark]

Such liberal use of the term 'all time great' makes me uneasy.

Yeah agreed.

 

[benchmark00]

There hasn't been a big difference in his footwork, IMO, think he's just been leaning back on the ball more than usual, his balance has been off.

Yep, I was watching the first innings with a mate (in b4 not having any m8s) and said exactly the same thing. When he's playing his little wofts outside off stump his weight is going towards square leg. Only one direction the ball can go in, and that's in the air.

 

[Spikey]

No more than Nev does

 

[Cevno]

Just before the tour to Australia he made a 200 in a one day game. Was clearly striking the ball well.

He didn't need to move his feet that much in that knock, tbf. That is pretty much the only major knock he has played since coming back too.

 

[HeavyBall]

Depends on your definition of all time great really...
All time great batsman in terms of exciting, destructive and entertaining batsmanship? Yes
All time great against spin? Hell yes
All time great in subcontinent conditions? Yup
All time great Indian/ Asian batsman? Arguably in the top 10
Has he played any great innings? Yup, plenty, the Galle double hundred, his triples, the madcap 80 odd in that great runchase against England was special too

All time great test batsman? Hmmm, not quite, but lets just say he's overrated by the general public, and underrated on the internet. He's still an asset to the team, he just cant adapt to all conditions, which is not something everyone can do

It HARDLY matters how good he is against spin.

Great players are those who play swing and pace well.....

I can't remember any legendary batsman struggling against spin.

 

[Pothas]

As I said I think the category Is totally meaningless but I do think Sehwag is fairly extraordinary. He may be flawed batsman in many ways, you may even call him a flat track bully, but my god what a good one he is.

 

[Howe_zat]

Pothas, you should know that appreciating a cricket for their uniqueness, effectiveness, entertainment or interest is besides the point, and all that matters is whther or not they fit into some sort of tier you arbitrarily decided on 5 minutes ago.

 

[GarlicWoodBat]

ive no idea what all time great means.Its a fairly meaningless term.He is an overrated batsman who struggles against high quality bowling in helpful conditions.People may point to 100s in bloemfontein,nottingham,gros islet,malbourne and adelaide but these were all on placid tracks with little in them for the bowlers.any which way youre talking about 5 or 6 innings in a 100 test career.His style of play is not unique as his fans will have you believe.richards,gayle,warner,gilchrist play/ed in the same manner.He is an exciting batsman to watch on placid tracks and will go down as an entertainer.

 

[Arachnodouche]

Funny thing being he probably doesn't give a hoot if he goes down as an ATG or just another hack. He'll keep playing the same way till there's enough clamor for him to get dropped. So in that regard, in terms of sheer mental imperviousness coupled with general statistics, I'd say he's an ATG. There's no pretense to him, it's "just the way he plays". And this is just the romantic in me but I have a lot of time for someone in this day and age who has the stuff (or lack thereof) to just go out and do their thing. You either accept him, warts and all, or you go look for a more sedate bat.

 

[Agent Nationaux]

He has been a great servant for Indian cricket and that is all that matters.

 

[kingkallis]

He is way too much of an eye-hand combination kind of player hence he is always going to struggle on bouncy turfs.

And yeah he was never considered to be an ATG material at least on CW. Maybe some other ( website ) fan bois must have labeled him as an ATG!

 

[Cevno]

He may struggle on seaming, swining turfs etc.. but he is a great player on other type of surfaces such as those with uneven bounce, Spin and even reverse.

For example for the type of surface that was there in the first test between Pakistan and England recently, there is no opener i would take ahead of him. And for everyone saying flat flat track track, not every pitch that doesn't have grass or swing seams is equal to a flat track automatically.
His knock of 201* at Galle for once may not have come on a classic CW "tough" wicket that swings and seams, but it was a wicket on which was turning, slow and even uneven. And the knock was against Mendis still new and in top form and also Murali.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

No. Can't be an all time great with such a flaw in your game as you haven't conquered all conditions.

 

[social]

His lack of footwork this series has been interesting to say the least. I've seen little footwork before, but absolutely none is certainly different to watch.

I saw a replay of one attempted attacking shot where there was literally none, not even a miniscule transfer of weight

I picked up a tennis racquet and tried to replicate it and it was actually harder to remain completely still than move

Anyway, the most disappointing thing about this series has been his attitude

IMO, Pattinson got inside his head in Melbourne very early on and he batted without any discipline whatsoever until Perth

By that time it was too late and culminated with the shot today which has to be amongst the worst I have ever seen

What's more, it was the second time in the match where he had been dismissed by a full toss

Many tst batsmen never get dismissed by one during their careers let alone 2 in a match

 

[Prince EWS]

Depends how long he plays on and what he does in that time.

If he retired now then I'd say definitely not, tbh. He was/is a very good player but if he retired now he'd fall short of all-time greatness.

 

[Uppercut]

Sehwag's nothing special, he's just another one of those openers that regularly score double hundreds inside a couple of sessions of a test match.

 

[sledger]

Sehwag's nothing special, he's just another one of those openers that regularly score double hundreds inside a couple of sessions of a test match.

Yeah, I agree. His average makes him appear considerably better than he actually is.

 

[Shri]

Who cares how anyone else perceives him to be? First Indian opener ever who made me sit down and watch a whole day of a test match without missing a ball. Best entertainer of his generation in test cricket when he gets going imo.

 

[sledger]

Being entertaining doesn't equate to greatness though.

 

[Shri]

Yeah it doesn't ****.