Is SKY the new ABdV?

[chris.hinton]

The Answer is clearly no. Sky is a decent slogger. ABDV was an awesome batsman

 

[Everton Seymour]

De Villiers has a 31 ball international hundred but he also has a 220 ball 30 to save a Test match. Yadav couldn't do that in his wildest dreams .

 

[Bolo.]

First time I’ve heard a bloke with a SR of 60 being described as an eyesore to watch tbh.



AB’s career was literally only 15 months longer than Smith’s and Smith still played more tests than him. AB played only 22 tests on these spicy pitches post Smith (missing 15), and was outperformed by Amla, Elgar and Faf during that period, all of whom played more tests.

Clearly an overrated downskier who only scored so well because he came in after Smith, Amla and Kallis in their primes.

First time I've heard anyone describe Smith's batting as anything other than ugly... not that it impacts how good he was.

22 tests is a reasonable chunk of career. Includes some real rough times for batting like India 15 and RSA 18.

Na, the other guys didn't outperform him. It's not even close. He did well downhill skiing. And when the rest of the order was strong and failed. And when the order was weaker, just not so much at the very start of his career.

No problem with ranking Smith ahead. Opening is harder. But AB at times opened, kept wicket and played in tougher conditions. Collectively, it's a ton of tests.

 

[Coronis]

First time I've heard anyone describe Smith's batting as anything other than ugly... not that it impacts how good he was.

22 tests is a reasonable chunk of career. Includes some real rough times for batting like India 15 and RSA 18.

Na, the other guys didn't outperform him. It's not even close. He did well downhill skiing. And when the rest of the order was strong and failed. And when the order was weaker, just not so much at the very start of his career.

No problem with ranking Smith ahead. Opening is harder. But AB at times opened, kept wicket and played in tougher conditions. Collectively, it's a ton of tests.

And in those “tougher” conditions he didn’t stand out compared to his peers, and played far less tests than them during that period. Him keeping wicket has nothing to do with it, we’re talking about batting here.

 

[Jack1]

De Villiers whilst terrible on the eye was an all format ATG in terms of end product. Yadav is a t20i player. He has had a great purple patch in the format but can’t be compared to De Villiers

 

[Bolo.]

And in those “tougher” conditions he didn’t stand out compared to his peers, and played far less tests than them during that period. Him keeping wicket has nothing to do with it, we’re talking about batting here.

Why do you think he didn't stand out? He averages more than anyone else, and was clearly a class above to anyone watching a lot of the time.

Fatigue is a thing. Practice is a thing. Keeping is a bit like batting- it makes the job harder. You can't say for sure that a bat would score higher in the middle or without the gloves, but it's likely.

 

[Coronis]

Why do you think he didn't stand out? He averages more than anyone else, and was clearly a class above to anyone watching a lot of the time.

Fatigue is a thing. Practice is a thing. Keeping is a bit like batting- it makes the job harder. You can't say for sure that a bat would score higher in the middle or without the gloves, but it's likely.

Elgar, Amla and du Plessis all have similar averages and all were much more available during that period.

Yes keeping probably makes the batting harder. But it doesn’t make me rate Gilchrist or Flower any higher as a batsman, nor anyone else. Its all hypothetical, I can only judge a player on what they actually achieved, not what might’ve been.

 

[Bolo.]

Elgar, Amla and du Plessis all have similar averages and all were much more available during that period.

Yes keeping probably makes the batting harder. But it doesn’t make me rate Gilchrist or Flower any higher as a batsman, nor anyone else. Its all hypothetical, I can only judge a player on what they actually achieved, not what might’ve been.

You have already marked him down for availability by commenting on the number of tests he played post-Smith being low.

When he played he averaged a fair bit more than everyone else, and was better by a fair degree more than the delta in averages suggests- streets ahead in the challenging series, and a little meh in the easy ones.

Ya, it seems a bit weird to give a WK extra credit in the batting. Batting position is really the main argument in favour of Smith though. Feels a bit like marking a WK down for batting in the middle, when they can't bat at the top. With the workload thing, it's not a question with a clean answer.

 

[halba]

nope ABDV is one of the greatest batsman ever produced in this sport in all formats. Im a big fan of ABDV, sad he retired young.
average 50 in all formats- thats one of the great legends in this sport- against top quality bowlers as well.

I'd probably rank him slightly above sachin tendulkar if you count all 3 formats and average the score, as he was in a winning team. If you count tests only, probably Tendulkar and Kallis above him.

This yadav guy- is over hyped. only 34 AVE in Odi.