KP vs AB: Who was the better test bat?

[Gob]

AB

Why is this even a question?

We are comparing two players with 3 run average difference, Lets not make AB something he could have been

KP shred McGrath, Warne, Murali, Steyn, Herath in Sri Lanka and Indian spinners in India to pieces more than once. KP on his day was Lara like

Never seen anyone treating Steyn like this (Clarke at cape town comes close) when the ball actually swung.

 

[subshakerz]

AB was a bit of a downhill skier in tests tbh

Yeah that was my perception as well. He cashed in a lot for having Smith, Kallis and Amla batting before him. Having said that, I do recall several innings where he shined when the others failed too, particularly when Mitch Johnson was running rampant over SA.

 

[subshakerz]

The thing that makes it close to me is that KP had a very impressive showing against McGrath and Warne, home and away, early in his career, and has peaks including his 149 against Steyn, 186 in India and 227 in Australia where he dominated good bowling or difficult conditions.

 

[Daemon]

He cashed in a lot for having Smith, Kallis and Amla batting before him

I mean these three were always scoring runs tbf, it's not his fault he batted after them and there already was a platform set most of the time he walked to the crease.

It's not like his numbers dipped after they started retiring/Amla started becoming awful.

 

[Gob]

The thing that makes it close to me is that KP had a very impressive showing against McGrath and Warne, home and away, early in his career, and has peaks including his 149 against Steyn, 186 in India and 227 in Australia where he dominated good bowling or difficult conditions.

God no that was downhill skiing at its finest. There are number KP innings id put ahead of that

 

[Gob]

I mean these three were always scoring runs tbf, it's not his fault he batted after them and there already was a platform set most of the time he walked to the crease.

It's not like his numbers dipped after they started retiring/Amla started becoming awful.

Sort of.

Averaged 45 afterwards and should be a lot less if you overlook cashing in on West Indies. But he did play in some very difficult conditions in that period.

 

[subshakerz]

God no that was downhill skiing at its finest. There are number KP innings id put ahead of that

Fair enough but a double ton in Australia is still a decent notch on his belt.

 

[Flem274*]

AB late career had a terrible conversion rate. I was doing some unrelated stats stuff and noticed he had something like 2 tons and 14 fifties from a solid number of tests.

 

[Daemon]

Since the start of 2014 to the end of his career he only played 25 games. Averaged 47 with 4 tons and 12 50s in 43 innings. Saved his A game for Australia during this period.

Admittedly this is lower than what I thought, though as Gob acknowledges he did play in some very challenging conditions which skews the small sample size.

 

[Chrish]

It’s true that AB cashed in against weak teams; filled his boots against WI like no tomorrow but he was most effective in tough conditions. His 50s in tough conditions were sometimes more valuable than big 100s. India’s last tour to RSA comes to mind. He scored 50 in first two low scoring games that set the tone for RSA series win. Prior to that series, he also scored couple of 50s in really low scoring games when India prepared dustbowls in that famous controversial series.

These kind of performances stand out and he has quite a few of those.

 

[Prince EWS]

He cashed in with some easy runs early-mid career a lot, especially when Amla was at his peak and he would come in with no pressure. Once Kallis/Smith retired and Amla declined, he played a lot more of those special innings that he was always capable of.

Yeah his reputation as a downhill skiier didn't come from a perception that he only scored runs on roads, it came from a perception that he usually only scored them when his team was on top.

I don't really put as much stock in those sort of criticisms as many people do but I do think there was some truth to it earlier in his career. He certainly put it to bed later on though.

 

[Spikey]

I mean, AB finished his test career by completely destroying the Australian cricket team. it's a slam dunk for the New Real AB

 

[Spikey]

Although AB finished his test career by creating Tim Paine, Test Capain, a sin that not even KP is guilty of

 

[honestbharani]

Although AB finished his test career by creating Tim Paine, Test Capain, a sin that not even KP is guilty of

I believe you misspelled win there.

 

[Bijed]

It’s true that AB cashed in against weak teams; filled his boots against WI like no tomorrow but he was most effective in tough conditions. His 50s in tough conditions were sometimes more valuable than big 100s. India’s last tour to RSA comes to mind. He scored 50 in first two low scoring games that set the tone for RSA series win. Prior to that series, he also scored couple of 50s in really low scoring games when India prepared dustbowls in that famous controversial series.

These kind of performances stand out and he has quite a few of those.

Yeah, in the time I spent paying close attention to his career (so the later third of this career really), AB so often seemed to do that thing of looking a class above in tough conditions. Maybe it's not unfair to expect a great player to manage a couple more genuinely big scores in those kind of conditions than he did, so I'm ok with people marking him down for that if they want, he certainly didn't go missing in those situations.

Without checking stats, KP might possibly have the edge specifically in terms of the number of big scores in tough conditions than AB, but AB was comfortably more reliable in such situations imo.

As a more general point, cashing in when the going is easy shouldn't be held against a player who also performs when things are tougher.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

KP needs to make an Afrikaans pop hit to get anywhere close

 

[Bahseph]

Having watched both KP and ABDV throughout their careers I really wouldn't hold it against anyone for choosing either of them here.

KP had some of the most unbelievable innings I've ever seen. And his memorable innings were usually big hundreds. ABDV sometimes made batting look unbelievably easy. Against peak MJ,on those dustbowls in India in 2015 or those greentops SA served up under Otis Gibson. I still wish he stuck around a little longer in the Test arena for SA.

 

[SteveNZ]

Don't really get the 'AB and it's not close' posts. I can only presume that's owing to KP's personality. Which he continues to exhibit as Z-grade.

KP did it all, and in all conditions. The only thing that held him back was that he was a massive prick.

 

[Gob]

Don't really get the 'AB and it's not close' posts. I can only presume that's owing to KP's personality. Which he continues to exhibit as Z-grade.

KP did it all, and in all conditions. The only thing that held him back was that he was a massive prick.

Yeah he always somehow got backed in to a corner and made it look like he is the victim and its him vs the world. But the fun part is he always seems to come triumphant. It was always great theatre with KP. Had they picked him for 15 ashes on the back of that triple for Surrey, I have no doubt he would have orchestrated a similar redemption story. Such an enigma

 

[Gob]

Wish I could know what was going through Taylor Swift's mind here