KP vs AB: Who was the better test bat?

[Red_Ink_Squid]

KP did copy the honey badger's hairstyle for a while.

 

[Flem274*]

KP gets a lot of credit for "great innings" because his baseline was so much lower than either ABs. For every big Ashes ton there's a solid period of SFA and some sort of scandal to boot.

ABdV has his fair share of great knocks and did the job day in day out too, so he wins this comparison imo.

 

[harsh.ag]

Could peak KP do something peak AB couldn't? Am gonna say no, except for maybe Mumbai 2012.

 

[Shady Slim]

Could peak KP do something peak AB couldn't? Am gonna say no, except for maybe Mumbai 2012.

reach stuff on the highest shelf at the shops tbh

 

[_00_deathscar]

reach stuff on the highest shelf at the shops tbh

Peak KP could definitely be more of a tit.

 

[sunilz]

One could also ask Could KP play innings like Adelaide , Delhi test ?

 

[StephenZA]

But does ABdV have any Ashes tons?!

 

[OverratedSanity]

Surprised how many people think KP is better or even equal tbh. Maybe AB is the answer to who CW underrates most.

 

[karan_fromthestands]

AB === KP for me, both were solid match winners, KP could have done even better if he was handled well by the ECB.

Also, random image of PK being angry.

 

[Howe_zat]

Since it’s tests I’ll say Pietersen edges it. In ODIs then ABDV is miles ahead, which is why I’d expect most to go for the latter on balance.

Given that it’s kinda surprising how clearly ahead KP is on T20Is. Player of the tournament in a victorious world T20 campaign and I’m pretty sure he was the leading run scorer in T20Is for a while. Meanwhile De Villiers never quite did the business in the shortest form outside the IPL.

 

[subshakerz]

Could peak KP do something peak AB couldn't? Am gonna say no, except for maybe Mumbai 2012.

I wonder how well AB would do against a metronome like McGrath, given that he struggled against similar bowlers like Stuart Clark and Asif earlier in his career. I think he would do decently against Warne.

 

[Zinzan]

Surprised how many people think KP is better or even equal tbh. Maybe AB is the answer to who CW underrates most.

What would have surprised to me was if the consensus was stacked in one direction,

 

[ankitj]

Since it’s tests I’ll say Pietersen edges it. In ODIs then ABDV is miles ahead, which is why I’d expect most to go for the latter on balance.

Given that it’s kinda surprising how clearly ahead KP is on T20Is. Player of the tournament in a victorious world T20 campaign and I’m pretty sure he was the leading run scorer in T20Is for a while. Meanwhile De Villiers never quite did the business in the shortest form outside the IPL.

KP should have been ATG in ODIs. That's the impression he gave on his first (or early) tour to SA in bilateral ODI series. Was scoring maniacal hundreds and fifties for fun all through the series.

 

[stephen]

Border, easily.

 

[CodeOfWisden]

Quite surprised by the replies here, I thought KP would be ahead by a clear margin.
Ab devilliers was the 4th best test batsman in his team.
Yes he had an all round game but still didn't have as much of an impact as KP, i rate abdv on par with VVS in tests nothing more.

 

[subshakerz]

Quite surprised by the replies here, I thought KP would be ahead by a clear margin.
Ab devilliers was the 4th best test batsman in his team.
Yes he had an all round game but still didn't have as much of an impact as KP, i rate abdv on par with VVS in tests nothing more.

ABDV was clearly better than VVS. I am surprised KP has so much support.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Hell, this is a clearly unpopular opinion but I'd take vvs over KP tbh. I don't much rate players who debut at their peak had the good fortune of being dropped right as their peak ended and promptly retired. He'd be a low 40s average batsman if he'd been good enough to actually have a 15 year career like vvs did.

 

[Uppercut]

If you were to describe what makes a batsman good to watch, you'd end up describing something close to KP. He looked to score runs quickly, and had a technique that was stylistically distinctive and interesting without being obviously flawed. And he was confrontational, so you usually got a bit of drama too. I can understand why people prefer him, but it's easy to forget that he went through some pretty lean streaks. In particular it took quite a while for him to adjust after Jerome Taylor figured out that you could sneak a yorker past his high backlift.

De Villiers wasn't perfect, but there aren't many batsmen who put the team above their individual record to the same extent as him, not in my time watching cricket anyway. Most players can either go up a gear or down a gear when the situation demands it, but not many can do both. Ben Stokes is the other one I would say the same about, maybe I'm forgetting someone obvious but I can't think of any others. KP, absolutely not.

So I think De Villiers's average understates how good he was, possibly by quite a lot. And yet it's still quite a bit higher than KP's. Hence I wouldn't have said this was close.

 

[Raz0r6ack]

Record against bowlers who averaged 25 or below since 2000:

Pietersen 3594 runs @ 43.30, 10 hundreds

de Villiers 2347 runs @ 40.46, 3 hundreds

 

[Teja.]

Hell, this is a clearly unpopular opinion but I'd take vvs over KP tbh. I don't much rate players who debut at their peak had the good fortune of being dropped right as their peak ended and promptly retired. He'd be a low 40s average batsman if he'd been good enough to actually have a 15 year career like vvs did.

Yeah, he averages 50~ post 2000 over 12 years and 118 tests which is longer than both most careers, along with averaging 54 v Australia.

His average is only 46 because he was picked really young and made to bat in a position (opening) that he sucked in and hated so much that he asked the selectors to not select him again till he could bat in the middle order.