Pietersen vs Sangakkara

[Plumbinfront]

I had an argument with a friend of mine yesterday. Bloke is admanant that Sangakkara is ''streets ahead'' of Pietersen and he used overall aggregate stats to back up his claim and something about dual duties. Sangakkara's record is bit of a red herring for mine. He has done jack diddly squat in many major test playing countries....crap in India, South Africa, England, West Indies. He has a fair record in Aus but that is the exception rather than the norm. Even Tamim Iqbal bashed England in England (who are a comfortably better proposition to Australia in Australia), doesn't make him greatBeats up his fav Bangers and other mediocre attacks on Galle type pitches. Pietersen on the other hand is an absolute God when he is in. He can destroy any attack anywhere and unlike Sanga doesn't depend only on conditions or beat up crap attacks. Funnily enough, it is the crap attacks that are his undoing more often than not. Also, someone good with statsguru...can you guys please tell me how much Sanga averaged when Mcgrath played and also his overall away average minus Bang.

 

[hendrix]

I have seen Sangakkarra score runs on genuine greentops in NZ against pretty useful seam bowlers. He's scored runs in England too, as well as Aus IIRC.

Streets ahead of Pietersen is true IMO. Yes, Pietersen when in can destroy an attack, but Sangakkarra when in just looks immovable.

 

[Plumbinfront]

Even the likes of Sehwag and Jayawardene who are reknowed FTB's have scored runs outside the SC at some point especially the latter. Sanga was tripe in England...australaia has been acknowledged (kp destroyed attacks in Aus Sanga can dream of.....Sanga was bollocks against Mcgrath and Warne when he played them).

 

[Jono]

Lol at the phrase streets ahead:

 

[hendrix]

Even the likes of Sehwag and Jayawardene who are reknowed FTB's have scored runs outside the SC at some point especially the latter. Sanga was tripe in England...australaia has been acknowledged (kp destroyed attacks in Aus Sanga can dream of.....Sanga was bollocks against Mcgrath and Warne when he played them).

Looking at his record, you're correct that he's been poor in England and has been average in South Africa. However, there are wickets in the subcontinent, particularly Sri Lanka, where the ball does swing a lot. Galle etc is not actually that easy to score runs on when there's some humidity. He's also scored runs against the likes of Waqar Younis and Shoaib Akhtar in Pakistan. While Waqar was admittedly at the end of his career, I don't think you'd ever call that a poor attack.

There are also innings like this one:
1st Test: New Zealand v Sri Lanka at Christchurch, Dec 7-9, 2006 | Cricket Scorecard | ESPN Cricinfo

Scoring 100 out of 170 against a bowling attack of Bond, Martin and Franklin in New Zealand is a very, very good effort. Martin and Franklin might not exactly strike fear into the hearts of batsmen, but that was at a time when they both swung the ball prodigiously and were very good bowlers at home.

Moreover, he's a far better player of spin bowling that Pietersen and has scored runs against bowlers like Kumble, Harbhajan in his prime, Kaneria, Saeed Ajmal, Graeme Swann etc etc.

In summary, he's just a more complete player. He's scored runs on seaming wickets, against good bowling attacks, against reverse swing, against quality spinners etc etc.

 

[kyear2]

K.P for me, can destroy any attack anywhere and Sanga just benefits massively for some of those run fests in Sri Lanka. Both ATG batsmen though

 

[Viscount Tom]

Depends where the team is playing, If its in England or Aus go KP easily. Sanga's never really flourished in England.

 

[Challis]

Sangakkara's record is bit of a red herring for mine. He has done jack diddly squat in many major test playing countries....crap in India, South Africa, England, West Indies. He has a fair record in Aus but that is the exception rather than the norm.......................... also his overall away average minus Bang.

Anyone can pick and choose certain stats and manipulate them to strengthen pretty much any argument:

Pietersen's record is a bit of a red herring for mine. He has done diddly squat in many major test playing countries....crap in Pakistan, New Zealand, terrible in South Africa and Abysmal in the UAE (against Pakistan). In fact Pietersen's average in the UAE (against Pakistan) is 11 compared to Sangakarra's average of 86... etc, etc

See what I did there.

Also if you minus Bangladesh from both players' away average then Sangakarra's overall away average would increase whilst Pietersen's would decrease.

 

[smash84]

Anyone can pick and choose certain stats and manipulate them to strengthen pretty much any argument:

Pietersen's record is a bit of a red herring for mine. He has done diddly squat in many major test playing countries....crap in Pakistan, New Zealand, terrible in South Africa and Abysmal in the UAE (against Pakistan). In fact Pietersen's average in the UAE (against Pakistan) is 11 compared to Sangakarra's average of 86... etc, etc

See what I did there.

Also if you minus Bangladesh from both players' away average then Sangakarra's overall away average would increase whilst Pietersen's would decrease.

 

[Arachnodouche]

Never rated him or his partner in crime. Pietersen has played legendary innings; sure, there has been the romance of the mercurial character associated with them that has enhanced their intrinsic worth. But even removing that, Pietersen is in a league all his own as far as modern players go. Sangakkara, other than the 190 in Hobart, has nothing I can recall.

 

[centurymaker]

Personally I have never rated Mahela nor Sanga too highly for obvious reasons, so KP is ahead imo.

The guy just recently single-handedly turned two games in his country's favour in alien conditions! freak! (one of them turned the series around)

 

[akilana]

Lol single-handedly

 

[centurymaker]

Lol single-handedly

LOOOOOOOOOL
single-handedly TURNED the game around
TURNED!!

 

[Himannv]

Sanga seems the obvious answer despite my bias against him.

 

[Cricketismylife]

Sangakkara is streets ahead and I fail to see how it's even close. He's a far more consistent batsman over a longer period of time and has had the added difficulty of having to keep for 47 tests. As a pure batsman he averages around 68 which is phenomenal.

Also he's played as many matchwinning/match saving innings as KP which have slipped under the radar due to playing for a small team like Sri Lanka. A prime example of such an innings is the 211 against Pakistan in the UAE. He was facing an attack similar to the one that Pietersen was unable to handle and averaged 10 against, and managed to save the game when at one point SL were 5 wickets down in second innings and still 120 runs behind. But this innings generated very little media attention.

 

[Cricketismylife]

K.P for me, can destroy any attack anywhere and Sanga just benefits massively for some of those run fests in Sri Lanka. Both ATG batsmen though

KP doesn't even average 50 in a period where there are so many players with that achievement. If Sanga benefits massively from run fests then I hope you are applying the same standards to Sri Lankan bowlers...must be implying that Murali is a lot better than Warne (better record and had to play half his matches in run and Vaas is much better than Anderson.

 

[Red]

Completely different players. Barely any point comparing them really.

 

[Plumbinfront]

You can bring out an innings here and there all you want. Hughes scored 2 hundreds against Steyn and co in 1 test in RSA, Sehwag smashed Pollock and Ntini on debut in RSA, Tamim Iqbal fought fire with fire against Anderson in full cry in England....list goes on...you could bring out the odd innings for anyone....the point is Jayawardene, Sehwag and Sanga are three 3 biggest FTBD of this generation. sanga in particular relishes a no pressure situation...scoring 100s in dead rubbers or when the series cannot be won or drawn (England for example...by the time he got his 100 SL had no hope of drawing the series).......Sehwag smashed Pak in Pak even better than Sanga....means nothing as Pak tests of late have all been 700 vs 700 borefests. And sanga better than Kp gainst spin? What???? That is the most ridiculous thing I have heard. Kp toyed with murali and warne....sanga struggles against harbhajan in India....case closed.

 

[Satyanash89]

Screw averages. Who cares if Pietersen doesn't average 50...ive considered it a stupid, arbitrary measure of greatness anyway.
Pietersen, over the last 8 years or so has played too many special, match turning innings to even count. He's taken apart McGrath, Warne, Murali, Steyn , four of the greatest bowlers of all time in awe inspiring fashion and changed the course of matches more often than any other batsman this generation. He's a lot like Waqar in the sense that he's not as consistent as others like Sanga. At his peak , Sanga, or any other batsman for that matter, would struggle to bring what he does to the team, like demolishing Steyn at Headingley, or single-handedly set up a winning position on an absolute bunsen (he had no right getting that many runs at that pace). Even in spinning conditions, Pietersen has played some absolute stunners and there's very little to choose between them. Like Waqar though, when it goes wrong for him, like it did in the UAE, it looks awful. But more often than not, he gets it right.


I adore Sanga and he's a definite ATG but he just has never quite done THAT we'll against really good bowlers in alien conditions, apart from a couple of great knocks like the Hobart epic and the recent hundred in SA. He's no Sehwag or Mahela, for certain, and is definitely a very good overseas batsman, but KP's proved it more often against far better bowlers in my opinion. Whether that makes him a better batsman or not is debatable.


I pick Pietersen, but I certainly wouldn't be outraged if someone picked Sangakkara. None of them, is "streets ahead" of the other, that's for sure

 

[dhillon28]

A lot of KP's 'great' innings have come on flat wickets and infact i have seen him look like a wally when faced with lateral movement in the shape of either swing or spin:

Oval 2005 vs Aus: oval is always flat as a pancake, flattest test wicket in Eng by a stretch-not to mention the guy was given about 8 second lives during that innings- could have been out many times

Adelaide 2006: Adelaide- against flattest wicket in Aus

Mohali 2008: very flat wicket again, even flintoff as declining batsmen looked in good nick on that wicket

Adelaide 2010- again, flattest wicket in Aus and batting during the best conditions- only started turing on 2nd session on day 4, by which time he got out to xavier doherty

Mumbai 2012: although indian batsmen played really badly on this track, I would attribute that to poor batting by indians and excellent left arm spin from Monty. I think track was also quite flat- not a rank turner by any means- hence indian spinners couldnt turn it in either innings