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Rahul Dravid vs Ab De Villiers

Who is better test batsmen

  • Ab devillers

    Votes: 7 30.4%
  • Rahul Dravid

    Votes: 16 69.6%

  • Total voters
    23

blackdevil95

School Boy/Girl Cricketer
If Aus score 400 and bowl out Ban or WI for 150 and 190, it will be considered as a difficult pitch. A pitch with sub 25 avg.

400 + 150 + 190 = 740 / 30


So this type of analysis is BS because if there is enough discrepancy in the quality between two sides, then the net avg could very easily end up being low.
Check the another link in the comment section where he did only for the team mates exlcuding the opponent team. For eg, SA played against WI, that guy did only for SA batsmen and didn't include WI batsmen. Either way, AB fares much better than any other SA batsman.
 

blackdevil95

School Boy/Girl Cricketer
what's the rationale for De Villiers being a better player of spin?
It's mainly due to technique. In his first tour to Asia which was in Srilanka 2006, he played well when team mates were struggling against Murali and Co. In his last tour to sub continent, which was in India 2015, again he was the best among them. In between those years, he scored two double tons in Asia (The first SA batsman to score 200 in India at that time). He faced Ajmal, Harbhajan, Kumble, Herath in those period and did well. He averages 50+ in Asia in Tests. He just didn't survive, he counter attacked them when team mates were struggling against them. Only a very few can do that. Only in T20s he was not great agains spinners.
 

Johan

International Captain
It's mainly due to technique. In his first tour to Asia which was in Srilanka 2006, he played well when team mates were struggling against Murali and Co. In his last tour to sub continent, which was in India 2015, again he was the best among them. In between those years, he scored two double tons in Asia (The first SA batsman to score 200 in India at that time). He faced Ajmal, Harbhajan, Kumble, Herath in those period and did well. He averages 50+ in Asia in Tests. He just didn't survive, he counter attacked them when team mates were struggling against them. Only a very few can do that. Only in T20s he was not great agains spinners.
Dravid also scored heaps of runs against spinners of the second tier and has a good tour against prime Murali in 2001.
 

BazBall21

International Captain
That's good for my Root agenda, but Inzamam Ul Haq better in tough conditions than Brian Lara? bleh
Lara is obviously better than Inzy but he didn't do great in low scoring games outside Asia. Had technical faults v seam movement&bounce and was often forced to the crease early v the new ball.

Gavaskar scores notably low in that exercise posted by Reddit. The sample sizes aren't ideal though. I get there is security because games as low scoring as the ones included there are almost certainly tough conditions whereas when the match average is only slightly below average it could be that the batsman in question just has a gun bowling attack or the standard of batting throughout the match is dubious etc.
 

Johan

International Captain
Lara is obviously better than Inzy but he didn't do great in low scoring games outside Asia. Had technical faults v seam movement&bounce and was often forced to the crease early v the new ball.

Gavaskar scores notably low in that exercise posted by Reddit. The sample sizes aren't ideal though. I get there is security because games as low scoring as the ones included there are almost certainly tough conditions whereas when the match average is only slightly below average it could be that the batsman in question just has a gun bowling attack or the standard of batting throughout the match is dubious etc.
the large part of what made me drop Gavaskar recently was that a lot of the attacks he faced were second string and his home pitches outside of Eden Gardens were quite unproductive for pace, obviously an elite ATG and a top 10 candidate but I don't really view him as close to BAB tier batters (Sachin, Viv, Sobers) nowadays
 

Srinath P

School Boy/Girl Captain
AB de Villiers IMO.

What's Dravid's best achievement against spin, 2001 vs Murali where he averaged 47? Made runs against Warne only during the period when he had issues with his shoulder. Didn't do particularly well vs Mushtaq who was probably the 3rd best spinner unless I'm forgetting someone.

AB averaged 54 vs Murali in 2006. And he only became a better player of spin after that. And to add to it he has made runs against Ashwin, Kumble, Harbhajan, Lyon, Ajmal, etc who are far superior to the tier 2 bowlers that Dravid succeeded against.

Dravid's record in Australia is pretty much the 2003 series where I guess Brett Lee and Gillespie headed the attack individually. And when they both played together, it was in Sydney.

Dravid was exceptional against swing. Though he averaged only 33 in NZ when Bond played, no body even averages that much when he plays in NZ. So he was pretty good there. And his records in WI and ENG are obviously brilliant.

AB averaged 54 in England. Never faced any strong attacks in NZ so not sure how we would evaluate that. But he did have a brilliant series in 2018 against Bumrah in his debut series and against Cummins-Starc-Hazlewood on tough wickets.

AB gives you versatility in your batting order as well, like, if not for Kallis and Amla, he probably would've batted at 4. So you have a batter who could bat from 4-6, is pretty much great everywhere, and also has a brilliant 4th innings record.

You can only say that Dravid is ahead because of his longevity. But given AB's technique, I'm quite sure that he would've sustained till 36 after which his eyesight was gone.
 

kyear2

International Coach
the large part of what made me drop Gavaskar recently was that a lot of the attacks he faced were second string and his home pitches outside of Eden Gardens were quite unproductive for pace, obviously an elite ATG and a top 10 candidate but I don't really view him as close to BAB tier batters (Sachin, Viv, Sobers) nowadays
Which is all I've been saying all along.

He's not in that BAB category or conversation.
 

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