Saeed Anwar vs. Virender Sehwag

[silentstriker]

Plus, by the ODI series, the mystery was starting to be eroded quickly.

 

[Furball]

And funnily enough, the 2 batsmen he'd caused the most problems to - Laxman and Dravid - weren't in the ODI squad.

 

[chicane]

But he didn't "own" that lineup. Sehwag in particular, Gambhir and Tendulkar were relatively untroubled.

13 of his 26 wickets were numbers 7 or less, Sehwag and Ganguly were never dismissed by him and Tendulkar just once.

True, but I can't think of another spinner who caused as much trouble (even more so than Saqlain and Murali). It's not really over stating it. The only time I've seen him bowl is the Asia cup final, and he had them clueless. Whatever may have happened to him later, for that while he was probably more lethal than any others have been.

 

[Sir Alex]

So you would say Mendis in SRI 01 was more deadly to IND, than Murali IN SRI 2001?



But in another thread you told me that you reckoned Murali was not at his peak, rather than Mendis genuinely outbowling him.





Murali 23 @ 19 in that 01 series (although Tendy didn't play not sure if he would have made HUGE difference then tbf) is comparable.

1. Read again Aussie please. I said mendis of 2008 was much bigger threat than Murali of 2001.

2. Of course Murali of 2008 was not Murali of 2001. However he was still by miles better than any supporting bowler in 2001. This meant mendis had to compete with Murali to earn his wickets and he did it superbly.

3. Had Tendulkar played that, he definitely would have made a huge difference. Have a look at his performances against SL. Except for one series in 2008, he did always superbly against them, (except 2005 when he did only average against SL). Also tendulkar was in his peak in 2001.

 

[Sir Alex]

But he didn't "own" that lineup. Sehwag in particular, Gambhir and Tendulkar were relatively untroubled.

13 of his 26 wickets were numbers 7 or less, Sehwag and Ganguly were never dismissed by him and Tendulkar just once.

I disagree with this. mendis indeed owned Dravid and laxman and did trouble ganguly. The fact why openers did reasonably well in that series is that they got to face the pace bowlers more than the middle order. Also by the time middle order came into bat, the menu was in place, a not new ball, spinning turf and Mendis and Murali operating from both ends. The only middle order batsman who did well against Mendis was tendulkar. Even he could not prevent an lbw in the final innings of that series. 13 wickets of 26 wickets were no.7 and below. So what? That means 50% of his wickets were of the top order which is brilliant enough for a spinner. Especially when he was sharing the attack with Murali, a master.

 

[SJS]

I started writing on this thread this morning. Then the post became too long and i decided to do a feature. It should be up soon.

Virender Sehwag – Redefining Test Batsmanship​

Look Out

 

[Xuhaib]

I still believe Mends recent decline is more due to bad bowling/loss of form then mystery being solved.

 

[Shri]

I started writing on this thread this morning. Then the post became too long and i decided to do a feature. It should be up soon.

Virender Sehwag – Redefining Test Batsmanship​

Look Out

Looking forward to it.

 

[Cruxdude]

I still believe Mends recent decline is more due to bad bowling/loss of form then mystery being solved.

I have been wondering about it and am not too sure. It is going to be tough for him to come back strongly after the recent poundings. Will be a test of his mental strength.