What made the mid-1980s Indian ODI team so good?

[h_hurricane]

Srikanth and Greatbatch were the ultimate ODI hacks. Would throw the bat at the ball more often than not but wouldn't connect it that often. The highlights pattern would show only the balls which they connected, giving us the impression that they gunned it in ODIs Observed the pattern of their innings a lot in 1991-92 India tour of down under and the subsequent WC. Their strike rate would have been a good deal better if they could rotate the strike more often.

Another opener who was very poor in rotating the strike was Ganguly, but he would at least look solid in ODIs, not look like getting out every other ball.

Ravi Shastri had the above attribute, additionally, he would hardly hit a boundary. In the famous India vs WI tied match in 1991-92, he scored 33 of 110 balls. The first boundary of the innings was scored in the 25th over.

 

[TheJediBrah]

people were still figuring out the one day game back then. you had jokers like Geoff Marsh who had a 55 SR considered a very good ODI player.

that's why Srikkanth and Greatbach were seen as exciting. And why Richards, Abbas, Jones, Dev were exceptions

also that SRs were lower for openers and went up in the middle orders. So their SRs were seen as quite high. And why that Tendulkar knock when he first opened the batting at a 150 SR was so revolutionary

shots fired

I must have missed when Sachin was regularly striking at 150

 

[harsh.ag]

He's talking about his first game opening I think. 82(49) against NZ

 

[TheJediBrah]

anyway I like the cut of his jib

 

[Red]

well I was born in '91 so i've only had highlights to go by, but I've seen a few innings by him. I watched his 146 against Australia just yesterday. He looks great sure. Great power, dismissive, effortless style, big hits, takes on Merv - the commentators gush over him as if he's a god and this is a standard Viv innings - one you might get 2-3 times a series. However it was one of only 16 times he passed 100 in about 100 tests and 14 years from 77-91 - this is where i take issue

I just feel when he was on he must have made memories that lasted for the ages but there must have been a lot of failures/inconsequential innings in between, considerably moreso than Sachin, Hobbs, Smith etc going by some of his stats.

I wouldn't be suprised if his % of single digit scores over his career was quite a bit higher than Sachin, Hobbs, etc - all those blokes in the conversation for number 2

maybe i'll try and find those numbers soon

I've captained a lot of club 3rds/2nds cricket over the last few years, not completely crap cricket but a mix up of guys who are past it with guys who never were and colts coming thru. There's been a few occasions where we've played against someone who is clearly a 1s cricketer, and on one occasion we played against a young guy who was actually a premier cricketer and had played a little bit of state cricket, but magically appeared in his local club's 3rds team when they were a chance of playing finals and their first and seconds weren't. This guy in particular absolutely carved us up. He made 160 in not many overs and balls were ****ing going everywhere. Our fieldsmen were slightly intimidated at the velocity this guy was hitting balls at. And there was literally nothing we could do to stop him or even slow him down. Our best bowlers were just getting treated with absolute disdain and he seemed to be able to hit any ball anywhere he wanted to.

Honestly, that's what Viv looked like sometimes at test level.

 

[Red]

woah a batting average of 30

run for the hills bowlers Kapil's gon' get ya!

Dude. A batting average of 30, at a SR of 95, coming in at 6 or 7, in the era Kapil played in, is a HELL of a thing. It's really not something to be scoffed at. During Kapil's era, no one of any significance came anywhere near Kapil's SR of 95 in ODIs, Viv was next best with 90 but the majority of batsmen in the 80s/early 90s had SRs in the 50s - 70s.

 

[mr_mister]

Dude. A batting average of 30, at a SR of 95, coming in at 6 or 7, in the era Kapil played in, is a HELL of a thing. It's really not something to be scoffed at. During Kapil's era, no one of any significance came anywhere near Kapil's SR of 95 in ODIs, Viv was next best with 90 but the majority of batsmen in the 80s/early 90s had SRs in the 50s - 70s.

That was just me joking