Is Virender Sehwag an ATG?

[Rajdeep]

Averages in 20s in South Africa, England and New Zealand suggesting he doesn't have game to survive the period when the new ball is swinging or seaming. Terrific player outside that.

ATGs need not be performing in every country and under testing conditions only. At the end of the day Sehwag avgs 49.34 with a strike rate of 83 having 23 centuries in test cricket. This shows that despite his failures in handful of games in NZ & SA, he still has stacked those numbers by batting well in every other conditions. Sehwag is an absolute ATG test opener for not only his stats but the way he instilled fear on oppositions teams.

Ponting avgs only 26 in India, Gilchrist avgs 28 in India and 25 in UAE but no one remembers those and everyone considers them as ATG.

Bradman never played outside England and Australia remember?

Only Indian fans take these litmus test of their batters - you need to perform in swinging conditions, with new dukes red balls, under cloud cover etc etc.

 

[Ab Fan]

ATGs need not be performing in every country and under testing conditions only. At the end of the day Sehwag avgs 49.34 with a strike rate of 83 having 23 centuries in test cricket. This shows that despite his failures in handful of games in NZ & SA, he still has stacked those numbers by batting well in every other conditions. Sehwag is an absolute ATG test opener for not only his stats but the way he instilled fear on oppositions teams.

Ponting avgs only 26 in India, Gilchrist avgs 28 in India and 25 in UAE but no one remembers those and everyone considers them as ATG.

Bradman never played outside England and Australia remember?

Only Indian fans take these litmus test of their batters - you need to perform in swinging conditions, with new dukes red balls, under cloud cover etc etc.

Being able to survive against new ball is a litmus test for an opener to be considered an ATG. Hayden was a brutal aggressive batter too but he still did better than Sehwag in these countries averaging mid-30s suggesting he could survive the phase and score some runs. From his era, Smith, Cook, Hayden, Langer all did better than Viru across conditions.

Sehwag's batting in these conditions were such that it pretty much opens up a chance for collapse waiting to happen. With the current Indian middle order, Sehwag being an opener would be absolute disaster in England, South Africa and New Zealand conditions.

Ponting averages below 30 in only one country. Name one ATG batsman that was so poor in three countries averaging below 30? Answer is none.