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Rank the following Indian openers in ODI cricket

Ab Fan

Senior Test Player
Joined
Sep 24, 2015
Runs
28,025
India have produced some fantastic openers over the years as far as ODI cricket is concerned. Some of the big names are:-

Tendulkar
Ganguly
Sehwag
Gambhir
Rohit
Dhawan
Sidhu

How would you rank them in terms of their performance in ODI cricket? And what would be your opening pair in Indian all-time XI. Discuss!
 
There was no better than Sachin - viru ki jodi. I dont care about numbers, but both were fearsome opening pair.
Sachin
sehwag
dhawan
gambhir
rest.
 
Tendulkar
Gambhir
Ganguly
Dhawan
Sehwag
Rohit
Sidhu

I'm tempted to actually put Rohit above Sehwag who was great in tests, but not exactly that great in ODI's. Dhawan's knock in finals puts him ahead of Sehwag for me
 
Was sidhu that good? Someone told me he used to escape foreign tours...don't know if true..
 
Bit surprised to see Gambhir that low. No doubt in my mind that he was pivotal in India winning the World Cup
 
Bit surprised to see Gambhir that low. No doubt in my mind that he was pivotal in India winning the World Cup
He's a decent opener. (Should shut up off the field tho).

It's just others are atgs. Heck KL Rahul may surpass GG soon (if he's not already)
 
Rohit has been the best opener in the world for most part of this decade, and people are ranking him below Dhawan and Gambhir.
 
Sachin-atg
Ganguly - borderline atg
Dhawan, rohit, gambhir, sehwag-world class
I doubt if any other team has such a rich history of odi openers. All match winners.
 
He's a decent opener. (Should shut up off the field tho).

It's just others are atgs. Heck KL Rahul may surpass GG soon (if he's not already)
Kl rahul hasn't achieved 1/10 of what gambhir has.
6000+ runs at 40 avg 85 str rate are not just decent but excellent numbers. His overseas performances in odis was very good and combine all this with his clutch innings in world cups.
He is underrated.
 
1. Tendulkar
2. Ganguly
3. Rohit
4. Sehwag
5. Gambhir
6. Dhawan
7. Sidhu

I am 100% this is the correct and most fair overall ranking.
 
It is quite hard for me to rank them. And it is quite visible with the fact that everyone is having different opinions.

Let's look at total runs:-

Tendulkar- 18K runs
Ganguly- 11K runs
Sehwag- 8.5K runs
Rohit-6.9K runs(should retire around 8.5K runs)
Gambhir- 5.2K runs
Dhawan- 4.6K runs(should retire over 6K runs)
Sidhu- 4.4K runs
 
Indian ODI batsman (min 1000 runs) at opening position

[table=width: 700, class: grid, align: center]
[tr][td]Player [/td][td]Span [/td][td]Mat [/td][td]Runs [/td][td]Avg [/td][td]SR [/td][td]100 [/td][td]50 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]RG Sharma [/td][td]2011-2018 [/td][td]102 [/td][td]4939 [/td][td]54.87 [/td][td]91.42 [/td][td]16 [/td][td]24 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]SR Tendulkar [/td][td]1994-2012 [/td][td]344 [/td][td]15310 [/td][td]48.29 [/td][td]88.05 [/td][td]45 [/td][td]75 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]S Dhawan [/td][td]2010-2018 [/td][td]108 [/td][td]4694 [/td][td]46.47 [/td][td]93.99 [/td][td]14 [/td][td]25 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]SC Ganguly [/td][td]1996-2007 [/td][td]242 [/td][td]9146 [/td][td]41.57 [/td][td]73.59 [/td][td]19 [/td][td]58 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]NS Sidhu [/td][td]1988-1998 [/td][td]63 [/td][td]2418 [/td][td]40.3 [/td][td]68.03 [/td][td]4 [/td][td]15 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]G Gambhir [/td][td]2003-2013 [/td][td]94 [/td][td]3367 [/td][td]39.61 [/td][td]86.48 [/td][td]8 [/td][td]21 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]V Sehwag [/td][td]2001-2013 [/td][td]204 [/td][td]7240 [/td][td]36.93 [/td][td]104.85 [/td][td]14 [/td][td]34 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]AM Rahane [/td][td]2011-2017 [/td][td]54 [/td][td]1937 [/td][td]36.54 [/td][td]77.23 [/td][td]3 [/td][td]15 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]SM Gavaskar [/td][td]1974-1987 [/td][td]83 [/td][td]2651 [/td][td]35.34 [/td][td]61.5 [/td][td]1 [/td][td]25 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]M Prabhakar [/td][td]1987-1996 [/td][td]46 [/td][td]1429 [/td][td]34.02 [/td][td]62.37 [/td][td]2 [/td][td]11 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]A Jadeja [/td][td]1992-1999 [/td][td]43 [/td][td]1384 [/td][td]33.75 [/td][td]57.88 [/td][td]1 [/td][td]10 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]RJ Shastri [/td][td]1983-1992 [/td][td]49 [/td][td]1464 [/td][td]31.14 [/td][td]52.22 [/td][td]4 [/td][td]9 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]K Srikkanth [/td][td]1981-1992 [/td][td]146 [/td][td]4091 [/td][td]29.01 [/td][td]71.74 [/td][td]4 [/td][td]27 [/td][/tr]
[/table]
 
Indian ODI batsman (min 1000 runs) at opening position

[table=width: 700, class: grid, align: center]
[tr][td]Player [/td][td]Span [/td][td]Mat [/td][td]Runs [/td][td]Avg [/td][td]SR [/td][td]100 [/td][td]50 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]RG Sharma [/td][td]2011-2018 [/td][td]102 [/td][td]4939 [/td][td]54.87 [/td][td]91.42 [/td][td]16 [/td][td]24 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]SR Tendulkar [/td][td]1994-2012 [/td][td]344 [/td][td]15310 [/td][td]48.29 [/td][td]88.05 [/td][td]45 [/td][td]75 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]S Dhawan [/td][td]2010-2018 [/td][td]108 [/td][td]4694 [/td][td]46.47 [/td][td]93.99 [/td][td]14 [/td][td]25 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]SC Ganguly [/td][td]1996-2007 [/td][td]242 [/td][td]9146 [/td][td]41.57 [/td][td]73.59 [/td][td]19 [/td][td]58 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]NS Sidhu [/td][td]1988-1998 [/td][td]63 [/td][td]2418 [/td][td]40.3 [/td][td]68.03 [/td][td]4 [/td][td]15 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]G Gambhir [/td][td]2003-2013 [/td][td]94 [/td][td]3367 [/td][td]39.61 [/td][td]86.48 [/td][td]8 [/td][td]21 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]V Sehwag [/td][td]2001-2013 [/td][td]204 [/td][td]7240 [/td][td]36.93 [/td][td]104.85 [/td][td]14 [/td][td]34 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]AM Rahane [/td][td]2011-2017 [/td][td]54 [/td][td]1937 [/td][td]36.54 [/td][td]77.23 [/td][td]3 [/td][td]15 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]SM Gavaskar [/td][td]1974-1987 [/td][td]83 [/td][td]2651 [/td][td]35.34 [/td][td]61.5 [/td][td]1 [/td][td]25 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]M Prabhakar [/td][td]1987-1996 [/td][td]46 [/td][td]1429 [/td][td]34.02 [/td][td]62.37 [/td][td]2 [/td][td]11 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]A Jadeja [/td][td]1992-1999 [/td][td]43 [/td][td]1384 [/td][td]33.75 [/td][td]57.88 [/td][td]1 [/td][td]10 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]RJ Shastri [/td][td]1983-1992 [/td][td]49 [/td][td]1464 [/td][td]31.14 [/td][td]52.22 [/td][td]4 [/td][td]9 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]K Srikkanth [/td][td]1981-1992 [/td][td]146 [/td][td]4091 [/td][td]29.01 [/td][td]71.74 [/td][td]4 [/td][td]27 [/td][/tr]
[/table]

Rohit's ODI numbers are so staggering after he became an opener. His career ODI average of 46 goes to show how he has wasted so many years before that.
 
basically u saying logic is not your strong suite, that's fine..

Logic is based on stats? Then guess Viv falls below every modern day batsman with just 47 as average in ODIs.

Good to know where you stand on Rohit vs Viv debate if it ever pops up here.
 
Logic is based on stats? Then guess Viv falls below every modern day batsman with just 47 as average in ODIs.

Good to know where you stand on Rohit vs Viv debate if it ever pops up here.

Logic is based upon common sense. U mentioned Rohit in Asia, and I just pointed out that he averages same outside Asia as in Asia, and that's that. I didn't ask you to change your preference, just corrected you on your logic that his Asia vs non Asia performance is same. But reading your recent comment, only reinforced my belief.
 
Tendulkar
Ganguly
Rohit
Gambhir
Sehwag
Dhawan
sidhu

MY choice for openers Tendulkar & Ganguly .
 
Tendulkar (who was my fav player growing up in the 90s and early 00s and till he retired)
Ganguly
Sehwag
R Sharma
Gambir
Dhawan
 
Sehwag underachieved in ODIs so I will put him at 4

Sachin
Ganguly
Gambhir (because of his match winning inning in 2011 world cup)
Sehwag
Rohit
Dhawan
 
Paaji, Gambhir scored in the final at Number 3 if i am not wrong.

The only reason he played at 3 was because we had Sachin and Sehwag taking the opening slot. Barring these two freaks of nature, Gambhir would normally open. If anything, he was the only proper opener amongst these 3, as he had always batted as an opener and even opened in Tests.
 
Because this is ODI cricket specifically, Sehwag drops down:

1. Tendulkar
2. Ganguly
3. Rohit
4. Gambhir
5. Sehwag
6. Dhawan
7. Sidhu
 
My rating on 10:-

Tendulkar- 9.5
Ganguly- 8
Dhawan- 8
Rohit- 7.5
Sehwag- 7.5
Gambhir- 7
Sidhu- 6
 
My rating on 10:-

Tendulkar- 9.5
Ganguly- 8
Dhawan- 8
Rohit- 7.5
Sehwag- 7.5
Gambhir- 7
Sidhu- 6

[MENTION=139595]Ab Fan[/MENTION] I usually agree with most of your analysis but I have to strongly disagree with you here. Ganguly is still the second-best opener India has produced. He deserves more than an 8.
 
India have produced some fantastic openers over the years as far as ODI cricket is concerned. Some of the big names are:-

Tendulkar
Ganguly
Sehwag
Gambhir
Rohit
Dhawan
Sidhu

How would you rank them in terms of their performance in ODI cricket? And what would be your opening pair in Indian all-time XI. Discuss!

Bhaijaan's top 3 greatest Indian LOI openers :-

1. Tendulkar - GOAT. PERIOD.

2. Sharma - They call him The Hitman. I call him The Hulk. Legitimately one of the most dangerous LOI batsmen in the world. Averages 60+ ever since he started opening. Love it when he switches into the Hulk mode. He was clearly very watchful and cautious today and still hit a great century. That shows what a mature and professional batsman he has become.

3. Ganguly - I rated Rohit higher because of his extra special Hulk mode.

After that there is little separating the rest so cannot be bothered. It will make no sense.
 
[MENTION=139595]Ab Fan[/MENTION] I usually agree with most of your analysis but I have to strongly disagree with you here. Ganguly is still the second-best opener India has produced. He deserves more than an 8.

Ok, 8.5. His SR is slightly lower and the reason is that a top quality bowling attack can work on it. But I give him a 8.5. Great player and maintained his performance for a longer period which is visible by the fact that he is and will remain only behind SRT in terms of leading run-scorer among the openers for a lot of years.
 
Bhaijaan's top 3 greatest Indian LOI openers :-

1. Tendulkar - GOAT. PERIOD.

2. Sharma - They call him The Hitman. I call him The Hulk. Legitimately one of the most dangerous LOI batsmen in the world. Averages 60+ ever since he started opening. Love it when he switches into the Hulk mode. He was clearly very watchful and cautious today and still hit a great century. That shows what a mature and professional batsman he has become.

3. Ganguly - I rated Rohit higher because of his extra special Hulk mode.

After that there is little separating the rest so cannot be bothered. It will make no sense.

Alright. Your take on Dhawan??
 
Alright. Your take on Dhawan??

Quality player. In the form of his life.

But if he has to end up as a great in Indian cricket he needs to start hitting the big 150+ hundreds. Too many soft dismissals immediately after he gets to 100 shows lack of determination to strike big. This is where Sharma scores over him. When he hits a hundred he gets into God mode.
 
Ok, 8.5. His SR is slightly lower and the reason is that a top quality bowling attack can work on it. But I give him a 8.5. Great player and maintained his performance for a longer period which is visible by the fact that he is and will remain only behind SRT in terms of leading run-scorer among the openers for a lot of years.

Bucketloads of runs. Longevity. One-half of the best ever ODI opening pair. And he was even more clutch in ICC tournaments than Dhawan with an outstanding average of 58. Dhawan's avg is 65. If we put those numbers in context of the respective eras I'm sure you would agree that Ganguly (especially in that phase from '96-'02) dominated ODI opening batsmanship like few others ever have. His peak was phenomenal and he actually outscored Sachin during that phase. 8.5 seems fair enough. Personally, I would rate him 9 as an opener. I agree about the SR though even though 75 isn't wasn't that bad in that era.
 
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Quality player. In the form of his life.

But if he has to end up as a great in Indian cricket he needs to start hitting the big 150+ hundreds. Too many soft dismissals immediately after he gets to 100 shows lack of determination to strike big. This is where Sharma scores over him. When he hits a hundred he gets into God mode.

Dhawan is much more consistent than Sharma. Sharma is boom or bust. Dhawan gets 30-40 runs even if he doesn't get a hundred. He rarely fails.
 
Bucketloads of runs. Longevity. One-half of the best ever ODI opening pair. And he was even more clutch in ICC tournaments than Dhawan with an outstanding average of 58. Dhawan's avg is 65. If we put those numbers in context of the respective eras I'm sure you would agree that Ganguly (especially in that phase from '96-'02) dominated ODI opening batsmanship like few others ever have. His peak was phenomenal and he actually outscored Sachin during that phase. 8.5 seems fair enough. Personally, I would rate him 9 as an opener. I agree about the SR though even though 75 isn't wasn't that bad in that era.

I would give the likes of Ponting, AB, Bevan as 9 since I gave Tendulkar 9.5. So, 8.5 is what I will go with for Ganguly.
 
Dhawan is much more consistent than Sharma. Sharma is boom or bust. Dhawan gets 30-40 runs even if he doesn't get a hundred. He rarely fails.

LOL at Boom or Bust. He averages 60+ in last 4-5 years ever since he turned opener.

I am shocked people still are ignorant of how remarkably consistent Sharma has been as opener for India. He is the 2nd best ODI batsman in the world since years now after Kohli.
 
I would give the likes of Ponting, AB, Bevan as 9 since I gave Tendulkar 9.5. So, 8.5 is what I will go with for Ganguly.

But Ponting, Bevan, AB were not openers. This thread is about rating openers. Ponting was a better batsmen than Ganguly, sure. But as far as openers are concerned, how many have him beat? That's why I gave him a 9.
 
Bucketloads of runs. Longevity. One-half of the best ever ODI opening pair. And he was even more clutch in ICC tournaments than Dhawan with an outstanding average of 58. Dhawan's avg is 65. If we put those numbers in context of the respective eras I'm sure you would agree that Ganguly (especially in that phase from '96-'02) dominated ODI opening batsmanship like few others ever have. His peak was phenomenal and he actually outscored Sachin during that phase. 8.5 seems fair enough. Personally, I would rate him 9 as an opener. I agree about the SR though even though 75 isn't wasn't that bad in that era.

He outscored Sachin because he played more matches in that era.
 
LOL at Boom or Bust. He averages 60+ in last 4-5 years ever since he turned opener.

I am shocked people still are ignorant of how remarkably consistent Sharma has been as opener for India. He is the 2nd best ODI batsman in the world since years now after Kohli.

I am talking about Median, not mean. Sharma's median is much lower than Dhawan's.
 
I am talking about Median, not mean. Sharma's median is much lower than Dhawan's.

But Sharma's peak is much much higher than Dhawan's.

Dhawan's highest score in ODIs in 137. 10 out of the 19 ODI centuries that Rohit has scored has been 137+
 
I would give the likes of Ponting, AB, Bevan as 9 since I gave Tendulkar 9.5. So, 8.5 is what I will go with for Ganguly.

@Outsider, a rating on 10 has nothing to do with being an opener or middle order. It is a rating just as a batsmen.
 
Logic is based upon common sense. U mentioned Rohit in Asia, and I just pointed out that he averages same outside Asia as in Asia, and that's that. I didn't ask you to change your preference, just corrected you on your logic that his Asia vs non Asia performance is same. But reading your recent comment, only reinforced my belief.

So what do you think about Rohit vs Viv again, stats point to Rohit being better?
 
@Outsider, a rating on 10 has nothing to do with being an opener or middle order. It is a rating just as a batsmen.

But this thread is about ranking openers. So I assumed you were rating them as openers, not overall.
 
But Sharma's peak is much much higher than Dhawan's.

Dhawan's highest score in ODIs in 137. 10 out of the 19 ODI centuries that Rohit has scored has been 137+

Peak as in highest innings score? Of course it's higher since it's Rohit's specialty (it's also higher than Kohli's). But Dhawan is much more consistent. People keep mixing up mean and median. They're not the same.
 
Sehwag's average of 37 and SR of 105 makes him India's second best opener EVER.
 
Peak as in highest innings score? Of course it's higher since it's Rohit's specialty (it's also higher than Kohli's). But Dhawan is much more consistent. People keep mixing up mean and median. They're not the same.

Show me the data for mean and median for them.
 
Peak as in highest innings score? Of course it's higher since it's Rohit's specialty (it's also higher than Kohli's). But Dhawan is much more consistent. People keep mixing up mean and median. They're not the same.

Also it doesn't just mean higher score.

Rohit wins games singlehandedly by scoring daddy runs. And he often stays till the end to finish the innings off. He is an opener who is also a finisher. That's as rare as it gets.

Dhawan always throws it away after reaching a hundred.

It matters.
 
Also it doesn't just mean higher score.

Rohit wins games singlehandedly by scoring daddy runs. And he often stays till the end to finish the innings off. He is an opener who is also a finisher. That's as rare as it gets.

Dhawan always throws it away after reaching a hundred.

It matters.

Rohit also falls cheaply whenever he doesn't get a hundred.
 
India have produced some fantastic openers over the years as far as ODI cricket is concerned. Some of the big names are:-

Tendulkar
Ganguly
Sehwag
Gambhir
Rohit
Dhawan
Sidhu

How would you rank them in terms of their performance in ODI cricket? And what would be your opening pair in Indian all-time XI. Discuss!

Tendulkar
Sehwag
Ganguly
Dhawan
Gambhir
Rohit
Sidhu
 
I am talking about Median, not mean. Sharma's median is much lower than Dhawan's.

I see your point but i care about it more in test cricket where some players like Lara, Cook maintain their stats on some massive yet useless knocks.

In ODIs you want players to have extra ordinary games. You don't want a Kallis stype assured 40-50 runs with no impact. Sharma is proper match winner.
 
Phenomenal that 10 of Sharma's 19 centuries have been 137+.

Just goes to show such a phenomenal match winner he is when set he goes all the way to crush bowling line ups.
 
I see your point but i care about it more in test cricket where some players like Lara, Cook maintain their stats on some massive yet useless knocks.

In ODIs you want players to have extra ordinary games. You don't want a Kallis stype assured 40-50 runs with no impact. Sharma is proper match winner.

Its actually the other way round. You need big knocks in tests because 70s and 120s dont win you games there. You need 150+ scores or even 200s and 300s. Lara or Cook scoring those 250+ in dead rubber means nothing though.

In ODIs, 80s and 120s are enough to make an impact over the game. The lower order can come in latter part and get some quick runs and setup a strong total.
 
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