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Sourav Ganguly the ODI batsman - Where do you rate him?

jeetu said:
Regarding Fab Five. Ganguly was better ODI batsman than Sehwag , Dravid and Laxman. Only Sachin was better than him overall.
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Yes that makes sense. Fab five is a test thing. In odi laxman and dravid (Overall) weren't that brilliant. And sehwag underachieved.
 
I am absolutely thrilled when india won all those icc cups but it feels like a lump in throat when his fans say india won due to dhoni captaincy only and india would have lost without him.

But his same fans preach about team and question other players hero worship. How is other players worship more disgusting when his fans attribute entire credit to dhoni and undermine team performances to big him up
 
Drreddymd said:
What are those stats?
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Jayasuryas stats as a lower order bat and as an opener , I can give you a dozen other examples . you can take pretty much any batsmen who moved from a lower order batsmen and to opening how their career transformed . in recent times Rohit sharma is the best example of that .Its for the same reason why Tendulkar and Ganguly would not let go of their opening slot up . Ganguly had to only give it up when Shewag came along , cos there is no way he could force Tendulkar down .
 
jusarrived said:
I would say it looked like his hands where always tied while batting . The pitches where predominantly , which is in India dint have swing/bounce in the 90s . Ganguly scored most of his runs when the field restrictions where on , not Dhoni ? conveniently play in top order in ODI's and hide behind at 5/6 in Test matches .
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Where exactly did your hero VVS Laxman play in Tests?
 
I think people mix up both formats together when comparing players... Sehwag's test brilliance make people overlook the fact that he underachieved massively in ODI's inspite of having been given free reign and an assured spot at opening for the best part of his career.

Similarly Ganguly's relatively poor test record compared to the others in the FAB5 makes players think his ODI game was on the same disappointing level..
 
hafeezrocks said:
I have heard that he formed a good opening pair with Tendu, apart from that I never saw him doing anything significant. Dont even remember any good knocks by him tbh.
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that is forgivable - most of his cricket happened in the age prior to the youtube explosion.

just for reference, he was the most prolific ODI batsmen for two years running in the early 2000s when even Tendulkar and Ponting were in the prime of their careers.

he was a one man wrecking machine - for instance, in the Sahara cup of 1998, he single handedly defeated pakistan, either with his bowling or his batting, at times both.

it was unfortunate that he could not lead india to a world cup, though in 2003, india did come close but the true, deserving winners did eventually lift the cup.
 
Decent player.SR of 74 that too batting in powerplays is poor even in the 90s

lol at comparisons with Dhoni.Not sure hes better than even Dravid and Yuvraj
 
Mamoon said:
Ganguly in the late 90s and early 2000s was a very fearful batsman.

Him, Jayasuria, Anwar and Tendulkar (when he was aggressive like Sehwag in the late 90's) were really at the top in that era.

<b>Brian Lara has always been a second rate ODI batsman barring a couple of strong years.</b>
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Lara averaged almost 48 at 81 SR in the 90s (that is 8 years) whenever he opened the batting or batted at one down with 2 centuries each in Australia and South Africa. I am not sure from where did you get this idea that he was not as good as Jayasuriya, Anwar, and Tendulkar in ODIs.

For the most part of 1990s, he was ranked even better than Tendulkar, held #1 ODI batsman position in ICC rankings for a number of years.
 
He was definitely a better batsman/opener than Sehwag in ODIs. However, Tendulkar, Kohli, Dhoni, Yuvraj, and Sharma are all better ODI batsmen.
 
Saurav said:
Decent player.SR of 74 that too batting in powerplays is poor even in the 90s

lol at comparisons with Dhoni.Not sure hes better than even Dravid and Yuvraj
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Yeah its an insult to compare a hack like dhoni to a batsman like ganguly. A hack who becomes a tailender outside of subcontinent and who has not scored a single century outside of subcontinent in any format. It is clearly a lol to compare saurav with dhoni. The only reason he averages above 50 is because 25 percent of his innings are not outs and not due to him scoring 50 each game
 
I'd rank him behind the following ODI openers

Anwar
Jayasuriya
Tendulkar
Guptill
Warner
Gilchrist
Dilshan
Gibbs

So probably about 8th or 9th
 
Drreddymd said:
Yeah its an insult to compare a hack like dhoni to a batsman like ganguly. A hack who becomes a tailender outside of subcontinent and who has not scored a single century outside of subcontinent in any format. It is clearly a lol to compare saurav with dhoni. The only reason he averages above 50 is because 25 percent of his innings are not outs and not due to him scoring 50 each game
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So genius is it so easy to easy to stay not out that it should be used against a batsman when his SR is good

yoy talk of hundreds but forget Ganguly opened and had all 50 overs at his disposal
 
Saurav said:
So genius is it so easy to easy to stay not out that it should be used against a batsman when his SR is good

yoy talk of hundreds but forget Ganguly opened and had all 50 overs at his disposal
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It is fairly easy for no 5 or 6 batsman to remain not out in a top order heavy batting lineup which India was always for most part. His strike rate is OK for the position he bats. Nothing outstanding.
He is not a useless odi player though which his criticisers sometimes overdo.
 
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The_Odd_One said:
He was definitely a better batsman/opener than Sehwag in ODIs. However, Tendulkar, Kohli, Dhoni, Yuvraj, and Sharma are all better ODI batsmen.
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Sharma isn't. Has got most of his runs in Indian and Australian flat pattas only.

And hasnt scored against any top team in World Cup.
 
Guptill and Sharma are nowhere as good as Ganguly was in odis. Ganguly's average of 41 is equal to an average of 47+ in current era.He has got longevity and has 11k+ runs at 40+ avg which is no joke.

Guptill and Rohit were pretty rubbish batsmen in first four years of their career and were lucky to stay in the team.Only in last few years they have started exploiting their talent fully with batting friendly pitches and small boundaries.

Warner has the intimidating factor to surpass Ganguly though. Its to be seen how well he does in coming time.
 
Pollack said:
It is fairly easy for no 5 or 6 batsman to remain not out in a top order heavy batting lineup which India was always for most part. His strike rate is OK for the position he bats. Nothing outstanding.
He is not a useless odi player though which his criticisers sometimes overdo.
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If its that easy why doesnt everybody do it?How many players average 50
 
Ganguly was a very good opening batsman.

Now i understand that people on this forum have an emotional connect with Anwar, but he was only a better test batsman than Ganguly. In ODI's Ganguly is ahead.

Ganguly is the greatest ever ODI batsman from Asia to play against the ATG SA bowling line up. He opened against Donald, Pollock, Klusenar etc and averaged nearly 50+ against them (home and away) And this when SRT was not particularly successful against them. That has to count for something.

IIRC, he had a decent record against ATG Pakistani attack too. Here is an innings where he totally dominated Wasim (a bowling attack of Wasim/Waqar/Shoaib no less) -


And here's another one where he scored an away ton against arguably the greatest Australian ODI pace attack of all time (McGrath/Lee/Fleming) -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3xwYOfJgKw

For me, Ganguly's career graph was very similar to Lara, who had an explosive first half but a weak second half. I would rank him just behind Lara as an ODI batsman. I think only SRT, Miandad, Kohli, Abbas and Dhoni are ahead of him in the SC.
 
I wouldn't rate Ganguly that highly. His deficiencies were fairly obvious. On flat decks and against mediocre bowling, he could score heavily but against good pace attacks, he could get exposed quite quickly. Also his Strike rate was quite poor by even 90's standards. Anwar was a better opener during his prime. That said , he did play some good ODI knocks against the Saffers from what I remember .
 
Nikhil_cric said:
I wouldn't rate Ganguly that highly. His deficiencies were fairly obvious. On flat decks and against mediocre bowling, he could score heavily but against good pace attacks, he could get exposed quite quickly. Also his Strike rate was quite poor by even 90's standards. Anwar was a better opener during his prime. That said , he did play some good ODI knocks against the Saffers from what I remember .
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Ok i accept that ganguly has weekness against pace bowling but what has dhoni acheived outside of india against pace. Tell me one knock in his entire career where he stood out outside of subcontinent ?

He is equivalent of sehwag as a test player who is phenomenal in india, pak, sl but failure in eng, sa, nz, wi and moderately successful in aus. Atleast sehwag has few notable innings in eng, sa, aus but dhoni has zilch
 
Pollack said:
Dhoni and sharma aren't. Don't care for stats.
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Don't rate Ganguly for following reasons:

1. Ugly batting stance
2. Not clutch
3. Played most of his shots on one side
4. Was never comfortable against short balls and bouncers
 
Ab Fan said:
Sharma isn't. Has got most of his runs in Indian and Australian flat pattas only.

And hasnt scored against any top team in World Cup.
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I have watched the entire career of both of them and Sharma is comfortably a better batsman.
 
Indians are underestimating Ganguly. He's averaging 40 plus and has over 10 thousand runs, his strike isn't the best but that's a very good record. Him and Sachin were a very good partnership. I'll take Ganguly over Sehwag and Hayden in Odis.
 
street cricketer said:
Die hard fans of the Indian old guard (Sachin, Dravid, Laxman, etc.) and especially Ganguly could never accept Dhoni for some reason.

This is what I've observed in my interactions with cricket fans real time and in the internet in India over the last decade or so.
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What about cricket fans outside India ?
 
Drreddymd said:
Ok i accept that ganguly has weekness against pace bowling but what has dhoni acheived outside of india against pace. Tell me one knock in his entire career where he stood out outside of subcontinent ?

He is equivalent of sehwag as a test player who is phenomenal in india, pak, sl but failure in eng, sa, nz, wi and moderately successful in aus. Atleast sehwag has few notable innings in eng, sa, aus but dhoni has zilch
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I agree brother. I've always maintained that Dhoni is overrated as an LOI batsman. He was a great chaser back in the day and was a very good batsman in his own right buy like you said be just didn't perform in difficult conditions. But I wasn't comparing with Dhoni at all.
 
Certainly the most elegant bat I have seen

Those sixes against spinners never seen anything like it
 
The_Odd_One said:
I have watched the entire career of both of them and Sharma is comfortably a better batsman.
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You are overrating Sharma here. He would have hardly averaged 25 outside Asia in 90s. Ganguly's first half was excellent while Sharma has hit the peak only in last few years and its a fact that he would struggle in bowling friendly conditions back in late 90s when Ganguly thrived.
 
Ab Fan said:
You are overrating Sharma here. He would have hardly averaged 25 outside Asia in 90s. Ganguly's first half was excellent while Sharma has hit the peak only in last few years and its a fact that he would struggle in bowling friendly conditions back in late 90s when Ganguly thrived.
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It is not about averages, it is about batsmanship. Ganguly was so uncomfortable against genuine pace and sometimes scared of bowlers like Akhtar who I remember hit him in the rib cage a couple of times.
 
Was amazing for a period of 2-3 years. Outshone even Tendulkar for 2 years I think.

Apart from that, I don't think he was all that amazing (stats aside). I find it hard to rate him accurately but for me, he is below Sachin, Kohli, Dhoni and Yuvi.

Maybe I am judging him too harshly.
 
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sensible-indian-fan said:
Was amazing for a period of 2-3 years. Outshone even Tendulkar for 2 years I think.

Apart from that, I don't think he was all that amazing (stats aside). I find it hard to rate him accurately but for me, he is below Sachin, Kohli, Dhoni and Yuvi.

Maybe I am judging him too harshly.
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Agree completely.
 
Sehwag was better than Ganguly in ODIs. Don't know why people underrate Sehwag in ODIs. He might have underachieved but he still was a beast.
 
Hitman said:
Where exactly did your hero VVS Laxman play in Tests?
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err he dint open in ODI's did he ? Am talking about players who open in ODIs and hid behind the likes of Shewag and Dravid in Tests . I have a lot of respect for Viru , supposedly having average technique he took the tougher role of opening in Tests inspite of being a middle order player .
 
Pollack said:
It is fairly easy for no 5 or 6 batsman to remain not out in a top order heavy batting lineup which India was always for most part. His strike rate is OK for the position he bats. Nothing outstanding.
He is not a useless odi player though which his criticisers sometimes overdo.
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Top order heavry when we won nothing .

India's success recently is predominantly due to middle order ( Dhoni , Raina and Yuvi ) . Why do people like Yuvi and Raina who are one of our best average less that 40 and same SR if its so easy to stay not out ?
 
Stallion__ said:
Sehwag was better than Ganguly in ODIs. Don't know why people underrate Sehwag in ODIs. He might have underachieved but he still was a beast.
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avg ~34 at SR of 104 is your ideal opener , even today when the stats are inflated I will take him over the likes of Sharma and Dhawan .
 
Tendulkar vs Ganguly in ODI
[table=width: 500, class: grid, align: center]
[tr][td]Tendulkar [/td][td]Mat [/td][td]Ave [/td][td]SR [/td][td] [/td][td]Ganguly [/td][td]Mat [/td][td]Ave [/td][td]SR [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]year 1989 [/td][td]1 [/td][td]0 [/td][td]0 [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]year 1990 [/td][td]11 [/td][td]23.9 [/td][td]98.76 [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]year 1991 [/td][td]14 [/td][td]34.75 [/td][td]74.46 [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]year 1992 [/td][td]21 [/td][td]39.11 [/td][td]69.08 [/td][td] [/td][td]year 1992 [/td][td]1 [/td][td]3 [/td][td]23.07 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]year 1993 [/td][td]18 [/td][td]24.53 [/td][td]73.16 [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]year 1994 [/td][td]25 [/td][td]47.34 [/td][td]88.6 [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]year 1995 [/td][td]12 [/td][td]40.36 [/td][td]101.36 [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]year 1996 [/td][td]32 [/td][td]53.7 [/td][td]82.44 [/td][td] [/td][td]year 1996 [/td][td]10 [/td][td]33.62 [/td][td]62.55 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]year 1997 [/td][td]39 [/td][td]30.63 [/td][td]84.95 [/td][td] [/td][td]year 1997 [/td][td]38 [/td][td]41.81 [/td][td]69.72 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]year 1998 [/td][td]34 [/td][td]65.31 [/td][td]102.15 [/td][td] [/td][td]year 1998 [/td][td]36 [/td][td]41.5 [/td][td]69.78 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]year 1999 [/td][td]22 [/td][td]42.15 [/td][td]88.64 [/td][td] [/td][td]year 1999 [/td][td]41 [/td][td]46.5 [/td][td]76 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]year 2000 [/td][td]34 [/td][td]39.05 [/td][td]81.77 [/td][td] [/td][td]year 2000 [/td][td]32 [/td][td]56.39 [/td][td]82.75 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]year 2001 [/td][td]17 [/td][td]69.53 [/td][td]91.31 [/td][td] [/td][td]year 2001 [/td][td]23 [/td][td]36.95 [/td][td]71.06 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]year 2002 [/td][td]20 [/td][td]52.92 [/td][td]87.48 [/td][td] [/td][td]year 2002 [/td][td]32 [/td][td]38.41 [/td][td]82.7 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]year 2003 [/td][td]21 [/td][td]57.05 [/td][td]87.36 [/td][td] [/td][td]year 2003 [/td][td]22 [/td][td]42 [/td][td]76.2 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]year 2004 [/td][td]21 [/td][td]40.6 [/td][td]80.07 [/td][td] [/td][td]year 2004 [/td][td]31 [/td][td]32.65 [/td][td]69.88 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]year 2005 [/td][td]16 [/td][td]27.46 [/td][td]77.29 [/td][td] [/td][td]year 2005 [/td][td]13 [/td][td]17.41 [/td][td]54.71 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]year 2006 [/td][td]16 [/td][td]44.85 [/td][td]77.05 [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]year 2007 [/td][td]33 [/td][td]47.5 [/td][td]85.58 [/td][td] [/td][td]year 2007 [/td][td]32 [/td][td]44.28 [/td][td]73.02 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]year 2008 [/td][td]12 [/td][td]41.81 [/td][td]84.24 [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]year 2009 [/td][td]21 [/td][td]54 [/td][td]94 [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]year 2010 [/td][td]2 [/td][td]204 [/td][td]134.21 [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]year 2011 [/td][td]11 [/td][td]46.63 [/td][td]88.6 [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]year 2012 [/td][td]10 [/td][td]31.5 [/td][td]81.39 [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][/tr]
[/table]
 
jusarrived said:
err he dint open in ODI's did he ? Am talking about players who open in ODIs and hid behind the likes of Shewag and Dravid in Tests . I have a lot of respect for Viru , supposedly having average technique he took the tougher role of opening in Tests inspite of being a middle order player .
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What's your opinion on Adam Gilchrist who opened in ODI cricket but batted at #6 in Tests? I'm not ridiculing you or anything, just want to know your opinion on him.
 
Hitman said:
What's your opinion on Adam Gilchrist who opened in ODI cricket but batted at #6 in Tests? I'm not ridiculing you or anything, just want to know your opinion on him.
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Never had the technique to open in Tests and also as WK it couldn't have been easy . As a pure batsmen I doubt he would have had such a long career with Aus . In comparison with Hayden though who I think was bit of a minnow basher , he had a much bigger impact in LOI's and even in Tests played some blinders .

if you have to compare keeper-bats :
Tests :
Gilly > MSD
ODI:
MSD >>> Gilly

Purely as batsmen ( Similar Styles )

Tests :
Sehwag > Warner >> Gilly
ODI's
Warner > Sehwag > Gilly
 
jusarrived said:
Never had the technique to open in Tests and also as WK it couldn't have been easy . As a pure batsmen I doubt he would have had such a long career with Aus . In comparison with Hayden though who I think was bit of a minnow basher , he had a much bigger impact in LOI's and even in Tests played some blinders .

if you have to compare keeper-bats :
Tests :
Gilly > MSD
ODI:
MSD >>> Gilly

Purely as batsmen ( Similar Styles )

Tests :
Sehwag > Warner >> Gilly
ODI's
Warner > Sehwag > Gilly
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In what way msd is a better player than gilli? In hacking? In tuk tuking? In sucking life out of chasess? In remainimg not out?

How is a player who doesnt have a single century outside of subcontinent a better player? Please tell me one innings of dhoni outside of subcontinent where he performed ? He is a subcontinent bully and a tailender outside of it.
 
Stallion__ said:
Sehwag was better than Ganguly in ODIs. Don't know why people underrate Sehwag in ODIs. He might have underachieved but he still was a beast.
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I think that's because Sehwag neither has a great average nor does he have memorable knocks in tournaments that posters can recollect immediately (barring the WC 2003 finals where he was great but the game was lost long time back).

Dude averages 29 in tournament finals (19 games), 43 in semi finals (3 games that average is due to a 59), 15 in QF (just 1 game).
 
jusarrived said:
avg ~34 at SR of 104 is your ideal opener , even today when the stats are inflated I will take him over the likes of Sharma and Dhawan .
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Dhawan is way way way way more clutch than Sehwag.

Rohit has a choker streak through.

Stats don't mean much.
 
sensible-indian-fan said:
I think that's because Sehwag neither has a great average nor does he have memorable knocks in tournaments that posters can recollect immediately (barring the WC 2003 finals where he was great but the game was lost long time back).

Dude averages 29 in tournament finals (19 games), 43 in semi finals (3 games that average is due to a 59), 15 in QF (just 1 game).
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Yeah, might be the case. People relate players with such iconic knocks.

'15 centuries in 250 matches' won't be the most imposing characteristic of the preeminent opener of his era. So many times he has looked good to carry on but has failed to do so. However, his cameos at the top were critical to India's success.

Case in point being the 2011 semifinal. India won by 29 runs and same number of runs was the difference between the scores of both teams in their powerplay; thanks to Sehwag. That knock made Gul useless for the rest of the match, made Afridi lost his confidence on Razzaq and put the whole opposition team under pressure. Moreover, other batsmen could afford to take time to play themselves in. And the most important thing, it provided India with the momentum to build their innings. Now in that match, they failed to capitalize the momentum and that's why they won by only 29 runs. In most of the cases, someone else from the strong Indian line up would make use of that start to go big and would take all the accolades.

He was a mighty effective opener for his team and up there with the best openers in this format.
 
Stallion__ said:
Yeah, might be the case. People relate players with such iconic knocks.

'15 centuries in 250 matches' won't be the most imposing characteristic of the preeminent opener of his era. So many times he has looked good to carry on but has failed to do so. However, his cameos at the top were critical to India's success.

Case in point being the 2011 semifinal. India won by 29 runs and same number of runs was the difference between the scores of both teams in their powerplay; thanks to Sehwag. That knock made Gul useless for the rest of the match, made Afridi lost his confidence on Razzaq and put the whole opposition team under pressure. Moreover, other batsmen could afford to take time to play themselves in. And the most important thing, it provided India with the momentum to build their innings. Now in that match, they failed to capitalize the momentum and that's why they won by only 29 runs. In most of the cases, someone else from the strong Indian line up would make use of that start to go big and would take all the accolades.

He was a mighty effective opener for his team and up there with the best openers in this format.
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Of course, he was an effective opener but we are talking about comparison with bats who went and scored big to win the game.

Too many times, I would get the feeling Sehwag wanted to play super fast in ODIs and if he got out, he didn't care. So in an indirect way, there was a bit of selfish streak in him (which can be misinterpreted as selfless).

He could have easily averaged 40-45 in ODIs at a SR of 95-100 and won us more matches.
 
sensible-indian-fan said:
Of course, he was an effective opener but we are talking about comparison with bats who went and scored big to win the game.

Too many times, I would get the feeling Sehwag wanted to play super fast in ODIs and if he got out, he didn't care. So in an indirect way, there was a bit of selfish streak in him (which can be misinterpreted as selfless).

He could have easily averaged 40-45 in ODIs at a SR of 95-100 and won us more matches.
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He was what he was. I won't classify him as selfish/selfless or clutch/choker. He always had nonchalant approach towards the game, even in tests when he came closest to the 300 mark than any other Indian ever has been, still took the most risky option to get that milestone. Apparently that attitude worked better for him in tests as compared to ODIs.

He actually average around his 45 during his best years and with a strike rate of around 120, which is greater than his career strike rate. What damaged his numbers was his lean patch between 04-06, that even cost him his place from the team. And he didn't score particularly fast during that time.

Not that I am implicating that he would have been a better player had he tried to change his 'natural game'. What suppressing his instincts would have done to his game would remain a moot point.
 
Of course, he was an effective opener but we are talking about comparison with bats who went and scored big to win the game.
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Apart from maybe Tendulkar, Sehwag is comparable to any of the best openers in this format. His strike rate somewhat make up for his relative inability to score big.
 
Stallion__ said:
He was what he was. I won't classify him as selfish/selfless or clutch/choker. He always had nonchalant approach towards the game, even in tests when he came closest to the 300 mark than any other Indian ever has been, still took the most risky option to get that milestone. Apparently that attitude worked better for him in tests as compared to ODIs.

He actually average around his 45 during his best years and with a strike rate of around 120, which is greater than his career strike rate. What damaged his numbers was his lean patch between 04-06, that even cost him his place from the team. And he didn't score particularly fast during that time.

Not that I am implicating that he would have been a better player had he tried to change his 'natural game'. What suppressing his instincts would have done to his game would remain a moot point.
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I am not calling Sehwag selfish in a sweeping way. Said he had a selfish streak at times. He just wanted to play like he loved regardless of any situation.

His lack of giving a damn has hurt India many a times. Many a times, he could have carried on VERY EASILY, he would throw away his wickets.

Talking more so in ODIs.

Stallion__ said:
Apart from maybe Tendulkar, Sehwag is comparable to any of the best openers in this format. His strike rate somewhat make up for his relative inability to score big.
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Of course, he is comparable. But doesn't mean he is better.

Sanga/Dravid/Kallis the test bat are comparable to Sachin/Lara/Ponting. Doesn't mean they are necessarily better.
 
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sensible-indian-fan said:
Of course, he is comparable. But doesn't mean he is better.

Sanga/Dravid/Kallis the test bat are comparable to Sachin/Lara/Ponting. Doesn't mean they are necessarily better.
Click to expand...

Not digressing further, I would say he was better than Ganguly atleast.
 
Ganguly is very difficult to rate exactly. All I know is he is underrated batsman.His later part of career was not stellar and that leaves bitter taste in mouth for most people to rate him judiciously.
 
jusarrived said:
Never had the technique to open in Tests and also as WK it couldn't have been easy . As a pure batsmen I doubt he would have had such a long career with Aus . In comparison with Hayden though who I think was bit of a minnow basher , he had a much bigger impact in LOI's and even in Tests played some blinders .

if you have to compare keeper-bats :
<b>Tests :
Gilly > MSD
ODI:
MSD >>> Gilly</b>

Purely as batsmen ( Similar Styles )

Tests :
Sehwag > Warner >> Gilly
ODI's
Warner > Sehwag > Gilly
Click to expand...

It is other way around actually:

Tests :
Gilly >>> MSD
ODIs:
MSD > Gilly

How is someone who does not have a single century in any format outside Asia in 179 games better than Gilchrist who has 13 centuries outside Aus & NZ?
 
Ganguly was good from 96 to 2000/2001. Once he got hit by shoaibs bouncer he was never the same batsmen.. he played spinners well but pacers attacking his rib cage caused a lot of problem for him.since 2003 he was a walking wicket.
 
The_Odd_One said:
It is other way around actually:

Tests :
Gilly >>> MSD
ODIs:
MSD > Gilly

How is someone who does not have a single century in any format outside Asia in 179 games better than Gilchrist who has 13 centuries outside Aus & NZ?
Click to expand...

Non minnows , outside SC .

Dhawan - 2 hundreds
Inzy - 0 hundreds

Let me know whos a better ODI bat
 
jusarrived said:
Non minnows , outside SC .

Dhawan - 2 hundreds
Inzy - 0 hundreds

Let me know whos a better ODI bat
Click to expand...

Some might believe that Dhawan was a more clutch batsman than Inzy as he performed better in multi-team tournaments. I do not have any problem with that. However, none in their right mind would rate Dhawan higher than Inzy. A difference of 9k+ runs and 300 matches is way too big to ignore.

The comparison between Dhoni and Gilchrist is a valid one, though.
 
Ganguly is among the top 5 ODI batsman from Asia
1- Sachin/Kohli
2- Dhoni
3- Ganguly/Inzimam/Jayasuriya
4- Abbas
5- Yuvraj /Anwar
 
The_Odd_One said:
Some might believe that Dhawan was a more clutch batsman than Inzy as he performed better in multi-team tournaments. I do not have any problem with that. However, none in their right mind would rate Dhawan higher than Inzy. A difference of 9k+ runs and 300 matches is way too big to ignore.

The comparison between Dhoni and Gilchrist is a valid one, though.
Click to expand...

you are comparing some one averaging 35 with a player averaging 51 . By the same logic , any one in the right mind will not tell Gilly was a better ODI player than Dhoni
 
He is up there in the top 5 greatest ODI bats of all time imo.. He used to own the South Africans, had a good run in Australia in 1999 and was generally a great batsmen vs all teams barring Aus after the 99 tour.......
 
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