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[VIDEO] Top 50 Test Batters of All Time

Hitman

Senior T20I Player
Joined
Feb 25, 2013
Runs
17,533
Taken from Jarrod Kimber's book titled The Art of Batting published this year.


  1. Don Bradman
  2. Sachin Tendulkar
  3. Jack Hobbs
  4. Len Hutton
  5. Brian Lara
  6. Steve Smith
  7. Sunil Gavaskar
  8. Viv Richards
  9. Garry Sobers
  10. Jacques Kallis
  11. Wally Hammond
  12. Kumar Sangakkara
  13. Herbert Sutcliffe
  14. Joe Root
  15. Rahul Dravid
  16. W.G. Grace
  17. Ken Barrington
  18. George Headley
  19. Ricky Ponting
  20. Greg Chappell
  21. Allan Border
  22. Younis Khan
  23. Javed Miandad
  24. A.B. De Villers
  25. Virat Kohli
  26. Geoffrey Boycott
  27. Graeme Smith
  28. Gordon Greenidge
  29. Alistair Cook
  30. Shiv Chanderpaul
  31. Steve Waugh
  32. Kane Williamson
  33. Virender Sehwag
  34. Matthew Hayden
  35. Graeme Pollock
  36. Clive Llyod
  37. Inzamam Ul Haq
  38. Andy Flower
  39. Mahela Jayawardene
  40. Martin Crowe
  41. Hashim Amla
  42. Kevin Pietersen
  43. Victor Trumper
  44. Ranjitsinhji
  45. Rohan Kanhai
  46. Frank Worrell
  47. Neil Harvey
  48. Everton Weekes
  49. Clyde Walcott
  50. Mohammad Yousuf


Here's Jarrod Kimber discussing about his list live on air.

 
Wouldn’t have expected to see Kallis in top 10 batters in test history..

Younis top pak batsman rightly so
 
Wouldn’t have expected to see Kallis in top 10 batters in test history..

Younis top pak batsman rightly so
Also Kohli in top 25 all time test batters is a a stretch. Even from an Ind perspective, I think Sehwag would have the edge on him.
 
He also talks about Kohli dropping down his list while he was writing his book.


 
I would have Azharuddin or Zaheer Abbas somewhere in the list in place of George Headley
 
Gandappa Vishwanath (After Gavaskar, his was the most prized wicket for us during the 80s) and Desmond Haynes deserve a mention.

Their statistical record does not do justice to their talent
 
Taken from Jarrod Kimber's book titled The Art of Batting published this year.


  1. Don Bradman
  2. Sachin Tendulkar
  3. Jack Hobbs
  4. Len Hutton
  5. Brian Lara
  6. Steve Smith
  7. Sunil Gavaskar
  8. Viv Richards
  9. Garry Sobers
  10. Jacques Kallis
  11. Wally Hammond
  12. Kumar Sangakkara
  13. Herbert Sutcliffe
  14. Joe Root
  15. Rahul Dravid
  16. W.G. Grace
  17. Ken Barrington
  18. George Headley
  19. Ricky Ponting
  20. Greg Chappell
  21. Allan Border
  22. Younis Khan
  23. Javed Miandad
  24. A.B. De Villers
  25. Virat Kohli
  26. Geoffrey Boycott
  27. Graeme Smith
  28. Gordon Greenidge
  29. Alistair Cook
  30. Shiv Chanderpaul
  31. Steve Waugh
  32. Kane Williamson
  33. Virender Sehwag
  34. Matthew Hayden
  35. Graeme Pollock
  36. Clive Llyod
  37. Inzamam Ul Haq
  38. Andy Flower
  39. Mahela Jayawardene
  40. Martin Crowe
  41. Hashim Amla
  42. Kevin Pietersen
  43. Victor Trumper
  44. Ranjitsinhji
  45. Rohan Kanhai
  46. Frank Worrell
  47. Neil Harvey
  48. Everton Weekes
  49. Clyde Walcott
  50. Mohammad Yousuf


Here's Jarrod Kimber discussing about his list live on air.

Smith > Lara
Ponting = Root both need to be at 14-15
Sanga too high
Kohli way way way too high, has no business being > Waugh, Hayden, Sehwag, Mahela or even KP for that matter.
Sobers way too low, needs to be at 2 or 3.
 
Excellent list by Jarrod Kimber. I wouldn't expect anything else from him. Brilliant cricketing mind. @Rana

Younis Khan is rightly ranked at around 20 and for me undoubtedly Pakistan's greatest test batsman of all time. @Major how much did this hurt?
 
Names in the List are fine but order of ranking is always subjective and biased.

Notably what stands out is Ponting should be much higher up and as good as Smith is he isn’t better than Viv.
Sanga is also too high and ABD too low.
 
Very enjoyable videos where he mentions his methodology and analysis. Most of the list looks spot on, there are some names missing however, but this is to be expected as everyone's list will be subjective.

The author mentions in one of the videos that up until Inzi he feels his list is solid but after that it gets even more subjective.

From a Pakistani perspective I do feel that Hanif Mohammed should be on the list but understand he perhaps wouldn't have met some of the filters put in by Kimber.

But it's a high quality piece of work, undoubtedly and I've actually purchased the book now.
 
One one of the videos Kimber mentioned that Babar and Marnus were in contention to perhaps challenge for a place in the rankings but their form dipped so bad that they are nowhere in the race now. Not his exact words I'm paraphrasing but it just shows how highly rated they were and now they can't buy a run.
 
He's been posting hate filled posts about Younis because of his agenda. Hardcore Misbah fans are generally insecure about him. Another example of this is @daytrader
Why would anyone hate a successfully player from his own team? Strange! It's different not being a fan, but hate? I've never been a fan of Dravid. Watching him bat was worse than watching paint dry as evident from his SR of 42 in Tests and 71 in ODI's. But I have always sincerely respected him for his contribution towards my team.​
 
Why would anyone hate a successfully player from his own team? Strange! It's different not being a fan, but hate? I've never been a fan of Dravid. Watching him bat was worse than watching paint dry. But I have always sincerely respected him for his contribution towards my team.​

Because Younis didn't like being associated with Misbah whenever people referred to them as "MisYou". You can understand why. It's a bit disrespectful to be compared to Misbah when you're arguably the best Pakistan test player of all time.

Some of the hardcore Misbah fans started getting a bit touchy and felt the need to slander Younis at every opportunity.
 
Because Younis didn't like being associated with Misbah whenever people referred to them as "MisYou". You can understand why. It's a bit disrespectful to be compared to Misbah when you're arguably the best Pakistan test player of all time.

Some of the hardcore Misbah fans started getting a bit touchy and felt the need to slander Younis at every opportunity.
I'll agree with the bolded part.
 
Upto Sulty Lala, he would remove Sachin from the list and put Miandad at his place. Some people fail to realise the auqaat of their heroes. 🤡 🐒
 
Here is my list of 50 greatest test batsman ever, I will call my book with the name - “Fifty Shades of Greatness”. Here we go,

1. Bradman
2. Sobers
3. Tendulkar
4. S Smith
5. Hobbs
6. Lara
7. Richards
8. Gavaskar
9. Ponting
10. G Chappell
11. Hammond
12. WC Grace
13. Root
14. Sangakkara
15. Kallis
16. Hutton
17. Border
18. Dravid
19. S Waugh
20. Weekes
21. Walcott
22. Miandad
23. Barrington
24. Gilchrist
25. Crowe
26. AB de Villiers
27. Greenidge
28. Hayden
29. Younis
30. Amla
31. Sehwag
32. Kohli
33. Harvey
34. Williamson
35. Chanderpaul
36. G Smith
37. Cook
38. Pietersen
39. A Flower
40. Boycott
41. Lloyd
42. Hanif
43. Gooch
44. Merchant
45. Inzamam
46. Worrell
47. Clarke
48. Laxman
49. Jayawardene
50. Kirsten

🔥
 
1) "The Don of Cricket" Sir Donald Bradman.

2) "The Hobbit" Jack Hobbs

3) "The Greatest Allrounder" Gary Sobers

4) "Mr Wisden" Ken Barrington

5) "The Actor" Greg Chappel

6) "Finest Left Hander Ever Produced" Graeme Pollock

7) "Smudge" Steve Smith

8) "The Final Test" Len Hutton

9) "Mr Verstalility" Wally Hammond

10) "No Cover Drives" Sachin Tendulkar

11) "Does not Bowl" Herbert Sutcliff

12) "Khabi Anjabi" Sunil Gavaskar

13) "Fire in Babylon" Sir Vivian Richards

14) "Mr 400" Brian Lara

15) "The 2nd Actor" Allan Border

16) "The Greatest Captain" Ricky Ponting

17) "The No 1 Test run scorer" Joe Root

18) "The Wall" Rahul Dravid

19) "The UAE Master" Younis Khan

20) "The Surgeon" Javed Miandad

21) "The 2nd Greatest Allrounder" Jack Kallis

22) "The Black Bradman" Georg Headley

23) "Hero of Barbados" Frank Worrell

24) "Three W's" Clyde Walcott

25) "Mr Executive" Steve Waugh

26) "Mr 380" Matthew Hayden

27) "Test Explosion" Virender Sehwag

28) "Captain Collected" Inzimam ul Haq

29) "Mr 360" Ab De Villers

30) "Underrated Gem" Kumar Sangakkara

31) "SA's Greatest Captain" Graeme Smith

32) "Classic" Neil Harvey

33) "Mr Controversy" Geoff Boycott

34) "700+ Runs in Ashes" Sir Alastair Cook

35) "The Greatest Keeper" Adam Gilchrist

36) "Aloo Chaat" Micheal Clarke

37) Zimbabwe's Greatest" Andy Flower

38) "Technique Personification" Mohammad Yousaf

39) "Mr Flamboyant" Micheal Hussey

40) "10 batters > 🫠" Shivnarine Chanderpaul

41) "Mr Elegant" Mahela Jayawardena

42) "New Era" Justin Langer

43) "3rd Actor" David Gower

44) "Another Underrated Gem" Kane Williamson

45) "Technique personified " Martin Crow

46) "England's Speed Gun" Kevin Pietersen

47) "Black British Gentlemen" Clive Llyod

48) "Slightly Overrated" Gordon Greenidge

49) "Our Ex Coach" Gary Kristen

50) "Biggest Dissapointment of the Century" Virat Kohli

@sweep_shot @Ice Man

Definitive list. Kohli barely makes it, but tbf 30 centuries + close to 9K will put you their despite that embrassing 27 avg.

Any moron putting vvs laxman in their list at the top is a 🤡. First tell Laxman to learn how to open and play odi and then we will talk.
 
Haha, putting Mohammad Yousuf there, who can’t play spin in India and Sri Lanka and can’t play pace and bounce in Australia and South Africa, ahead of VVS- the giant against the GOAT Australians and the king of pressure games and claiming he should open in ODIs lol for a list in test cricket is more comical than anything else and proves the poster as actually a bigger 🤡
:inti
 
Haha, putting Mohammad Yousuf there, who can’t play spin in India and Sri Lanka and can’t play pace and bounce in Australia and South Africa, ahead of VVS- the giant against the GOAT Australians and the king of pressure games and claiming he should open in ODIs lol for a list in test cricket is more comical than anything else and proves the poster as actually a bigger 🤡
:inti
Yousaf avg 52, laxman avg 45 at no 6 when the ball is old ans its the easiest position to play in :vk2 .

Ofcourse laxman managed to score against the old ball in aus and sa 🤣🤣. The ball was dead 💀.

And I find it funny how indians dont have the b@lls to address me. Whats funny is that this list is identical to the list I made a few days ago with a few minor differences and you were claiming it was a good list and praising it.

Biggest hypocrite of all time.

Let me get the screen shot exposing this backtracking clown.
 
Laxman isnt even better then kohli in test. But I cant do anything.

The 🤡 gang has an entire thread arguing laxman > Younis lol.
 
Haha, putting Mohammad Yousuf there, who can’t play spin in India and Sri Lanka and can’t play pace and bounce in Australia and South Africa, ahead of VVS- the giant against the GOAT Australians and the king of pressure games and claiming he should open in ODIs lol for a list in test cricket is more comical than anything else and proves the poster as actually a bigger 🤡
:inti
Indeed Yousuf could have done better, but he wasn't as bad as you are suggesting. He also has a double hundred at Lords. There are not many people who have done that.

 
Indeed Yousuf could have done better, but he wasn't as bad as you are suggesting. He also has a double hundred at Lords. There are not many people who have done that.

Not about a specific century or double but its about the runs in tough conditions against the tough ones.he had a quite a bad avg against aus, ind, nz, lanka.i will love too see Anwar in place of him. Never saw such talented batsmen from pak.I will like to see zaheer abbas, javed, younus and Anwar from pak in the list.
 
Indeed Yousuf could have done better, but he wasn't as bad as you are suggesting. He also has a double hundred at Lords. There are not many people who have done that.

My bad if you don’t agree with my relatively harsh opinion on Yousuf but that was specifically for that other poster who was specifically insulting one of the player that I named in my list and has been doing this from long time even though I have given a honest assessment of my top 50 test batsman of all time in one of my above post.
 
I’ll remove the oldies and only put in players I’ve either watched or heard second hand account with some footage too.

1. Viv Richards - definition of clutch, didn’t chase records or stat pad, once his job was done, he got bored and chilled. Way ahead of his time in scoring rate and one of his best qualities, I’ve never seen a player hit so many good balls to the boundary and sometimes sixes. One of a kind.


2. Brian Lara - exquisite timer of the ball. The one player I feared when the Ws were at their peak. Could hit the same ball in multiple directions at will. He had his bad patches, where he looked disinterested. This even adds to his greatness. Even then he made you sit up and take notice. I particularly remember some 50s he made in the 1994/5 series vs Australia, breathtaking shots, prob at his most disinterested time. Then the comeback in the 1999 series. Poetic.


3. Garry Sobers. He may have been higher on the list if I had watched him live. But I’ve heard some accounts from second hand sources in the generation previous to mine. His numbers speak for themselves and I’ve watched enough of his footage to know he was special.


4. Ricky Ponting. I’m a guy for peaks. Ricky may not have finished his career well, but his peak was simply monumental.


5. Sangakarra - sorry, i hate state but I just can’t ignore his numbers or his breathtaking strokeplay.


6. Javed Miandad. Average never dipped below 50 from his debut. Some nefarious individuals have tried to paint him as a benefactor to local umpiring which he proved completely wrong by scoring daddy doubles abroad. He had a question mark vs West Indies and in the 1988 tour scored a beautiful century to completely disprove that too. Daddy of improvisation, way ahead of his time.


7. Sunil Gavaskar. As annoying as he is in the commie box nowadays I can’t begrudge him is place in history, took on the quickest bowlers in the world and never backed down.


8. Jacques Kallis - he would be higher on this list if he wasn’t so one dimensional, but to hold together a very inconsistent batting order for near 20 years is no mean feat, and that average for someone considered an allrounder is remarkable.


9. Rahul Dravid. For so long the unsung hero, he really came in to his own in the 2011 series vs England and schooled all his team-mates on how to play the moving ball. Yes the wall was breached by some great Pakistani bowling, but that’s nothing to be ashamed of


10. Joe Root. I suspect he’ll be higher on the list by the time he retires and if he adds some more ashes tons.
 
There will be a few entries by India, Aus, Eng to the list over the years.

Pak, WI etc sadly seem to have left test cricket by and I don't seen anyone else entering again.
 
Laxman isnt even better then kohli in test. But I cant do anything.

The 🤡 gang has an entire thread arguing laxman > Younis lol.
They rate Laxman because he played more clutch innings than tendi, so they want him on the list.

The problem is if that is your criteria and you start denigrating other players with much better records than Laxman, then you can apply the same to tendi, but they can’t bring themselves to say that.

In a pickle are our “friends” across the border.
 
There will be a few entries by India, Aus, Eng to the list over the years.

Pak, WI etc sadly seem to have left test cricket by and I don't seen anyone else entering again.
These entries are going to be subjectives. These lists will be getting more and more pointless. Almost all great cricketers don't like comparing players across eras. Dravid, Akram many players in their recent interview said the same.Just live in the present and enjoy the contest. Gill has done something nobody has done ever in 150 plus year cricket history. A 200 and 150 in the same test. Didn't come in a pointless drawn test like Lara's 400, 375 came in.
 
I’ll remove the oldies and only put in players I’ve either watched or heard second hand account with some footage too.

1. Viv Richards - definition of clutch, didn’t chase records or stat pad, once his job was done, he got bored and chilled. Way ahead of his time in scoring rate and one of his best qualities, I’ve never seen a player hit so many good balls to the boundary and sometimes sixes. One of a kind.


2. Brian Lara - exquisite timer of the ball. The one player I feared when the Ws were at their peak. Could hit the same ball in multiple directions at will. He had his bad patches, where he looked disinterested. This even adds to his greatness. Even then he made you sit up and take notice. I particularly remember some 50s he made in the 1994/5 series vs Australia, breathtaking shots, prob at his most disinterested time. Then the comeback in the 1999 series. Poetic.


3. Garry Sobers. He may have been higher on the list if I had watched him live. But I’ve heard some accounts from second hand sources in the generation previous to mine. His numbers speak for themselves and I’ve watched enough of his footage to know he was special.


4. Ricky Ponting. I’m a guy for peaks. Ricky may not have finished his career well, but his peak was simply monumental.


5. Sangakarra - sorry, i hate state but I just can’t ignore his numbers or his breathtaking strokeplay.


6. Javed Miandad. Average never dipped below 50 from his debut. Some nefarious individuals have tried to paint him as a benefactor to local umpiring which he proved completely wrong by scoring daddy doubles abroad. He had a question mark vs West Indies and in the 1988 tour scored a beautiful century to completely disprove that too. Daddy of improvisation, way ahead of his time.


7. Sunil Gavaskar. As annoying as he is in the commie box nowadays I can’t begrudge him is place in history, took on the quickest bowlers in the world and never backed down.


8. Jacques Kallis - he would be higher on this list if he wasn’t so one dimensional, but to hold together a very inconsistent batting order for near 20 years is no mean feat, and that average for someone considered an allrounder is remarkable.


9. Rahul Dravid. For so long the unsung hero, he really came in to his own in the 2011 series vs England and schooled all his team-mates on how to play the moving ball. Yes the wall was breached by some great Pakistani bowling, but that’s nothing to be ashamed of


10. Joe Root. I suspect he’ll be higher on the list by the time he retires and if he adds some more ashes tons.
Javed actually scored two hundreds in that 1988 test series (3 tests) in the Caribbean, which was drawn 1-1.

 
Haha, putting Mohammad Yousuf there, who can’t play spin in India and Sri Lanka and can’t play pace and bounce in Australia and South Africa, ahead of VVS- the giant against the GOAT Australians and the king of pressure games and claiming he should open in ODIs lol for a list in test cricket is more comical than anything else and proves the poster as actually a bigger 🤡
:inti
1000030407.png1000030413.jpg


🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡. Ik right, imagine just imagine :vk2
 
They rate Laxman because he played more clutch innings than tendi, so they want him on the list.

The problem is if that is your criteria and you start denigrating other players with much better records than Laxman, then you can apply the same to tendi, but they can’t bring themselves to say that.

In a pickle are our “friends” across the border.
Laxman > Kohli > YK > Tendulkar because Impact :vk2 .

@Ab Fan shot himself in the foot with this one. I'm never letting these ss go.
 
Why is laxman even in the discussion? Outside of that one innings, he didn’t do anything noteworthy imo.
They are desperately trying to convince me Laxman a 45 avg batter is > Yousaf a 52 avg one.

Yousaf has more centuries and just 1k less runs despite playing 40 tests less then Laxman.

Unless you are an opener, no i repeat no 6 45 avg batsmen can be considered > a 52 middle order one under any circumstance.

Idc how many stats are filtered via stats guru.

Laxman played every team all over the globe, if you use arguments such as stats padder, HTB etc etc for other players like Williamson and sanga who inflated their stats then why isnt the same logic being applied to laxman?

This is why I appreciate @Narayana59 so much. People ignore that sachin's 53 avg exists cause of a 136 avg vs Bangladesh 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣. Remove minnow filters and you have a 51 avg batter
 
They are desperately trying to convince me Laxman a 45 avg batter is > Yousaf a 52 avg one.

Yousaf has more centuries and just 1k less runs despite playing 40 tests less then Laxman.

Unless you are an opener, no i repeat no 6 45 avg batsmen can be considered > a 52 middle order one under any circumstance.

Idc how many stats are filtered via stats guru.

Laxman played every team all over the globe, if you use arguments such as stats padder, HTB etc etc for other players like Williamson and sanga who inflated their stats then why isnt the same logic being applied to laxman?

This is why I appreciate @Narayana59 so much. People ignore that sachin's 53 avg exists cause of a 136 avg vs Bangladesh 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣. Remove minnow filters and you have a 51 avg batter

Younis and Yusuf against IND have:
One 300+ run partnership and two 200+ partnerships.

No wonder they are going to rate laxman higher who barely registered as a cricketer.
 
Younis and Yusuf against IND have:
One 300+ run partnership and two 200+ partnerships.

No wonder they are going to rate laxman higher who barely registered as a cricketer.
Laxman has 2-3 atg innings which honestly anyone would have after playing 134 test matches. Kohli has 30x more the amount playing an equivalent no.

Alastair Cook despite being an opener hence the 45 avg makes sense had a dream Ashes run scoring 700+ runs in Australia something even root has yet to achieve yet no one rates Cook > Root for obvious reasons.
 
Why is laxman even in the discussion? Outside of that one innings, he didn’t do anything noteworthy imo.
He played many great innings.

Adelaide 2003, Sydney 2003- He was key in drawing this series in Australia

Mohali test with the tail, he won India the game

Durban 2010 and Johannesburg 2006 vs South Africa

Columbo 2010 vs Sri Lanka

Napier 2009 vs New Zealand

Sydney 1999 and Perth 2008 vs Australia

Simply a phenomenal player under pressure situations

If we have to simply make arguments purely on stats, even Jadeja can be considered as the greatest all rounder since Sobers, Imran and Kallis and better than Botham and Kapil. Ashwin > Warne by that logic.
 
Younis and Yusuf against IND have:
One 300+ run partnership and two 200+ partnerships.

No wonder they are going to rate laxman higher who barely registered as a cricketer.
Yousuf has poor record in Australia, South Africa, India and Sri Lanka. He has stat padded heavily by averaging 240 in Bangladesh. Around 2006 onwards, Pakistani pitches were as flat as they come and hence it is hard to rate him very high. Both Inzy and Younis are better than Yousuf.
 
This is same as crying over how Jadeja is overrated. But at the same time the same poster would want me to not rate Jadeja high despite him averaging 25 with bowl and 37 with bat. That’s a moron there showing hypocrisy of highest order.

If you feel Ashwin and Jadeja are crap despite having such great stats over such a long period, have the guts to accept that your player can be crap also with the same standards. :kp
:inti
 
Yousuf has poor record in Australia, South Africa, India and Sri Lanka. He has stat padded heavily by averaging 240 in Bangladesh. Around 2006 onwards, Pakistani pitches were as flat as they come and hence it is hard to rate him very high. Both Inzy and Younis are better than Yousuf.
Add to that, the guy averages 29 against Australia, South Africa and Sri Lanka.
 
Add to that, the guy averages 29 against Australia, South Africa and Sri Lanka.
It is a perfect example of stat padding.
No other batsman in history can pile up meaningless runs in dead rubbers against weak opponents with such consistency. But when it comes to facing strong opponents, the weakness get exposed completely and all you are left with is a fraudulent statistics to play with - 240 average vs Bangladesh of 2000s lol.
 
He played many great innings.

Adelaide 2003, Sydney 2003- He was key in drawing this series in Australia

Mohali test with the tail, he won India the game

Durban 2010 and Johannesburg 2006 vs South Africa

Columbo 2010 vs Sri Lanka

Napier 2009 vs New Zealand

Sydney 1999 and Perth 2008 vs Australia

Simply a phenomenal player under pressure situations

If we have to simply make arguments purely on stats, even Jadeja can be considered as the greatest all rounder since Sobers, Imran and Kallis and better than Botham and Kapil. Ashwin > Warne by that logic.
Hahahaha, I knew you wouldn't have the b@lls to respond to my ss.
 
Hahahaha, I knew you wouldn't have the b@lls to respond to my ss.
What b@lls? Share the link and first read the context rather than throwing some random screenshots lol. That’s one of the very comical kids stuff that one can do but then it is expected of you.
 
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