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Who is the best ever player of spin?

zabalestmsm

zabalestmsm

ODI Debutant
Joined
Mar 31, 2013
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9,620
For me its Sarfraz Ahmed.

I have never seen a batsman who plays spin so confidently like Sarfraz. And his body language reveals as if he is enjoying it a lot like no one else.

He has been very impressive against all types of spin so far. And when I say he is the best ever, I mean it as overall or taking into account all types of spin bowlers.

The balance between his front foot and back foot game, while playing spin, is impressive. He reads the ball intelligently right at the time of release. Also plays spin impressively off the surface.

One recent excellent example was the neutralization of Herath at his home.

I have seen the likes of Tendulkars, Laras, Dravids, YK etc but they didnt impress me as much as he has when it comes to playing spin!

I think he would have impressed in Nagpur as well ;-)

Have your say? Who, according to you, is the best ever player of spin? Who do you think would have fared well on a pitch like Nagpur?
 
Zak_Fan said:
Sehwag.... daylight.... Lara/Dravid/etc etc.
Click to expand...

Remember his 200 when the team was all out for 320 odd against the likes of Murali and Mysterious Mendis. Only Gambhir was the other one to score a 50.

Actually, Gambhir wasn't a bad player of spin either.
 
Sidilicious said:
Remember his 200 when the team was all out for 320 odd against the likes of Murali and Mysterious Mendis. Only Gambhir was the other one to score a 50.

Actually, Gambhir wasn't a bad player of spin either.
Click to expand...

Right.. and Sehwag didn't just survive, he blasted the greatest spinners while playing at a SR of 100.
 
Sehwag and Lara overall.

In ODI, it's Dada.. The way he hit those sixes with oozing confidence, no one has matched that IMO
 
Of those I've seen live: Lara, KP, Sanga, MSD. That hack Marlon Samuels can be good at spin too.
 
Sehwag murdered spinners.

Old timers say Zaheer Abbas smashed spinners.

Lara was a great player of spin as well as Sangakara.
 
Denis Compton. He was as free of the crease as it was possible to be.
 
How can someone ignore Misbah, who is one of the most destructive against spinners? In fact, his release shots are mostly against spinners. And he doesn't miss.

Has owned peak Narine many times.

Not the greatest, but up there in the list.
 
I love Sarfraz, he is a gem of a player against spin. Not sure "best ever"

Guess some oldies, Zaheer, Gavasker or Miandad would take the title.

Sehwag did not play on rank turners like that seen this series
 
Zak_Fan said:
Sehwag.... daylight.... Lara/Dravid/etc etc.
Click to expand...

I agree.
6p6smt.png


Would also like to add misbah and gauti here.
 
Sehwag, Lara, Laxman (infact all fab5), Azharduddin, Inzy, YK, Sanga, Jaya from those that I've watched.

Though not great players overall, guys like Kambli, Sidhu, Salim Malik, Gambhir etc were quite excellent against spin.

Also have heard great things about Gavaskar, Vishwanath, Sobers, Kanhai, Hanif Mohammad, Miandad, Zaheer Abbas etc.
 
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Asadullah said:
Sehwag did not play on rank turners like that seen this series
Click to expand...

His knock on Galle was on rank turner when his team mates surrendered but he scored huge against Murali and Co. One of the best knocks on rank turners against quality spin.
 
Lara. Those 688 runs he made in 2002 against a rampant Murali was historic. Never seen any batsman on the losing side (a whitewash actually) dominate a series like that.
 
IndianWillow said:
Lara. Those 688 runs he made in 2002 against a rampant Murali was historic. Never seen any batsman on the losing side (a whitewash actually) dominate a series like that.
Click to expand...

Agree...that should be one of the greatest Individual batting performance in a series..unfortunately they lost 0-3.
 
Saeed Anwar, Brian Lara are 1st two names that come to mind when playing spin and dominating them and been excellent players of spin.
 
Zak_Fan said:
Sehwag.... daylight.... Lara/Dravid/etc etc.
Click to expand...

Id rank Navjot singh sidhu as just as good player of spin as sehwag! he dismantled both Murali and Warne in test matches and was a player who always dominated spinners in test matches.
 
Sidhu, Malik, Sehwag, SRT, Lara from older generation.

Kallis, YK, Dravid from the last generation.

Best in the last 25 years will be probably Lara and if not then Sehwag or Sidhu.

Seeing these Indian pitches reminded me SRT taking on Warne on wearing rank turner when he was turning big. Warne was bowling outside of leg stump and ball was ending up at off stump. One of the best dominating knocks which i somehow always remember when it comes to two iconic players going after each other. I think current Indian lot would have folded meekly against Warne on such tracks.

Other was off course, Lara going after Murali in SL. Sehwag in Galle...
 
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Sehwag was a beast against spinners. I'm not aware of about old generations but he murdered spinners in grave yards than anyone I've seen.
 
Lara, by some distance. It's a bit different to bang spinners on day 1 of a Test & batting on day 3-4-5 facing 600+ totals or chasing 300+

Those who think of Sehwag should watch archives of Lara's 2002 SRL tour - scored 600+ in 3 Test (40% of team total), not to mention his 153 against Warne & McGill (that series also had 2 of the best ever displays - 213 at Kingston & 100 at Antigua). And regarding Sarf being all time 😤.......

Among Indians, probably the best I have seen is Azhar - his 182 against ENG at Eden & 177* against SAF at Kanpur was probably the best ever use of wrist on a crumbling wicket. No memory of Sunny, but he must be someone among very best.

From PAK, Javed, by a day lights margin. Zaheer was a demolisher of spin while YK is probably more equiept than Z on turners. From SRL, it has to be Mahela; overall not that good, but Ashraful was very good against spin.

Outside Asia, among Aussies of my time AB & Mark comes to mind; but I guess the best ever was between Neil Hervey or Greg. Barry Richards is the best ever spin player not to play ever a spin based attack, but Bedo rates him as best & BSB doesn't praise someone, unless out classed. Richards was the demolisher of spin, but he hardly required to save a match on turners - among few times, measurably against Holland & Qadir, but did won a Test at Delhi on a underprepared track.

English cricket against spin is based on sweep, that too very ugly looking, probably Gooch was a bit better; since 60s, I think the best ever Englishman was KP, not sure though; Thorpe & Gatting are blown out of proportion by their tabloids. Before that, Compton indeed was outstanding, followed by Barrington, but nothing special.
 
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Sehwag for my money.

Never seen a player consistently treat great spinners like lulloo street kids over an extended test career.




Second would be Mohd Azharuddin.

Uff, that guy was a natural against spin!


Then Lara, Sidhu, Tendulkar, Laxman all pretty much the same.
 
Fahdi said:
Sehwag murdered spinners.

Old timers say Zaheer Abbas smashed spinners.

Lara was a great player of spin as well as Sangakara.
Click to expand...

He also looked retarded vs many spinners. I guess that's the down side of attacking all spinners.
 
Misbah, the guy destroyed Adil Rashid, hit him six with the break, something which rarely any batsmen could do.

Although Misbah does have slight weakness against Left Arm spinners.

MIsbah dominates spinners veryw ell. He dominates spinners so well, that he is able to hide his pace weakness.
 
Buffet said:
Sidhu, Malik, Sehwag, SRT, Lara from older generation.

Kallis, YK, Dravid from the last generation.

Best in the last 25 years will be probably Lara and if not then Sehwag or Sidhu.

Seeing these Indian pitches reminded me SRT taking on Warne on wearing rank turner when he was turning big. Warne was bowling outside of leg stump and ball was ending up at off stump. One of the best dominating knocks which i somehow always remember when it comes to two iconic players going after each other. I think current Indian lot would have folded meekly against Warne on such tracks.

Other was off course, Lara going after Murali in SL. Sehwag in Galle...
Click to expand...

Warne for some reason wasn't successful even against lesser Indian batsmen. SRT dominated him throughout, but during Warne's first tour to India, even Mumbai players like Amit Pagnis took him to the cleaners. Warne went for 0/111 of 16 overs and he never ever recovered from the reception he got in his first match in India.

http://static.espncricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1997-98/AUS_IN_IND/AUS_BOM_24-26FEB1998.html
 
IndianWillow said:
Warne for some reason wasn't successful even against lesser Indian batsmen. SRT dominated him throughout, but during Warne's first tour to India, even Mumbai players like Amit Pagnis took him to the cleaners. Warne went for 0/111 of 16 overs and he never ever recovered from the reception he got in his first match in India.

http://static.espncricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1997-98/AUS_IN_IND/AUS_BOM_24-26FEB1998.html
Click to expand...

Because our pacers never got any wickets, so by the time Warne bowled he was bowling to well set batters on their home turf and they belted him. But on the one tour we won he took a handy 14 wickets at 30.
 
Azhauddin and Salim Malik from the ones that I have seen

I have heard about Zaheer, Gavaskar and Javed a lot

I don't think that Sarfaraz is the best ever though .. not even close.

Sehwag and Saeed Anwar were beasts against spin too.

Lara i have not seen much too. Laxman was never my cup of tea, never rated him. He was bowled way too often rather ineptly against us - he may have scored but all i remember is his stumps flying left right and center.
 
IndianWillow said:
Warne for some reason wasn't successful even against lesser Indian batsmen. SRT dominated him throughout, but during Warne's first tour to India, even Mumbai players like Amit Pagnis took him to the cleaners. Warne went for 0/111 of 16 overs and he never ever recovered from the reception he got in his first match in India.

http://static.espncricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1997-98/AUS_IN_IND/AUS_BOM_24-26FEB1998.html
Click to expand...

Even before that, if I can recall correctly; it was first Kambli, who first man handled him - 35 of 2 overs or so, or something like that (3 sixes & 2 boundaries in 1 over) in Sharjah. After that, Malik played him very well.
 
Brian Charles Lara...Sehwag...Saeed Anwar...Gavaskar,Zaheer,Maindad,YK....and the King-he makes his living off bashing spinners
 
freelance_cricketer said:
Sehwag for my money.

Never seen a player consistently treat great spinners like lulloo street kids over an extended test career.




Second would be Mohd Azharuddin.

Uff, that guy was a natural against spin!


Then Lara, Sidhu, Tendulkar, Laxman all pretty much the same.
Click to expand...

lol...Yea...Surprised nobody mentioned Azhar. Although he did look sketchy at times he was always in control
 
Sehwag,Sachin,VVS,Azhar,Gavaskar,Zaheer Abbas,Lara .

And who is the OP talking about?
 
Agree with the guys on the list, Sehwag, Sidhu, Lara, Malik, Dravid and Sanga were all brilliant. I would like add Mike Gatting and Carl Hooper to the list.
 
I will have to go with Gillespie. The only night watchmen to score 200+ facing the lethal Rafik
 
I thi k there are two categories of 'good' players of spins that people don't care to mention. The accumulating good players and the spin destroyers which is why I tend to rate Sehwag in particularly much much higher because in his 80-90 tests career , not once did i ever see him treat a spinner with respect and he faced Warne, Murali, Saqlain, Swann, Vettori, Herath, Mendis, McGill, Shakib, Afridi etc and every Indian spinner in domestic competitions. Overall I do not recall any great batsman destroying spinners like he could with one eye closed.


Younis, VVS were great at negating spin but Sehwag, Lara and young Sachin till 2000s were spin bashers.
 
freelance_cricketer said:
I thi k there are two categories of 'good' players of spins that people don't care to mention. The accumulating good players and the spin destroyers which is why I tend to rate Sehwag in particularly much much higher because in his 80-90 tests career , not once did i ever see him treat a spinner with respect and he faced Warne, Murali, Saqlain, Swann, Vettori, Herath, Mendis, McGill, Shakib, Afridi etc and every Indian spinner in domestic competitions. Overall I do not recall any great batsman destroying spinners like he could with one eye closed.


Younis, VVS were great at negating spin but Sehwag, Lara and young Sachin till 2000s were spin bashers.
Click to expand...

Sehwag never treated any bowler with respect, no just spinners. This worked against spinners very well. But this was actually one of his weakness while playing abroad. He would try to smash bowlers like McGrath from the word go, and the result can be seen in his mediocre away average.
 
But that worked again spin perfectly. If he wasn't such a flawless spin basher he would have struggled to dominate them with such a bold attitude. That 200 at Galle was stuff of Gods.
 
IndianWillow said:
Sehwag never treated any bowler with respect, no just spinners. This worked against spinners very well. But this was actually one of his weakness while playing abroad. He would try to smash bowlers like McGrath from the word go, and the result can be seen in his mediocre away average.
Click to expand...

It worked against gun bowlers as well when they were bowling on flat pitches. Check how many gun knocks he has against gun bowlers.
 
Lara easily out of the ones I've seen. Legend!
 
Buffet said:
It worked against gun bowlers as well when they were bowling on flat pitches. Check how many gun knocks he has against gun bowlers.
Click to expand...

In Asia Sehwag was a monster against all bowlers, but spinners really feared him because Sehwag used to score at strike rates exceeding 120 against spinners. Use two spinners in tandem against Sehwag on an Asian wicket and you might see 200 runs in a session.
 
Watched a lot of cricket videos today out of boredom. Sehwag is like head and shoulders above anyone ever.

The sheer number of quality spinners he has smashed with utter ease in his career, is simply, insane.

Warne, Murali, Macgill, Saqlain, Price, Swann, Mendis, Narine, Afridi, Ajmal he smashed them to all corners.

Lara was amazing but even he didn't destroy spinners like Sehwag did as if they were second class citizens.
 
A few that I recall - Azharuddin, Mohammad Yousuf, Brian Lara and Dravid.

The best that I have ever seen though was Saleem Malik - he played Shane Warne as if he was a club bowler. Mesmerising strokeplay, brilliant footwork and such a vast array of strokes.
 
Virender Sehwag. Good players play spin well. Sehwag outright destroyed spinners. Doesn't matter if they're good, great, ATG, mystery or whatever.
 
Sehwag.

Among Pakistani batters, Shoaib Malik is brilliant against spin I believe.
 
Inzi, Younis, Misbah, Both Maliks, Kallis(pretty underrated against spin, Sangakkara(absolutely butched a peak ajmal everytime he faced him), Lara( they way he decimated murali and co), Tendulkar, Dravid in no particular order.
 
One thing all these players have in common is that they were not afraid to use their feet and come down the wicket to spinners - not many players do that nowadays especially not early on in their innings. The great players of spin just didnt give spinners an opportunity to settle.
 
I think Sehwag was still the most destructive against any spinner. Lara struggled a bit against Kumble and Saqlain. Likewise, Sanga didn't do that well against Warne or in India. Sehwag consistently took apart every single spinner he met - Saqi, Warne, Murali, Mendis, Narine , Afridi etc. etc.
 
There is one thing in handling spinners with ease. Many players mostly from subcontinent will make thus list. Eg Dravid, Sangakkara, Younis, Laxman, Malik, Dhoni, Malik etc

Then there are players who treated some great spinners as second clsss citizens of the society at their peak. Eg Tendulkar, Abbass, Ganguly etc


Then there are players who treated some great spinners as second clsss citizens of the society throughout their career. Eg Lara, Azharuddin


Then there are players who treated all great spinners as second class citizens of the society throughout their career. Eg Sehwag
 
Getting a fast double hundred on a spinning pitch against Mendis and Murali when everyone else was failing is proof that Sehwag was the GOAT against spinners. He was not even a traditional opener but managed to become one of the best openers and biggest draws in test cricket ever.
 
Younus for Pakistan.

But in terms of completely demoralizing and destroying spinners, it has to be Sehwag and Lara.
 
Asadullah said:
I love Sarfraz, he is a gem of a player against spin. Not sure "best ever"

Guess some oldies, Zaheer, Gavasker or Miandad would take the title.

Sehwag did not play on rank turners like that seen this series
Click to expand...

Came here to say this!

YK was a beast as well!
 
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