Harsh Thakor
First Class Star
- Joined
- Oct 1, 2012
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For sheer artistry and batting prowess arguably few batsmen were the equal of Gundappa Vishwanath. In his era Vishy took batting art to the sublime taking batting art to depths rarely attained before.He could simple caress the quickest of deliveries to the fence with the most delicate of touches.His strokes exuded the grace of a lotus blooming and the skill and creativity of a magician.His best cut shots or flicks were executed with the touches of a painter's brush.Vishy was a surgeon,architect and poet rolled into one.In 1974-75 against West Indies he topped the batting averages at 56.8.His unbeaten 97 at Madras was ranked amongst Wisden's top 6 test innings ever where he revealed cricketing genius at it's greatest height.On bad wickets he overshadowed the great Sunil Gavaskar with his unbeaten 124 at Madras in 1978-79 versus West Indies a perfect example.His He did not have the statistical figures of Gavaskar but when the chips were down he would often outscore him.India never lost a test where Vishy scored a century.To me a fifty of a hundred by Vishwanath would make a greater impact on a test match than that of Sunny,even if Sunny was overall clearly the greater batsmen.Against pure pace Vishy would overshadow Gavaskar ,particularly on a bouncy track.Arguably his 75 v West Indies at Edgbaston in the 1975 Prudential world cup was the best ever innings played against that great pace quartet.Vishy had a big hand in India's record run chase of 406 runs at Port of Spain in 1975-76 scoring 112.In 1976 at Wellington he scored two 70's showing judgement rarely seen on seaming tops in overcast conditions.I can also never forget the role Vishy played in saving the Delhi test v England in 1981-82,tests at Old Trafford and the Oval in 1982 and in India winning the 1980-81 Melbourne test.Sadly Vishy did not play English 1st class cricket,Rest of the world Australia unofficial tests,WSC supertests or many ODI's.An overall test average of 41.93 hardly did justice to Vishy's true abilty.In the modern era he may well have averaged around 50 and been an all-time O.D.I.player.
What may have gone against Vishy being classed with the greats like Viv Richards was that he often threw his wicket away and did not attain the level of concentration of Gavaskar.On his day it was difficult envisaging even Viv surpass the creative genius of Vishy.However he fell into patches of inconsistency like against pakistan at home in 1979-80.Away from home he never emulated Sunil Gavaskar's mammoth 221 at the Oval , Viv Richard's 291 at the Oval ,Zaheer Abbas's 274 at Edgbaston or even Majid Khan's 167 at Georgetown.
How did Vishy compare with his contemporary stylist,Zaheer Abbas?Unlike Zaheer Abbas Vishy never scored a double hundred away who acheived the landmark twice in England and twice at home.Nor did he have as good an agregate or average facing the likes of Dennis Lillee as Zaheer Abbas in 1976-77.Vishy averaged over 50 against a depleted Aussie attack in 1977-78.Still his 114 at Melbourne ressurecting India from the grave was a classic.In a crisis I feel he was better than Zaheer Abbas and against genuine pace or on fast wicket.Vishy had a considerably better record against West Indies.Overall Zaheer fared better in England and Australia.Conclusively thus Zaheer was by a whisker a better candidate for selection in a world xi.
Clive Lloyd had a considerably better record against top quality Australian pace on 3 tours in 1975-76,1979-80 and 1981-82.He was considerably more consistent towards the end of his career.Still,till 1981-82 Vishy averaged marginally more than Clive at around 44.For many parts of his career Vishy 's test average was marginally ahead of Lloyd's,which eventually climbed to 46.67.Lloyd had the advantage of playing for a team of world -beaters.What would win the place for Lloyd finally was his great role as a skipper.
To me from 1974-76 , before the advent of Viv Richards in prime ,Vishy may just have scraped into the world test xi in place of Zaheer Abbas against hostile pace.Clive Lloyd would have been his major competitor in 1975 and 79.In 1976- 80 he would have been edged out by Viv Richards and the Chappel brothers or Clive Lloyd.In Australia in 1972 it could have been a neck to neck tussle with Zaheer Abbas for a pace in a world xi.
What may have gone against Vishy being classed with the greats like Viv Richards was that he often threw his wicket away and did not attain the level of concentration of Gavaskar.On his day it was difficult envisaging even Viv surpass the creative genius of Vishy.However he fell into patches of inconsistency like against pakistan at home in 1979-80.Away from home he never emulated Sunil Gavaskar's mammoth 221 at the Oval , Viv Richard's 291 at the Oval ,Zaheer Abbas's 274 at Edgbaston or even Majid Khan's 167 at Georgetown.
How did Vishy compare with his contemporary stylist,Zaheer Abbas?Unlike Zaheer Abbas Vishy never scored a double hundred away who acheived the landmark twice in England and twice at home.Nor did he have as good an agregate or average facing the likes of Dennis Lillee as Zaheer Abbas in 1976-77.Vishy averaged over 50 against a depleted Aussie attack in 1977-78.Still his 114 at Melbourne ressurecting India from the grave was a classic.In a crisis I feel he was better than Zaheer Abbas and against genuine pace or on fast wicket.Vishy had a considerably better record against West Indies.Overall Zaheer fared better in England and Australia.Conclusively thus Zaheer was by a whisker a better candidate for selection in a world xi.
Clive Lloyd had a considerably better record against top quality Australian pace on 3 tours in 1975-76,1979-80 and 1981-82.He was considerably more consistent towards the end of his career.Still,till 1981-82 Vishy averaged marginally more than Clive at around 44.For many parts of his career Vishy 's test average was marginally ahead of Lloyd's,which eventually climbed to 46.67.Lloyd had the advantage of playing for a team of world -beaters.What would win the place for Lloyd finally was his great role as a skipper.
To me from 1974-76 , before the advent of Viv Richards in prime ,Vishy may just have scraped into the world test xi in place of Zaheer Abbas against hostile pace.Clive Lloyd would have been his major competitor in 1975 and 79.In 1976- 80 he would have been edged out by Viv Richards and the Chappel brothers or Clive Lloyd.In Australia in 1972 it could have been a neck to neck tussle with Zaheer Abbas for a pace in a world xi.
