Cricket - The Best Three

Donaldo

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Name the best three:

Batsmen

Bowlers

Fielders

from YOUR country. In order of preference. And none of that T20 nonsense here.
 
Can I have an exemption to the rule Don?

I was born in India, mothers family are from Pakistan and I have grown up in England.
 
Yuvraj best fielder?
He's become fat and lazy now and he's only 28.

Rohit much better than both Yuvraj and Dravid really. Dravid is exceptional only in the slips.
 
Batsmen:

Sachin
Sir Don Bradman and Allan Border
Lara/ Richards

Bowlers:
Spinners would be Warne, Kumble and Murali.
Pace men would be Glenn McGrath,Malcolm Marshall and Wasim Akram

Fielders:
Jonty Rhodes
Ricky Ponting the cnut
Suresh Raina/Kevin Pietersen/ Yuvraj Singh/ Paul Collingwood
 
Well I think I'll start with mine.

Batsmen -

3. Mohd Azharuddin

A favourite when I was growing up. Probably the most talented batsman in the early 90s along with Sachin. Lazy elegance, and a fantastic repertoire of strokes. Used to love his onside flick... Decent enough captain too. Shame about him being a fkin cheat but thats another story.

2. Sachin Tendulkar

I've gotten up at 4 to watch him bat, I've missed exams, found TV's in obscure places just to see him win us a game single handedly. Easily the best batsman of his generation and arguably of all time. Familiarity with his talent bred contempt for his failures for quite some time in the early 2000s, but his response to every single critique was decisive.

He has been part of my best memories of watching cricket growing up (two tons at Sharjah, Manchester, heartbreaking 136 at Chennai, THAT over in the Hero Cup, his pulverizing of SL in the WC96, 97 V Pak in WC03, smashing Warne to bits in 98, Centre fresh cards, cricket playing cards where he was the undisputed trump card).

1. Rahul Dravid

My favourite Indian cricketer of all time by far. The classiest, most hard working player in the team, and perhaps the fittest. There was a time in the 90s when people had started pointing fingers at him for his slow batting. He reinvented his stroke play in the ODI's, even kept wickets for the team. A very good captain and just a brilliant cricketer. One of the best Test batsmen we've ever produced.

Brilliant foil to Laxman with his 180 at Kolkata v the Aussies. I remember a 190 in extremely testing conditions at Hamilton as one of his finest knocks. His 145 against SL in WC99 was overshadowed by Gangulys 183 but it was a magnificent innings.
 
Redrage said:
Batsmen:

Sachin
Sir Don Bradman and Allan Border
Lara/ Richards

Bowlers:
Spinners would be Warne, Kumble and Murali.
Pace men would be Glenn McGrath,Malcolm Marshall and Wasim Akram

Fielders:
Jonty Rhodes
Ricky Ponting the cnut
Suresh Raina/Kevin Pietersen/ Yuvraj Singh/ Paul Collingwood
Click to expand...

feck me, your family's quite mad.
 
Donadol said:
Well I think I'll start with mine.


My favourite Indian cricketer of all time by far. The classiest, most hard working player in the team, and perhaps the fittest. There was a time in the 90s when people had started pointing fingers at him for his slow batting. He reinvented his stroke play in the ODI's, even kept wickets for the team. A very good captain and just a brilliant cricketer. One of the best Test batsmen we've ever produced.

Brilliant foil to Laxman with his 180 at Kolkata v the Aussies. I remember a 190 in extremely testing conditions at Hamilton as one of his finest knocks. His 145 against SL in WC99 was overshadowed by Gangulys 183 but it was a magnificent innings.
Click to expand...

A point that is often overlooked. You see players get older and their approach to the game differs, Dravid still does everything the exact same way.
 
3 best batsmen

3) Rahul Dravid- Reckon he will be very underrated as the time goes on. Could end up as one those forgotten legends. Away from home- 6569 runs, 57.12 average, 17 hundred, Never has a nickname been more apt. "The wall" indeed.

2) Sunil Gavaskar- 7 test centuries against Windies away from home with an average of 70 against that bowling attack and on those pitches. Enough said.

1) Sachin Tendulkar- Legend. As Donaldo said, our generation grew up with him. Won't list any stats for him, no point. Young prodigy, One man team, captain demanding perfection, Aussie killer, reluctant captain, steady hand, test average of less than 50 for sometime = blip, rejuvenation. Every moment in his career is still there in my mind. Chennai heartbreak, taming Warne, fighting century in Australia as a captain when no one else stood up..feck can't list all of them.
 
Bowlers

2. J Srinath

He makes it purely on the basis of his hard work and spirit when there wasn't a single decent bowler in sight in the 90s. Had quite some pace back in the day but reinvented himself after a shoulder injury. Accurate and persevering, he had a pretty good record in both ODIs and Tests. A workhorse with skill more than a showpony with pace, and one of the reasons(along with Kumble) Indian cricket didn't end up in the dumps in the 90s.


Srinath highlight - Smashing that git Ponting on his helmet and then getting abused by him. :lol: Also remember when he struck Pringle on the gloves in SA. Used to generate some crazy pace and bounce back then.



1. Kumble

The best Indian bowler of his generation. Not your classical leggie, but a mean wrong 'un and a brilliant flipper. Made some changes to his bowling after a shoulder surgery and came back and promptly took 10 wickets against Pak. Some brilliant performances against the Aussies away and the Saffers on his debut away series. Led India to almost as many test wins as Sachin, I would imagine.

Kumble highlights - Breaking his jaw and coming back to bowl in the second innings v WI. 8 wickets against the aussies at sydney (?). Titan cup semi v Australia, his partnership with Srinath.

I can't choose a third bowler for the life of me. Saw Kapil toward the end of his career, and he'd let himself go to pot by then. Zaheer, maybe.

But feck that. Venky Prasad just for that Aamir Sohail wicket.
 
I think Zaheer will end up on that list once he finishes his career. He's become very good at bowling with the old ball. I read a stat recently that said Zaheer has taken 100 wickets in the last 20 test matches India have won or something like that.

I'm just commenting on everyone's list and not making my own because I haven't seen cricket long enough.
 
Fielders

Robin Singh

From the original pack of good fielders in the 90s. Along with Jadeja he was one of the rare fielders who never fumbled, never thought twice about diving, and never raised their fecking hand to point to the fielder sweeping up behind them.

Mohd Kaif

Excellent excellent fielder and underrated batsman. Held a superb catch against Pakistan in Karachi I think. Agile and quick.

Suresh Raina

Easily the best in the Indian team atm.

Honorary mentions, Noel David, Ajay Jadeja, Yuvraj.
 
So you're of Indo-Aussie-Paki-Lankan-English-West Indian descent?

Please tell me there's some Chinese thrown in there as well?
 
3 Best Batsman

3) Ganguly

He is got to be surely one of our most influential player in the last 15 years or so, what a batsman and what a captain. His cover-drives are still amazing and the way he absolutely smashes the spinners for sixers is/was a treat to watch.
In addition be being an outstanding batsman, he was perhaps our best captain after Kapil Dev. The way he handled the team after the match-fixing debacle, promotion of Yuvi, Sehwag and Zaheer to the main team, making Steve Waugh wait at the toss and ofcourse this made him an outstanding captain.

Most Notable Innings- Scoring a century at Adelaide, 183 against Lanka at Taunton, Scoring a century in the Independence Cup Final(Remember that match?)

2) Dravid and 1) Tendulkar- Donadol has explained it better than I ever can
 
Donadol said:
So you're of Indo-Aussie-Paki-Lankan-English-West Indian descent?

Please tell me there's some Chinese thrown in there as well?
Click to expand...

Apart from the fact that I've had horrid experience with chinese hookers, I don't anything to with them.
 
Kevin Pietersen is a wank fielder. Collingwood shits on him in that respect.
 
zing said:
Yuvraj best fielder?
He's become fat and lazy now and he's only 28.

Rohit much better than both Yuvraj and Dravid really. Dravid is exceptional only in the slips.
Click to expand...
Dravid is a good fielder, and not just in slips. He might not be a flashy jumper. But he does a good job when he has fielded in the inner circle. I would have posted some youtube clips for you If I remembered which matches they were .

Rohit is a good fielder but he Yuvraj is one of those whom anyone can count on to come up with moments of brilliance while fielding. Its a give and take really to come up with best players across generations.... Saying that, I would happily put Robin Singh in the mix too.
 
The Taurean said:
Dravid is a good fielder, and not just in slips. He might not be a flashy jumper. But he does a good job when he has fielded in the inner circle. I would have posted some youtube clips for you If I remembered which matches they were .

Rohit is a good fielder but he Yuvraj is one of those whom anyone can count on to come up with moments of brilliance while fielding. Its a give and take really to come up with best players across generations.... Saying that, I would happily put Robin Singh in the mix too.
Click to expand...

He was an excellent short legger too, pretty reliable in the outfield too. I remember this one catch Dravid took of Moin Khan in Australia in 2000. Probably one of the best catches I've ever seen simply because the ball was travelling.

 
Donadol said:
Well he along with Robin were the only ones who gave some sort of a fight. 124 I think he scored, pretty good knock.
Click to expand...
Sachin gave us the start by taking us to 90 odd in 10 overs I think. Something like 45 was his score. Kanetkar won us the game in the end.
 
crappycraperson said:
3 best batsmen

3) Rahul Dravid- Reckon he will be very underrated as the time goes on. Could end up as one those forgotten legends. Away from home- 6569 runs, 57.12 average, 17 hundred, Never has a nickname been more apt. "The wall" indeed.

2) Sunil Gavaskar- 7 test centuries against Windies away from home with an average of 70 against that bowling attack and on those pitches. Enough said.

1) Sachin Tendulkar- Legend. As Donaldo said, our generation grew up with him. Won't list any stats for him, no point. Young prodigy, One man team, captain demanding perfection, Aussie killer, reluctant captain, steady hand, test average of less than 50 for sometime = blip, rejuvenation. Every moment in his career is still there in my mind. Chennai heartbreak, taming Warne, fighting century in Australia as a captain when no one else stood up..feck can't list all of them.
Click to expand...
That was such a disappointing moment. Having eased so far and being let down.
Probably that defeat in the semifinals of 96' world cup at Kolkata caused the same heartbreak.
 
Donadol said:
He was an excellent short legger too, pretty reliable in the outfield too. I remember this one catch Dravid took of Moin Khan in Australia in 2000. Probably one of the best catches I've ever seen simply because the ball was travelling.

Click to expand...

Exactly. This was what I intended to show to Zain. And not just this, he is one of the most reliable fielders too.

edit: i mean zing.:nervous:
 
The Taurean said:
Dravid is a good fielder, and not just in slips. He might not be a flashy jumper. But he does a good job when he has fielded in the inner circle. I would have posted some youtube clips for you If I remembered which matches they were .

Rohit is a good fielder but he Yuvraj is one of those whom anyone can count on to come up with moments of brilliance while fielding. Its a give and take really to come up with best players across generations.... Saying that, I would happily put Robin Singh in the mix too.
Click to expand...

Yuvraj hasn't come up with a moment of brilliance for more than a year now. He's sluggish in the field.

Dravid's a solid, very reliable fielder, but Rohit Sharma represents new Indian players who are athletic in the field.

YouTube - Indiaecho.com - IPL 3 - Rohit Sharma Won Kamaal Catch Award

Second and third catch. That's in the last 10 days.
 
Karan Mittal said:
Well you need someone to stay at the crease in a big chase
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He did not though, he got out about 40 runs before and at that time we were dead and buried. I actually remember shouting at him to get out before that. Being too harsh because bad light did not help but it was definitely not an innings which won us the match.
 
crappycraperson said:
He did not though, he got out about 40 runs before and at that time we were dead and buried. I actually remember shouting at him to get out before that. Being too harsh because bad light did not help but it was definitely not an innings which won us the match.
Click to expand...

Fair enough, I don't remember this match that well as I was 8 at that time.
 
The Taurean said:
Probably that defeat in the semifinals of 96' world cup at Kolkata caused the same heartbreak.
Click to expand...

That was a classic example of us being a one man team at times then.

Till Sachin was at crease, every thing seemed alright, no deamon in the pitch. As soon as he was dismissed....

In that WC it happened couple of times more..

His 137 against SRL was in vain because bowlers could not contain Jayasuriya.
Tried to win us the group game against Aussies with 80 or 90 odd but no support.
Saw through a deadly Ambrose spell against WI when it seemed he would run through us.
 
Karan Mittal said:
Fair enough, I don't remember this match that well as I was 8 at that time.
Click to expand...
heh..I was 13 I think. That season was incredible, Sachin scored like 9 ODI centuries with all time classic that is "Sharjah sand storm". Not to mention the 98/99 home series against Aussies which was very good as well.
 
zing said:
Yuvraj hasn't come up with a moment of brilliance for more than a year now. He's sluggish in the field.

Dravid's a solid, very reliable fielder, but Rohit Sharma represents new Indian players who are athletic in the field.

YouTube - Indiaecho.com - IPL 3 - Rohit Sharma Won Kamaal Catch Award

Second and third catch. That's in the last 10 days.
Click to expand...
Fair enough.
Players such as Raina, Kaif, Rohit Sharma, Vijay are brilliant fielders no doubt. But it would be an injustice to the players such as Jadeja, Robin Singh who did a good job in days where there was less emphasis on it, where state of grounds were not on par with the current grounds, a sound youth set-up.

As I stated before, I rate Dravid because of what he has done consistently over years even if the new breed of cricketers are better fielders.
 
crappycraperson said:
That was a classic example of us being a one man team at times then.

Till Sachin was at crease, every thing seemed alright, no deamon in the pitch. As soon as he was dismissed....

In that WC it happened couple of times more..

His 137 against SRL was in vain because bowlers could not contain Jayasuriya.
Tried to win us the group game against Aussies with 80 or 90 odd but no support.
Saw through a deadly Ambrose spell against WI when it seemed he would run through us.
Click to expand...

Yeah, Sachin's presence was such a huge factor then than it is now. Oh how we used to curse when things turned from rosy to dire just because Sachin got out and no one was around to take charge.
But still those were the days you will cherish having watched the Indian team play. Not just us but the rest of the world teams as well.
 
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