ICC All Time Test Batsman Rankings
By: Subhadeep Bhattacharjee
There has been a huge hue and cry over Sachin Tendulkar's omission from the Top 20 Test batsman of all times. The International Cricket Council has come up with an argument that the player's performance at his peak has been judged. Also the player's performance in respect to the results of the game has been taken into consideration.
True cricket is a team sport and the results are the ultimate judgement but why then do the rankings says 'All-time ICC Test Batsman' and not All-Time-Team-Man' or something else. These rankings will bar players like Andy Flower and Arjuna Ranatunga as most of their good knocks went in vain as they ended up on the loosing side.
Leaving the case of Sachin Tendulkar apart there have been many surprises in the rankings. Apart from a few names like Donald Bradman, Jack Hobbs, Len Hutton, Sunil Gavasker, Viven Richards, Garry Sobers, Graeme Pollock most of the positions in the rankings are debatable.
Some of the highlights of the rankings are:
At No 3 is Ricky Pointing who has been a part of a champion side and in most part of his career never played quality fast bowling.
At No 6 is Kumar Sangakkara who has barely 70 test matches under his belt. Although a good player of both spin and pace he has nothing outstanding to boast about.
At No 12 is Mohammad Yousuf of Pakistan who apart from a great season two years back wasn't even considered the best batsman in his team.
At No 17 is Michael Hussey of Australia who is barely 33 test matches old in the game. Perhaps his greatest achievement has been playing the longest number of test innings without a duck.
Now consider the names which haven't figured on the Top 20 of the ICC All Time Great Players
Sachin Tendulkar – 12429 runs @ 56
Allan Border - 11174 runs @ 51
Steven Waugh – 10927 runs @ 51
Brian Lara – 11953 runs @ 53
Rahul Dravid - 10509 runs @ 52
Clive Lloyd - 7515 runs @ 47
David Gower – 8231 runs @ 46
The list of such players is endless and may include names like Hanif Mohmmmad, Colin Cowdrey, Zaheer Abbas, Gordon Greenidge, Frank Worrell and many others. Many of these legends did not play in the days of slow motion and ultra motion. There are no highlights of many of their great knocks for the jury to see but no one stopped them from using some bit of their grey matter.
There has been a huge hue and cry over Sachin Tendulkar's omission from the Top 20 Test batsman of all times. The International Cricket Council has come up with an argument that the player's performance at his peak has been judged. Also the player's performance in respect to the results of the game has been taken into consideration.
True cricket is a team sport and the results are the ultimate judgement but why then do the rankings says 'All-time ICC Test Batsman' and not All-Time-Team-Man' or something else. These rankings will bar players like Andy Flower and Arjuna Ranatunga as most of their good knocks went in vain as they ended up on the loosing side.
Leaving the case of Sachin Tendulkar apart there have been many surprises in the rankings. Apart from a few names like Donald Bradman, Jack Hobbs, Len Hutton, Sunil Gavasker, Viven Richards, Garry Sobers, Graeme Pollock most of the positions in the rankings are debatable.
Some of the highlights of the rankings are:
At No 3 is Ricky Pointing who has been a part of a champion side and in most part of his career never played quality fast bowling.
At No 6 is Kumar Sangakkara who has barely 70 test matches under his belt. Although a good player of both spin and pace he has nothing outstanding to boast about.
At No 12 is Mohammad Yousuf of Pakistan who apart from a great season two years back wasn't even considered the best batsman in his team.
At No 17 is Michael Hussey of Australia who is barely 33 test matches old in the game. Perhaps his greatest achievement has been playing the longest number of test innings without a duck.
Now consider the names which haven't figured on the Top 20 of the ICC All Time Great Players
Sachin Tendulkar – 12429 runs @ 56
Allan Border - 11174 runs @ 51
Steven Waugh – 10927 runs @ 51
Brian Lara – 11953 runs @ 53
Rahul Dravid - 10509 runs @ 52
Clive Lloyd - 7515 runs @ 47
David Gower – 8231 runs @ 46
The list of such players is endless and may include names like Hanif Mohmmmad, Colin Cowdrey, Zaheer Abbas, Gordon Greenidge, Frank Worrell and many others. Many of these legends did not play in the days of slow motion and ultra motion. There are no highlights of many of their great knocks for the jury to see but no one stopped them from using some bit of their grey matter.
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