lets talk cricket here!!!!

so to start the conv let me ask you who you think is the best player that you have seen


Greatest Player ever that i seen - Kallis

for me Kallis > Tendulkar  and is one of the most underrated players in the world...

he has higher averages in all three formats then Tendulkar and has played almost the same amount of games as him.... and at the same time he all-rounder and pretty decent bowler

for me Kallis is the best ever All-rounder and player in cricket....that i have watched.....thats from the 90s

Kallis? i am South African but even i do not rate him at all. he is always a big game flop. his strike rate is mostly the reason why we always lose Wcs. sure, good for Tests, but when it matters, he is always the main reason we struggle for big scores. sure he keeps his wicket, but thats only important in Tests.
maybe im just not a fan of Tests at all. anyway Gibbs was more talented than him, but i guese he was the Balotelli of Cricket.

as for best player of all time that i have seen, i will say the little master.

Sachin and Lara played mcgrath Warne Murali Akram Waqar Pollack Donald Ambrose Kumble all at their best.All these bowlers all time greats.

Who exactly did kallis play.Just check his average vs Aussies when Warne was playing.And the pitches are lot more bowler friendly than the flat wickets we see nowadays.

None of these Kallis Sehwag Ponting Sangakara are comparable to Sachin Lara or even Steve Waugh just because they have better avergae.Scoring in 90s was far harder than scoring in the dead pitches of these days.

Heck the next argument will be because Samaraweera has has a better batting average than Richards mean he is better than Viv Richards?

See in the context of the time they played rather than just looking at averages.

Though agree Kallis is quite underrated as a bowler and could be argued as the 2nd greatest All rounder of all time in test cricket behind Sobers.

The best i have seen in tests:

Sachin
Lara
Warne
Murali

Odis:

Richards (Even if its in videos )
Sachin
Akram
Ambrose

My favourite player:

Lance Klusner .99 world cup

Tests>>>> ODIS >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>T20 (the sh*ttest game around).

Kallis isn't as good as Sachin, but he's not horribly overrated. He's a classy player. He's not an ODI player at all though, I agree.

At his best, Lara was the best batsman I've seen... he's awesome to watch. Super eye for the ball.

In terms of consistency and technique, Sachin... he's the little master.

Best to watch? Mark Waugh... My favourite batsman, at his best he was amazing. Such a gifted player who could block a ball for four, and make things seem effortless.

Bowlers? Warne and McGrath.

ODs > Tests & T20 for me atleast

I've met and seen live almost all the greatest players of the last 20 years

There are too many variables to name one best player.

Steve Waugh was easily the best captain in the game I have ever seen and an amazing person as well.

Gilchrist was not only the best keeper I have ever seen play the game but most likely the best that has played the game period

Warne, McGrath and Ambrose were the best bowlers I have seen

For batsmen it gets tricky because there are so many that are so good, Lara, Sachin, Haydos, Ponting, Kallis, Sangakkara, Jaya, Sewag, Dravid, Yousuf, Miandad etc etc etc

Trott is imo a future star as well

But if I had to choose one player it would be Gilchrist he single handedly made cricket popular again when it was taking a huge turn for the worst, he bought in ratings and people to empty stadiums. Maybe not always effective but when he was, wow what a player to watch.

BarcaKizz wrote:
Best to watch? Mark Waugh... My favourite batsman, at his best he was amazing. Such a gifted player who could block a ball for four, and make things seem effortless.

Martyn is similarly amazing to watch.Always made scoring easy particularly against Spinners.

His century in chennai test in 2004 was one of the best centuries scored in India IMHO.one of my favorite players.I dont think Aus have produced a batsman who plays spin as good as Martyn in last 20 years imo.Highly underrated in that regard

BeautifulGame wrote:Sachin and Lara played mcgrath Warne Murali Akram Waqar Pollack Donald Ambrose Kumble all at their best.All these bowlers all time greats.

Who exactly did kallis play.Just check his average vs Aussies when Warne was playing.And the pitches are lot more bowler friendly than the flat wickets we see nowadays.

None of these Kallis Sehwag Ponting Sangakara are comparable to Sachin Lara or even Steve Waugh just because they have better avergae.Scoring in 90s was far harder than scoring in the dead pitches of these days.

Heck the next argument will be because Samaraweera has has a better batting average than Richards mean he is better than Viv Richards?

See in the context of the time they played rather than just looking at averages.

Though agree Kallis is quite underrated as a bowler and could be argued as the 2nd greatest All rounder of all time in test cricket behind Sobers.

The best i have seen in tests:

Sachin
Lara
Warne
Murali

Odis:

Richards (Even if its in videos )
Sachin
Akram
Ambrose

My favourite player:

Lance Klusner .99 world cup

BeautifulGame wrote:

BarcaKizz wrote:
Best to watch? Mark Waugh... My favourite batsman, at his best he was amazing. Such a gifted player who could block a ball for four, and make things seem effortless.

Martyn is similarly amazing to watch.Always made scoring easy particularly against Spinners.

His century in chennai test in 2004 was one of the best centuries scored in India IMHO.one of my favorite players.I dont think Aus have produced a batsman who plays spin as good as Martyn in last 20 years imo.Highly underrated in that regard

Yep, Martyn was another one of my favourite batsmen. Wonderful player. However, I'd say Clarkey is a better player of spin. Marto was good, but other players have been as good at playing spin.


@Crim: There's only one Gilly. I think its a shame he ended his career the way he did. Didn't get the send off he deserved. Only one other player can compare to Gilchrist in the regard we speak of, and thats Jayasuriya ...when he was on fire, he was on fire. I was at the SCG for his 150 odd off like 70 balls or something. He was seeing it like a watermelon that day.

Jayasuriya and Gilly opening the batting for an ODI team...

BarcaKizz wrote:

BeautifulGame wrote:

BarcaKizz wrote:
Best to watch? Mark Waugh... My favourite batsman, at his best he was amazing. Such a gifted player who could block a ball for four, and make things seem effortless.

Martyn is similarly amazing to watch.Always made scoring easy particularly against Spinners.

His century in chennai test in 2004 was one of the best centuries scored in India IMHO.one of my favorite players.I dont think Aus have produced a batsman who plays spin as good as Martyn in last 20 years imo.Highly underrated in that regard

Yep, Martyn was another one of my favourite batsmen. Wonderful player. However, I'd say Clarkey is a better player of spin. Marto was good, but other players have been as good at playing spin.


@Crim: There's only one Gilly. I think its a shame he ended his career the way he did. Didn't get the send off he deserved. Only one other player can compare to Gilchrist in the regard we speak of, and thats Jayasuriya ...when he was on fire, he was on fire. I was at the SCG for his 150 odd off like 70 balls or something. He was seeing it like a watermelon that day.

Jayasuriya and Gilly opening the batting for an ODI team...

haha Gilly's 57 ball century against England will go down as the best test 100 I have ever seen, it was just amazing....

Crimson wrote:

BarcaKizz wrote:

BeautifulGame wrote:

BarcaKizz wrote:
Best to watch? Mark Waugh... My favourite batsman, at his best he was amazing. Such a gifted player who could block a ball for four, and make things seem effortless.

Martyn is similarly amazing to watch.Always made scoring easy particularly against Spinners.

His century in chennai test in 2004 was one of the best centuries scored in India IMHO.one of my favorite players.I dont think Aus have produced a batsman who plays spin as good as Martyn in last 20 years imo.Highly underrated in that regard

Yep, Martyn was another one of my favourite batsmen. Wonderful player. However, I'd say Clarkey is a better player of spin. Marto was good, but other players have been as good at playing spin.


@Crim: There's only one Gilly. I think its a shame he ended his career the way he did. Didn't get the send off he deserved. Only one other player can compare to Gilchrist in the regard we speak of, and thats Jayasuriya ...when he was on fire, he was on fire. I was at the SCG for his 150 odd off like 70 balls or something. He was seeing it like a watermelon that day.

Jayasuriya and Gilly opening the batting for an ODI team...

haha Gilly's 57 ball century against England will go down as the best test 100 I have ever seen, it was just amazing....

So many incredible performances... His performance in the WC final was also one of the best sports performances I've ever seen.... Dayumm.

Gilcrist's first century in Perth (vs Pakistan 1999) and his century in Mumbai in 2001 were my favorites in tests.Both were Gilly at his counter attacking best.Cracking knocks in tough conditions and huge pressure.

@Barcakizz

I dont think Clarke is as good as Martyn against spin.I have seen him looking uncomfortable against spin when the ball turns in 2nd innings in India.Not saying he is poor but he isnt as good as Martyn IMO.I would say even Hussey is a better player of spin than Clarke.

I remember when Aus beat 3-0 Srilanka in Srilanka coming from behind after conceding 1st inns lead every time and Martyn (along with Lehman) was by far ur best player scoring centuries twice in 2nd innings against turning ball.This is when Murali was at his menacing best and pitches were turning square.

Then came to India and was ur best player again scoring 2nd innings centuriy against Kumble and Harbajan when Aus won the 2004 series.Heck he even scored a 50 in that Mumbai pitch.

Its one thing scoring centuries in sub continent when pitches are flat in 1st inns but scoring centuries when the ball is turning square in 2nd innings is what tests ur skill.

So as i said earlier I dont think Aus have produced a batsman who plays spin as good as Martyn in last 20 years imo.Atleast in my view.

His ability to play spin is ridiculously underrated imho

okay
lets face it now...
Sachin Tendulkar is THE GREATEST PLAYER in the History of Cricket
without question his dedication, his ability and his absolute class makes him stand out
forget Sunil Gavaskar or Don Bradman
this man is not just one of the greatest cricketers ever but one of the best sportsman on the planet

punkfusion1992 wrote:okay
lets face it now...
Sachin Tendulkar is THE GREATEST PLAYER in the History of Cricket
without question his dedication, his ability and his absolute class makes him stand out
forget Sunil Gavaskar or Don Bradman
this man is not just one of the greatest cricketers ever but one of the best sportsman on the planet

no just no

...Don't even dare compare him to Bradman...

Polo is the gentlemen's game, also referred to as "The Sport of Kings."

Is any watching the Madness!?!?!? This is insanity!

BarcaKizz wrote:...Don't even dare compare him to Bradman...

why not??
he has won it all
he has scored more runs than anyone else
he is 38!! and is still scoring hundreds after hundreds
he has had only 2-3 bad years when he got tennis elbow
seriously Bradman did it at a time when cricket was just starting to be played internationally and Sachin has been doing it consistently for over 22 years
i honestly doubt we will ever get a player as good as him

Shamirr wrote:Is any watching the Madness!?!?!? This is insanity!

just checked the scored!!!!!

WTF is happening

23 wickets fallen in one day!!!!! 31 in two days!!!!

okay but seriously some of my favorite players, btw i was an all rounder, spinner/4th batsman.
Sachin
Lara (<3)
Murali
Vettori(seriously inspirational)
Kumble
Dravid(techniquewise was impeccable)
Gilly
Dinesh Karthik(he came for a day at my training camp and he was the nicest guy)
Jayasuria
Waugh Bros
Kevin Pietersen
Makhaya Ntini
Shaun Pollock
Shivvy Chanderpaul( Open batting style was epic)

also i really like, as an Indian man, Inzamam Ul-Haq
the man was respectful, fair and humble. You would never hear a bad thing out of his mouth in the post match
and he walked when he knew he was out

imalegend wrote:

Shamirr wrote:Is any watching the Madness!?!?!? This is insanity!

just checked the scored!!!!!

WTF is happening

23 wickets fallen in one day!!!!! 31 in two days!!!!

leave it to Amla
he will bring you guys to victory

Amla dropped off the last ball! The most eventful day of Test Cricket I have ever watched!

I have no idea what's going on because this is not a nightmare pitch, just some great bowling, some bad shot selection and some bad luck...

i have met inzi.... he is really nice person...

meet alot of paki crickets in my time.... as my uncle is the selector/coach for Lahore Lions and he trained Razzaq and Tahir when they were young..... i think i might have meet Razzaq when i was young...as my uncle used to take me training some times


and Dad played with the like of Imran Khan, Saleem Malik when they were in Uni....all used to play in the small place....the Pakistani team would stay at my uncles Hotel in Manchester


and Salman butt used to live near in my area and his family are known gamblers....


however when it comes to cricket skills i think it skipped my generation.... my Whole family are pretty good cricket players...many captain of their clubs/uni's in Lahore.`

i really wish we have test matches like this with bowler friendly wickets.just gives so much excitement ,i mean you anticipate,something is gonna happen every ball.I've always loved watching tests staged in south africa as it always has something for the pacers with some of the most bounciest pitches you'd get.Also Dale Steyn is currently my favourite player.

i hope they win something.i really love the South African cricket team.imo currently they have the best batsman(AB De villiers) and best fast bowler in the world.they are really like the Spain of cricket and they are very entertaining as well especially at home.in short i just love watching South Africa as i am a cricket enthusiast first and foremost and wont take loyalties into account.

In India though,we have curators preparing totally batsmen friendly wickets so its just becomes boring to watch a random batsmen making big scores and in turn the game would lead into a drab draw.there are some exceptions though.

Surag.Blueguy wrote:i really wish we have test matches like this with bowler friendly wickets.just gives so much excitement ,i mean you anticipate,something is gonna happen every ball.I've always loved watching tests staged in south africa as it always has something for the pacers with some of the most bounciest pitches you'd get.Also Dale Steyn is currently my favourite player.

i hope they win something.i really love the South African cricket team.imo currently they have the best batsman(AB De villiers) and best fast bowler in the world.they are really like the Spain of cricket and they are very entertaining as well especially at home.in short i just love watching South Africa as i am a cricket enthusiast first and foremost and wont take loyalties into account.

In India though,we have curators preparing totally batsmen friendly wickets so its just becomes boring to watch a random batsmen making big scores and in turn the game would lead into a drab draw.there are some exceptions though.

SA are the worst bottlers always failing in the semi's or quarters...

btw indian bowlers aren't that good atm, you couldn't call any of them world class...
so they have to use their advantage which is your batters...which is a also a disadvantage in the future for tests as your best 3 batters are all 37+...

and i don't see Kohli or Raina having the mentality to play Tests