World wicket keepers, your rankings.

[social]

The way I look at it, every top batsman in world cricket has some sort of criticism levelled at him... except Dravid. Ponting - they say he can't play spin; Lara - less production in the second innings; Tendulkar - out of sorts for a while now; Hayden - weakness v the swinging ball. Dravid? Near perfect.

1. He can obviously play spin and pace superbly.
2. The man scores runs everywhere he bats.
Avge 64.72 in Oz
Avge 76.33 in Bangladesh
Avge 87.66 in England
Avge 51.43 in India
Avge 64.57 in New Zealand
Avge 77.25 in Pakistan
Avge 42.11 in South Africa
Avge 46.55 in Sri Lanka
Avge 63.66 in the West Indies
Avge 75.00 in Zimbabwe
3. He scores runs against the best (Avge 51.08 v Australia).
4. He scores big hundreds. 9 of his 20 hundreds have been over 150. He has 5 double hundreds in the bunch.
5. He contributes to victory. In games that India has won, Dravid averages 79.08 with 9 hundreds and 12 fifties. Only 1 duck.
6. He balances his gameplay. Dravid averages 51.16 in the second innings with 5 hundreds in 62 tries. Ponting is 40.64 with 1 hundred in 62 tries and Tendulkar is 46.48 with 9 hundreds in 77 tries.
7. Sheer weight of runs. In his last 34 Test matches, Dravid has averaged 70.14 with a century about every 3 Tests and a conversion rate of almost 48%. He's been dismissed for a duck 3 times in 56 innings.

Admittedly Ponting and Lara both have awesome stats in the period too, but what really is the weakness in Dravid's game? He has tremendous technique, temperament and is just a fine allround batsman.

Ask Glenn McGrath - he obviously has not found it too difficult to find.

Seriously, he's a fine player but Lara and Tendulkar are in a different league talent-wise.

 

[sledger]

not neccesarily, they have the most flair, but dravid beats them hands down technically, he is the most technically correct batsman there is.

 

[sledger]

Ill believe that when Dravid can:

a. dominate an attack rather than win a war of attrition;

b. rotate the strike; and

c. score runs consistently against McGrath.

Lara gives you more chances but slaughters attacks when in and, in doing so, has an average comparable to a "blocker" like Dravid.

Genius vs technician = Lara > Dravid

dravid is not a blocker, that is absurd. if he is a blocker then the same must apply to any other player who is capable of making a scrap and digging in. The fact that he can make huge scores seems to contradict this theory of him being a "blocker"

 

[Scallywag]

not neccesarily, they have the most flair, but dravid beats them hands down technically, he is the most technically correct batsman there is.

Technically correct, thats a funny description.

Does that mean he cant produce something out of the ordinary or cant make a shot from a technically good ball. Is he not creative and imaginitive, Most players that are refered to as technically correct are slow scorers who have no flair in their batting.

 

[social]

not neccesarily, they have the most flair, but dravid beats them hands down technically, he is the most technically correct batsman there is.

Not correct, he has flaws like all players and is certainly not as correct technically as Kallis, for example.

The Australians exploited his propensity to play from the crease with an angled bat (a flaw which sees him inside edge more than most) and he also plays very "low" against the spinners. Fortunately, he is gifted enough to overcome these on most occasions.

My main criticism of him is that he is a "one tempo" player. He'll grind away and hit bad balls for runs but can be contained. Against McGrath, this tactic fails more often than not and explains his relatively ordinary record against Australia when McGrath is playing.

 

[Scallywag]

dravid is not a blocker, that is absurd. if he is a blocker then the same must apply to any other player who is capable of making a scrap and digging in. The fact that he can make huge scores seems to contradict this theory of him being a "blocker"

Dravid scores 42 runs for each 100 balls he faces compared to 58 and 60 Ponting and Lara. So in a days play Ponting and Lara will score 45-50 more runs than Dravid.

 

[ch00baka]

the best wicket keeper in the world is EGA Dutch

 

[LongHopCassidy]

Dravid scores 42 runs for each 100 balls he faces compared to 58 and 60 Ponting and Lara. So in a days play Ponting and Lara will score 45-50 more runs than Dravid.

But Dravid's much more likely to actually be there at the end of play, and he's an excellent strokemaker when settled.

 

[Jamee999]

And he can keep.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Technically correct, thats a funny description.

Does that mean he cant produce something out of the ordinary or cant make a shot from a technically good ball. Is he not creative and imaginitive, Most players that are refered to as technically correct are slow scorers who have no flair in their batting.

Where do you get that from? Technically correct does not mean failure to improvise.

 

[mofo123]

lara is not better than dravid. dravid is a better player than lara. it looks like this:
dravid>lara>ponting.

come off it! lara is the best batsmen of our era...followed by tendulkar

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

And he can keep.

So can Justin Langer. Doesn't mean that he should.

 

[sledger]

so can trescothick, and he definitely should not, mind you he might be as good as jones...i dunno

 

[honestbharani]

I can keep too!

 

[sledger]

i suggest you replace karthik in the test team then

 

[honestbharani]

Actually, I am aiming to get an Aussie citizenship and throw off Gilly from their side.

 

[marc71178]

What about Dhoni?

You have to wait in line!

 

[aussie]

Brian Lara is not better than Dravid. IMO Dravid is the best batsman in the world without a shadow of doubt. At best Lara matches him as the best.

ehhh , are you serious liam

 

[mofo123]

when dravid hits 400* against the most inform bowling attack of the time then he shall b better then lara...the guy runs the show with the bat, and he talks on his mobile from slip...hes a true legend

 

[aussie]

Dravid is the top batsman in the world right now, but that doesn't mean he is ultimately the best among all the players currently playing. Lara at his best is better than anybody else around at the moment, and even today he's in the top few. Tendulkar, similarly, is a much better player than the last couple of years would suggest. The top batsmen in the world right now are Dravid, Ponting, Kallis, Lara and Martyn. The top batsmen at their relative peaks among all who are still playing are Lara and Tendulkar, in that order.

The gap between Dravid and Ponting is not anywhere near as big as tec is making out either. I agree that he is slightly better right now, but Ponting scores over Dravid in several important categories and not a long way behind at all.

well this sounds more sensible, Dravid has been the most consistent batsman over the last couple of years, but LARA is the best batsman of this generation without question, why should we be debating that lads, its very obvious?