I agree. It has always struck me that what strikes Yuvraj down more than anything is sheer laziness. once he gets settled, he stops trying as hard to concentrate which is why he gives his wicket away. Somewhat similar to Sehwag except Sehwag gets his runs so quickly at the start that his average works out fine.
Tendulkar was a bit special because he was brought in and played a fair few games at 16. Not many if any are going to be Test-class at that age. He was by 17, though.
I agree with you that he's an indiot in tests, the guy just seems to get bored and throw his wicket away a lot, but oddly imo in ODIs he can produce some great innings where he's had to stick it out and not give his wicket away.
I think there's a big difference between having a good temperament for one day cricket and a good temperament for test cricket, though. Yuvraj seems to have the key component for both - he lifts under pressure - but the simple questions over which balls to attack, which to defend and which to leave vary greatly between the two forms. I haven't seen a great deal of Yuvraj in test cricket, but it's quite possible that he just doesn't have the correct mindset or shot selection for the longer format - both which contribute greatly to his overall temperament.
How on earth can he be miles ahead of Sarwan at ODI when Sarwan was recently rated number 1 in the World by the ICC, averages 44 with a strike rate of 77. Yuvraj has had an excellent last 2 years while Sarwan has spent a lot of time injured, but there is no way you can say one is miles ahead of the other.
Dhoni was recently rated number one by the ICC in ODI's.
I don't think the ICC ratings reward consistency as much as they reward a couple of good back-to-back series.
Fair enough but an average of 44/45 after 140 odd matches is a record that yuvi cannot match.Dhoni was recently rated number one by the ICC in ODI's.
Yuvraj is a much better match winner than Sarwan, 7 100s compared to Sarwan's 3. Yes Yuvraj has played more matches but in atleast 1/3rd of those have been in the lower order.
I have lost count of the amount of times Sarwan has won a match for the West Indies and been 80/90 not out, particularly against India. The point stands that Yuvraj cannot be described as much better than Sarwan at ODI's.
If you read the first post of the thread, the guy clearly asked the question :-
Yuvraj is hardly a top-order player for India. He doesn't come in earlier than number 5 in most games. In fact, in his last 124 games, Yuvraj has come in at 3/4 37 times. In contrast, Sarwan has in his career of 124 games, come in at 3/4 97 times. I would conclude, thus, that Sarwan has far more opportunity to establish his innings in the normal mould, compared to Yuvraj, who has to either lead his team to victory with a well-compiled 30-40 along with our "all-rounders" or has to get some quick runs while batting first. And the times we have collapsed, he has shown enough temperament to see us through, most of the time (clear examples being the recently concluded Future Cup series). Hence, I don't feel averages give the whole picture, here.
I have clearly said that Sarwan is better in Tests right now but in future IMO Yuvraj will be better.
Certainly, there is a difference between the temperaments required for one-day cricket and test cricket. Yuvraj's development and maturation over the past two years has involved shot selection and the ability to restrain himself; for this reason, I can see him undergoing a similar maturation in test cricket. Same goes with Dhoni - he has calmed down quite a bit as he has encountered more difficult situations in one-day cricket and we've seen him shown signs of better temperament in test cricket as well. Yuvraj, of course, will have to wait his turn to prove that he belongs in test cricket.
averages and stats alone don't tell the whole story. But having said that, I will admit that Sarwan has won as many matches for Windies in ODIs as Yuvi has for India. But still, I think that Yuvraj is still on his way up as an ODI batsman while Sarwan seems to have stagnated a bit. Right now, I will rate Yuvi better than Sarwan while overall in ODIs I have them down as equals in terms of accomplishments. But I think Yuvraj will become the better ODI batsman as we go along.
Spot on, i remember there was a thread on Sarwan about 6 months back where someone pointed out he only averages 25 or something when you discount his not out scores, then i think it was Camps who listed all his not out scores and showed that Sarwan had scored a lot of 70/80/90* . Given the case i don't think his lack of hundreds matters at all.
Agree completely. Temperament has never been his problem IMO. The change we've seen in him recently is IMO, due to him seeing himself as a mainstay of the ODI batting lineup and taking on the responsibility of seeing the match through and staying till the end. It also owes a bit to an improvement in his game vs Spin. In tests I would agree with hb, that his shot-selection and merely decent technique lets him down more than any temperamental issues.
