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"Critically Acclaimed"

Goughy

Hall of Fame Member
These players will not make an all-time XI but they are good players and have their place in history secured as they are critically acclaimed. Whether it be due to their style or originality, their impact and legacy is greater than their skill.

Ill start with Gower and Abbas. Good production but great aesthetics
 

Goughy

Hall of Fame Member
Bernard Bosanquet. A decent Test and FC record but guaranteed immortality as the creator of the googly.
 

Manee

Cricketer Of The Year
Shoaib Akhtar/Jeff Thompson/Typhoon Tyson as the fastest bowlers of all time.
 

SJS

Hall of Fame Member
Maurice Tate - in my opinion the least lauded of the truly great bowlers of all time. Should be in every short list of the three greatest medium pacers of all time.
 

Dissector

International Debutant
Gundappa Vishwanath surely belongs to the list.

Tiger Pataudi always seems rated quite highly compared to his very ordinary stats; I don't know if it is justified or not.
 

archie mac

International Coach
Poor old Shock did sod all apart from taking the blame from historians for controversies that were nothing to do with him, for example using a bat that was wider than the stumps.
I have read (Mote?) that it was not 'the' Shock White who did this but another White, but most of the time they give it as Shock White, but it was a long time ago:)
 

SJS

Hall of Fame Member
Gundappa Vishwanath surely belongs to the list.

Tiger Pataudi always seems rated quite highly compared to his very ordinary stats; I don't know if it is justified or not.
Pataudi was injured in an accident that also involved the highly gifted Collie Smith (who died in that accident) and Garfield Sobers. One has seen accounts where Pataudi is refered to being as gifted as young batsman as the other two. Very high praise indeed.

Pataudi lost his right eye (most of the vision in it) in that accident. The fact that he came back to play international sport is a near miracle for any ball 7 bat/racket game. Most people who saw him as a youngster agree that but for his terrible handicap he would have been an all time great.

Pataudi has mentioned, in talking of how the accident affected him by telling that he could not light a cigarette properly either missing the end or lighting it in the middle. The two eyes give us the perspective of distance which is completely lost with one eye.

His partial but badly damaged vision in the right eye made it very difficult when he was trying to come back. He has mentioned that he would see two balls when batting and with trial and error he found that the inner ball (the image which his left eye was projecting) was the one to play. Then he decided to pull his cap over his right eye as keeping one eye closed while batting wasn't easy. He ruled out wearing an eye patch because he did not like it !

It still left the problem of judging how far the ball was from him during its flight from bowlers hand towards him. That this is a huge handicap is so obvious from seeing what a potent weapon a slower delivery is. His average and his test centuries are a huge achievement in the context of his injury.

By the way, he was one of the greatest fielders at covers/cover point the world has ever seen.

There was a fielding exhibition organised at Lord's in the sixties which was to feature both Pataudi an Colin Bland. Pataudi could not finally make it due to some other engagements. Bland thrilled the crowds by knocking down the six stumps at the two ends of the wicket with just seven fast and furious throws from the boundary. The one ball that missed did not miss by more than a few inches.

The fact that Pataudi was thought to be good enough to have a competition between him and the remarkable Bland is testimony to his great caliber.

By the way, Bland's exhibition that day gives a lie to the impression that good fielders are something very recent. What has happened, however, is that bad fielders are not tolerated as they were then if they were good in their other speciality so overall standards have improved. Plus, the diving and sliding to save boundaries is a new addition.
 

Dissector

International Debutant
Interesting. I suppose Pataudi's captaincy also comes into the picture. IIRC under him we achieved our first series win against England at home and our first overseas series win against New Zealand which no Indian team has been able to do since.
 

SJS

Hall of Fame Member
Interesting. I suppose Pataudi's captaincy also comes into the picture. IIRC under him we achieved our first series win against England at home and our first overseas series win against New Zealand which no Indian team has been able to do since.
Pataudi was without doubt the best tactical captain who ever led India. Besides being a terrific tactician and student of the game, he was the first really aggressive captain we had. He did not come to the helm with the idea of not losing as had been the case before then (with the honourable exception of Lala Amarnath) but to try and win with the resources at his disposal.

The kind of fields Pataudi deployed were instrumental in showing off the great Indian spinners as the potent strike force they became. They almost always started bowling with a ring of fielders around the bat. This wasn't common for India.

He was very young, just 21, when he became captain and the seniors like Umrigar who gave him unreserved support although he had replaced them for the job, did so because he was clearly a man who had leadership qualities. This has been acknowledged by his seniors in the team although there was a big noise when Pataudi was first named vice captain and then captain.
 

Beleg

International Regular
By the way, Bland's exhibition that day gives a lie to the impression that good fielders are something very recent. What has happened, however, is that bad fielders are not tolerated as they were then if they were good in their other speciality so overall standards have improved. Plus, the diving and sliding to save boundaries is a new addition
No, it's an exception which proves the rule.
 

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