Who is the most 'undroppable' player in the world?

[pskov]

I.E. which player would need the longest stretch of poor form (say consecutive matches with a high score of 30 for a batsman, or consecutive tests taking no more than 2 or 3 wickets for a bowler, or for a keeper a stretch of making few runs and consistently missing chances) before they would be dropped by their country? I am generally thinking in tests but you can do ODIs as well.


My top 3 in no particular order:

Chris Gayle - decent captain and no-one else wants the job, also WI have a dearth of quality batsman to potentially replace him.
MS Dhoni - good skipper and a massive star, I think he would get a lot of leeway with a bad run.
Kevin Pietersen - England's only world class player who has a reputation for either scoring big or not scoring much at all (last two years, 10 centuries to 5 fifties), so I think the selectors would keep the faith with him for a long time.

 

[GIMH]

I'd stick Flintoff in there as well, I can't ever see him missing out through any reason other than injury. Although he did of course get dropped during the WC as a punishment for his 'antics' so you never know.

Aside from the ones you mentioned, Ponting & Tendulkar are other ones coming to mind.

 

[andyc]

Chris Martin. You have to be able to hit them before they can be dropped.

 

[silentstriker]

Tendulkar. If they stuck with Dravid for as long as they did, they'd stick with Tendulkar for longer. Dhoni only has a single century and averages 37, so a string of scores with a high of 30 is a lot less worse than him than for a guy averaging 50+.

 

[rivera213]

It's all relative, but:

Gayle- By far WI most destructive batsman. I'd argue Chanderpaul was equally as undropable, but Gayle gives you a bit of a Viv Richards effect. There aren't any openers in the WI who are half as ood as Gayle is.

Pietersen- 1 of 2 world class batsmen in our team (Strauss has a conversion rate of 55%, that's pretty world class when you have 17 centuries to your name).

Flintoff- Until we have 4 pace bowlers who are better, he'll be in the team.

 

[stephen]

Murali

 

[Fusion]

For a long time, it was Mohammad Sami.

 

[Uppercut]

Jerome Taylor i reckon. At least in the case of players like Tendulkar there's another option in Badrinath or Raina. If Taylor underperformed, who would they replace him with? There's noone anywhere near the same class outside Fidel, who'll be in the team anyway. That's not to say Raina or Badri are anywhere near Tendulkar, but they're still alternative options of Sachin's out of form.

Maybe that's one reason why players like Sarwan and Edwards underperformed for large parts of their career.

 

[oitoitoi]

No player should be undroppable, but unfortunately that's not the case.

Tendulkar - officially dropping him would probably cause an overthrow of the government in India
Dravid - similar outrage, he's earned the right to retire when he wants to
Chanderpaul - rarely has one player been so key to a team
Gayle - too cool to be dropped
Younis Khan - one of the only lights still on in Pakistani cricket
Murali, Mahela Jayawardene & Kumar Sangakkarra - too awesome to be dropped
Ponting - judging on his recent form if it was another player it wouldn't be out of the question, but Ricky's a fixture for the forseeable future.
Graeme Smith - too popular and too good
Kevin Pietersen - despite having a lot of critics in the english establishment even they recognise that he's England's only truly world class player
Daniel Vettori - too important to NZ cricket


The most undroppable in the world? It has to be Tendulkar, no other player in history has had such a following.

 

[Fusion]

Younis Khan - one of the only lights still on in Pakistani cricket

Not too sure about that. I don’t think there’s anyone playing in Pakistan cricket that’s “undroppable”. If Younis hits a LONG stretch of bad form, not only can he lose the captaincy, but could also be dropped. He is not an “icon” as former players like Imran/Javed/Inzi were that the selectors would fear dropping him.

 

[Jamee999]

Chris Martin. You have to be able to hit them before they can be dropped.

Looking for a scholarship?

 

[andyc]

Looking for a scholarship?

Had typed up a sentence beginning with 'in my defence,' but couldn't figure out how to finish it. Will cop it.

 

[fredfertang]

After surviving that ridiculous manoevering to get rid of Moores apparently unscathed KP must be as close to untouchable as you can get.

 

[Pothas]

Very hard to envisage Kumar Sangakkara being dropped in the near future.

 

[HMas]

Ajit Agarkar

 

[oitoitoi]

Ajit Agarkar

Definitely, goes without saying.

 

[Burgey]

Tendulkar
Dhoni
Ponting
Pietersen
Kallis
Smith, G
Bravo

spring to mind.

 

[Top_Cat]

Let's see you pick him up before wondering whether you could drop him.

That and he was Bermuda's best player.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Michael Clarke.

 

[Johnners]

Think Mitch Johnson deserves a mention.