As an ODI opener : Ganguly or Anwar ... AND WHY?

[JBH001]

IMO Anwar was always a little over-rated as an odi opener. Its been a while since I looked at the figures, but iirc, there was a substantial difference in his home and away figures. Ganguly for me, thanks - although I have not looked at his home and away figures. Just reckon he was an under-rated opening odi bat.

 

[SJS]

I am not as old as other posters here and so I have watched lesser batsmen play. From my limited knowledge, I feel that there is no better player of slow left arm bowling than Ganguly. Just looked invincible when playing SLA bowlers.

Thats true. He did play slow left arm bowlers very well indeed. Thats also the reason he undervalued them as bowlers in the Indian side when he himself was captain.

Having said that, the quality of left arm spinners around the world has been pretty ordinary for a very long time now. Vettori has overtaken Bedi (27 more wickets in 25 more Tests) and is just four wickets behind the not so slow Underwood but anyone who saw those two will tell you you cant put Vettori on the same page.

I have often wondered why the left handed bowler's equivalent of the 'doosra' has not made an appearance yet. There was a time when great spinners in the world meant basically left arm spinners and now they are as close to being extinct as the late cut is as a business stroke.

 

[Athlai]

Shakib al Hasan is probably going to be the best SLA of his generation.

Also it seems a fair amount of teams in the world have a left arm spinner in their attack, ala SA-Harris, Bang-Shakib, NZ-Vettori

 

[shantanudey]

Ganguly is greater

Every player has some strenghts and weaknesses

ex; ricky ponting has a fantastic test match record.....

But check his test record in India,its a mere 20.25

Its because he struggles miserably against spinners....

Does this undermine ponting's caliber as a ba?tsman

 

[Pigeon]

ganguly

 

[shantanudey]

Ganguly greater than anwar

ppl r just using Ganguly's weakness vs short pitch bowling as an example to show that anwar is greater.....

1) Ganguly is the quickest to reach 9000 ODI runs in world cricket. He had even beaten Sachin in this aspect. Anwar is nowhere even nearby.

2) Ppl say that Ganguly is weak vs short pitch bowling. But well on the same fast and bouncy pitches in Aus and SA,Ganguly had excelled.

ANY DOUBTS,please watch the India vs SA series in SA in the year 2001. Ganguly had smashed the fearsome SA paces to all parts of the ground. ANwar can only dream of doing this.

Anwar has a miserable record on SA and Aus soil. Ganguly has a far better record.

3) Record for max 6's hit in ODIS
i) afridi
ii) jayasuriya
iii) Ganguly

Ganguly is in the 3rd position whereas anwar is not even in the 20th position.

Doesnt this show who is more attacking?

4) Ganguly was initially an middle order bat in ODIS but then shifted as an opener.

Ganguly's ODI average is better than anwar's.

Ganguly had hit almost double the sixes than anwar had hit.

5) In ODIS,anwar has crossed 150 just once and that too with the help of a drop catch i,e his score of 194 on a batting beauty

ganguly scored 183 on a seaming and swinging wicket in England in an absolute pressure cooker match.

Ganguly also has a score of 153* on a terribly difficult batting wicket in India

6) anwar was an opener in tests also.

Its universally known,opening batsmen have more chances of scoring big big centuries as they have lot of time on hands.

anwar does not have even one double century to his name inspite of being an opening batsman.


Ganguly has a glorious 239 in a big pressure situation.

India was struggling at 40-4 when ganguly came to bat and scored a chanceless 239.
ganguly scored 239 and 97 in a test match. Has anwar ever achieved such a feat?

 

[Shri]

Ganguly became a mediocre player for a period after the 2003 WC. It frankly looked like he didn't care about his batting after he lead India into the 2003 WC final. Maybe he thought he was assured of a place in the Indian cricket hall of fame because of his captaincy or something, I dont know.

But, when he was really pushed into rectifying flaws in his batting - more mental than technical- in the years before his last test comeback, he came back into the test team as a solid test player. He became a lot more defensive imo. If he had done that a few years back, he would have given so much more to the test team for an extra 2 years.

And after typing this all this ****, I remember this is an ODI thread. ****!

Thats my two cents anyway.

 

[shantanudey]

geoffery boycott used to say "Ganguly is the best timer of the world in world cricket,even better than Sachin"

 

[shantanudey]

Any doubts anyone

I have proved it to you all that Ganguly is greater than anwar in tests and ODIS.

 

[Shri]

5) In ODIS,anwar has crossed 150 just once and that too with the help of a drop catch i,e his score of 194 on a batting beauty

I was at the ground when he hit that 194. 'Twas one hell of an innings, flat pitch or not. Deserves credit for staying out there till he hit 194 - a 12 year old record that has not been broken yet.

 

[Shri]

I have proved it to you all that Ganguly is greater than anwar in tests and ODIS.

 

[shantanudey]

metallics......anwar does deserve credit for his 194

but mind u,it was a flat dead wicket with nothing there for the bowlers......
plus joshi dropped a simple catch when anwar was on 149......


Look at Ganguly's top scores,they all were chanceless and in much pressure situation

 

[shantanudey]

metallics my friend....


Just read post # 46.....and then comment

 

[shantanudey]

read this......`We fear Sourav the most' - Anwar | Cricket News | Global | Cricinfo.com

 

[Shri]

In ODIS,anwar has crossed 150 just once and that too with the help of a drop catch i,e his score of 194 on a batting beauty

ganguly scored 183 on a seaming and swinging wicket in England in an absolute pressure cooker match.

Seaming and swinging? That was a batsman's pitch through and through compared to other English pitches of that time. The spinners did not get much turn and Ganguly kept slogging them straight down the ground in the death overs. I naturally enjoyed that innings being an Indian but personally, I liked Dravid's 145 in that same match as much as I enjoyed Ganguly's knock and in hindsight, I also feel Dravid's role in that game was far more important compared to Ganguly's.

 

[subshakerz]

6) anwar was an opener in tests also.

Its universally known,opening batsmen have more chances of scoring big big centuries as they have lot of time on hands.

anwar does not have even one double century to his name inspite of being an opening batsman.


Ganguly has a glorious 239 in a big pressure situation.

India was struggling at 40-4 when ganguly came to bat and scored a chanceless 239.
ganguly scored 239 and 97 in a test match. Has anwar ever achieved such a feat?

Whether Anwar is a better opener than Ganguly in ODIs is debatable. But he clearly was a better batsman in tests and was probably the best test opener of the 90s.

For one, he has a better overall record despite playing the majority of cricket in a bowler-friendly era. When India and Pakistan toured South Africa in 1997 and Australia in 1999, Anwar performed well while Ganguly was found wanting. Anwar's record against the finest bowling combo, Warne/McGrath, is probably the best among his contemporaries. Ganguly struggled against them in comparison. Murali also had a lot more success against Ganguly than Anwar.

You criticize Anwar for having no double centuries, but he only played 45 matches. Ganguly played 113 matches and only has one double century, 239 against an benign Pakistan bowling attack on a dead pitch, so he hasn't really done well in this regard either.

 

[SJS]

"India greater than Pakistan!"

"No you idiot, Pakistan greater than India!"​

 

[shantanudey]

metallics......my friend,it was a seaming and swinging pitch.By no means was it a dead pitch...

 

[shantanudey]

subshakez and metallics......

dear friends,please watch the videos of India's SA tour in the year 2001.
Watch Ganguly's batting against the mighty SA fast bowlers,then put ur hands on ur hearts and ask ursleves "Can anwar bat in this manner?"

I will be waiting for ur reply on this.....

When India toured AUs in 2000,Ganguly had perfomed well against the top Aus bowling attack.

 

[shantanudey]

metallics and subshaverz........some important points for you

1) ganguly is the quickest to reach 9000 ODI runs,he even beat Sachin in this. anwar is nowhere even close.

2) Ganguly smashed almost double the number of 6's that anwar had hit which shows that ganguly is more agressive.

3) ganguly scored 239 and 97 in a test match. Does anwar have such a feat???

4) Ganguly has a world record in ODIS for scoring 1000 runs in a year most number of times i.e 4 times

record in ODIS for scoring 1000 runs in a year
i) Ganguly-4 times
ii) Sachin-2 times


anwar-1 times

note this point friends,ganguly has scored 1000 ODI runs in a year 4 TIMES.

anwar has scored 1000 ODI runs in a year just 1 TIME.

In tests,Ganguly has scored 1000 runs in a year only ONCE.
(In the year 2007,Ganguly scored 1200 test runs only behind Jacques Kallis)

In tests,anwar has not scored 1000 runs in a year EVEN ONCE.



I hope things are clear for all now as to who is a greater batsman.