Gundappa Viswanath

[Matt79]

Inspired partly by Burgey's great article on Border the other day, I'd love to hear the recollections of those here who got to see Gundappa Viswanath in action. I admit I'd never heard of him until a week or two ago when I stumbled on to his profile on Cricinfo. Sounds like a great batsman and an even better bloke.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Aside from Tendulkar he had the most perfect technique of any Indian middle-order batsman. I'm surprised you haven't heard of him until recently as he's one of SJS's favourite players.

 

[JBMAC]

Saw "Vishy" in a test st the gabba. If i recall he did not like the pace of Jeff Thompson at all. Stlish though from what I remember

 

[Matt79]

Actually started the thread hoping to coax a contribution from SJS. Far be it from me to suggest he write an article like the Border one for the main page, but...

Can't guarantee I'd never seen his name, but it never registered til the other day.

 

[Matt79]

Saw "Vishy" in a test st the gabba. If i recall he did not like the pace of Jeff Thompson at all. Stlish though from what I remember

Hardly unique I suppose. Especially for a player freshly arrived from Indian pitches to the Gabba. Thommo can't have been much fun to face!

 

[fredfertang]

Tiny little bloke - wristy cutter and puller who was a pleasure to watch

..................... not as good as our 'arry Pilling though

 

[JBMAC]

Hardly unique I suppose. Especially for a player freshly arrived from Indian pitches to the Gabba. Thommo can't have been much fun to face!

I was fortunate to play both with and against JT when he first came to Brisbane and he was not only quick but very erratic which made him deadly.

 

[SJS]

I saw a lot of Vishwanath in from his debut series against Lawry's Australians till his retirement both in first class cricket and Test matches.

You have to try and imaging a batsman with all of Laxman's strokes, grace, and timing but with lovely footwork and you have an idea of how it was to see him play.

I am amazed at JBMac's comments about hos he looked against Thomson. I have great regard for JB so I am sure its true but there has to be an explanation. Vishy was one of India's finest ever batsmen against pace bowling. He did not hook much but lateral movement whether in the air or off the wicket seemed to cause no trouble to him at all.

 

[Pratters]

I saw Vishwanath in a masters series and became an instant fan. His shots had a punch to it which was so ****ing awesome. One of the most under rated players and my favorite players.

 

[Dissector]

This video shows some of Vishy's Melbourne hundred against Australia in 1981 en route to one of India's most memorable wins.

 

[bagapath]

Aside from Tendulkar he had the most perfect technique of any Indian middle-order batsman. I'm surprised you haven't heard of him until recently as he's one of SJS's favourite players.

interesting. not rahul dravid?

 

[aussie]

interesting. not rahul dravid?

Slightly better than Dravid i'd say. Based on what i saw on DVD "Greatest moments of Indian cricket 1932-1986". It really does look perfect.

 

[SJS]

Slightly better than Dravid i'd say. Based on what i saw on DVD "Greatest moments of Indian cricket 1932-1986". It really does look perfect.

Hmmm. I am not so sure. He was not classically perfect you know. He was kind of wristy with a strong bottom hand which meant that he relied heavily on absolutely great hands. Dravid is more orthodox which sees his bat in the right place and with the face of the blade straight more often. Players like Vishwanath are great to watch but decline very quickly once their eyes and reflexes slow down which is exactly what happened to him. It also prevented him from playing really big innings for India. For a player who was considered Gavaskar's equal (and by some as better) he had just one double century and that came on a dead track in his last year in Test cricket.

Vishwanath is known more for being a stylish stroke player whose strength was his backfoot play. Great cutting and amazing forcing shots off the back foot through mid wicket. He went forward mostly to drive when the ball was really pitched up.

No I would say Dravid is the better technician. I would prefer Vishwanath any day for the pleasure of watching and to counter attack great fast bowlers but give me Dravid for playing the really long innings and saving the day.

 

[Anil]

one of the most stylish players of his era....wonderful to watch when in full flow, had the most awesome shots square of the wicket...for me he was one of the 3 best batsmen in the 70s for india along with gavaskar & vengsarkar...very underrated i have always felt...

 

[JBMAC]

I saw a lot of Vishwanath in from his debut series against Lawry's Australians till his retirement both in first class cricket and Test matches.

You have to try and imaging a batsman with all of Laxman's strokes, grace, and timing but with lovely footwork and you have an idea of how it was to see him play.

I am amazed at JBMac's comments about hos he looked against Thomson. I have great regard for JB so I am sure its true but there has to be an explanation. Vishy was one of India's finest ever batsmen against pace bowling. He did not hook much but lateral movement whether in the air or off the wicket seemed to cause no trouble to him at all.

I only saw him in one Test SJS,and he looked far from comfortable against JT
HowSTAT! Match Scorecard

 

[Matt79]

I suppose he did scrape together scores of 45 and 35 in that match - it looks like the pitch might have been pretty lively day 1 (20 wickets fell if assuming they got through their 90 overs in the day)

 

[SJS]

I only saw him in one Test SJS,and he looked far from comfortable against JT
HowSTAT! Match Scorecard

Oh I am sure he was uncomfortable. Thomson did that to a lot of top flight batsmen.

 

[aussie]

Hmmm. I am not so sure. He was not classically perfect you know. He was kind of wristy with a strong bottom hand which meant that he relied heavily on absolutely great hands. Dravid is more orthodox which sees his bat in the right place and with the face of the blade straight more often. Players like Vishwanath are great to watch but decline very quickly once their eyes and reflexes slow down which is exactly what happened to him. It also prevented him from playing really big innings for India. For a player who was considered Gavaskar's equal (and by some as better) he had just one double century and that came on a dead track in his last year in Test cricket.

Vishwanath is known more for being a stylish stroke player whose strength was his backfoot play. Great cutting and amazing forcing shots off the back foot through mid wicket. He went forward mostly to drive when the ball was really pitched up.

No I would say Dravid is the better technician. I would prefer Vishwanath any day for the pleasure of watching and to counter attack great fast bowlers but give me Dravid for playing the really long innings and saving the day.

Thanks for slight correction SJS. After all it was only a short 5 minutes highlights of him batting in AUS during 1980 something (DVD - "Great moments of Indian cricket 1932-1986") that i saw haa..

 

[Goughy]

I only saw him in one Test SJS,and he looked far from comfortable against JT
HowSTAT! Match Scorecard

Wow! Is that the worst seam attack to ever take the field?

 

[Richard]

India had plenty of distinctly poor ones around that time, I've honestly lost count of how many were composed of one very moderate-quality TSTL seamer and some other part-timer to open and take the shine off the ball.