The best batsman, across years and formats

[Ilovecric]

Cricinfo - Blogs - It Figures - The best batsman, across years and formats

[Jono]

Tendulkar's ODI points are epic.

I predicted the top 5, though would have thought Ponting may have edged Lara for his ODI exploits.

Kallis has gone under the radar in both forms.

[Cruxdude]

I have been saying the same thing without all the complex math for 13 years now.

[Pratters]

Yeah agree with cruxdude. I don't care much about ODI cricket but you don't need stats to prove Tendulkar is the best batsman across ODI and Test formats.

It is a bit rich to call him the best batsman across formats though. There is first class cricket which isn't being considered. Like ODI cricket was played so frequently for an era, particularly in the subcontinent, First Class cricket was played extensively in England earlier on. Some one like Jack Hobbs would probably be twisting in his grave.

[honestbharani]

not the best way to analyze but a decent effort and I guess if you take players who have played both formats, that is perhaps the sort of ranking you would end up with..


Still tend to think Lara slightly better than Sachin in tests personally but Sachin easily best combining both formats. He is a real maestro...

[bagapath]

why symonds not there in the odi list?

[Jono]

Its not a ODI list, its a combined list. Symonds was ordinary at tests.

He probably has a high ODI rating.

[bagapath]

Originally Posted by Jono

Its not a ODI list, its a combined list. Symonds was ordinary at tests.

He probably has a high ODI rating.

am talking about the odi list. there are separate lists for tests and odis linked from the main article. check them out.

[Dissector]

This is the ODI list. I am guessing that they restricted themselves to players with significant test careers in preparing that list; otherwise Symonds would surely be on.

[Cruxdude]

He hasn't scored 2000 test runs which is the cut off.

[bagapath]

Originally Posted by Cruxdude

He hasn't scored 2000 test runs which is the cut off.

i thought so too.

[Ikki]

I find it hard to believe Ponting came behind Lara, who came 2nd. Ponting's one of the best ODI and Test players of all-time, done it on the biggest stages and has the medals to go along with his talent.

Aside from this stats based list, I reckon Viv was probably the best combined.

[bagapath]

Originally Posted by Ikki

I find it hard to believe Ponting came behind Lara, who came 2nd. Ponting's one of the best ODI and Test players of all-time, done it on the biggest stages and has the medals to go along with his talent.

Aside from this stats based list, I reckon Viv was probably the best combined.

of course he is. that is why he is so far up in that list. no.4 on that list is a huge huge honor. that is well above g.chappell, border and so many other giants of both forms of the game. the writer reckons ricky would push richards and lara behind by the end of this year and occupy the no.2 spot behind sachin. statistically sachin, ponting, lara and richards sounds correct to me. aesthetically it would be richards, lara, sachin and ricky, IMO.

[Jono]

Haha I know, so weird. No one even suggested Ponting wasn't one of the greatest batsmen... either with ODIs or tests.

Weird post from Ikki. I agree that I was surprised over the two formats Lara was ahead, but Lara too was one of the greatest ODI and test batsmen!

[Ikki]

Yeh, I didn't say people suggested he wasn't. I just don't see how Lara is ahead of Ponting even then. I think Tendulkar, Ponting and Viv are pretty close but I don't think Lara compares as a ODI player to them as he does as a Test player. There are many players as good if not better than Lara as a ODI batsmen, but I think only Viv and Tendulkar really are ahead of Ponting and with the possible exception of Bevan none ahead of Viv or Sachin.

I mentioned Ponting because they pretty much played in the same era but it's probably even worse WRT Viv.