Muttiah Muralidaran's 10 top batsmen

[angad]

MUTHIAH MURALIDARAN’S 10 TOP BATSMEN

1. Brian Lara (WI)

2. Mohammad Azharuddin (India)

3. Sachin Tendulkar (India)

4. Navjot Sidhu (India)

5. Salim Malik (Pakistan)

6. Inzamam-ul-Haq (Pakistan)

7. Andy Flower (Zimbabwe)

8. Graham Thorpe (England)

9. Jon Crawley (England)

10. Hansie Cronje (South Africa)

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[Spikey]

I think we should just close this thread now. It's doomed to turn into a pile of crap.

 

[Jono]

Top 10 batsmen that played his bowling.

I don't see how this thread could turn crap. As Harsha said on Twitter, you can't argue with the list because it's his friggin list and he's the one that bowled to them.

 

[zaremba]

Pretty astonishing list.

 

[Jono]

Murali said Warne was the superior bowler as wrist spinning was a more difficult art to perfect.

“We were neck and neck on the Test table for years,” he said. “But I always felt Warnie was better as leg spin is so difficult. Your shoulder has to rotate more and for Shane to survive as long as he did was a tribute not only to his ability, but his tremendous stamina and competitiveness. He’s the No.1, not me!”

Ftr.

Good bloke, that Murali.

 

[Spikey]

Top 10 batsmen that played his bowling.

I don't see how this thread could turn crap. As Harsha said on Twitter, you can't argue with the list because it's his friggin list and he's the one that bowled to them.

Oh yeah I completely agree, but I'm fairly confident at some stage some Australian user with 37 odd posts will complain about no Australians being on the list and start the chucking debate and complain about two English players they've never heard of being on there and that's when it turns into crap. Of course quick and sensible moderation can stop that.

It's a shame Murali hasn't really given any anecdotes about the more surprising selections.

 

[Burgey]

Top 10 batsmen that played his bowling.

I don't see how this thread could turn crap. As Harsha said on Twitter, you can't argue with the list because it's his friggin list and he's the one that bowled to them.

Yeah. Same approach was taken to Warne's book on here wasn't it?

John Crawley in that list is as absurd as Warne rating Darren Berry as high as he did.

Edit: it's his list mind, but Crawleys name stands out like dogs balls.

 

[GotSpin]

So no Australians on that list...

How many times did he dismiss Lara btw? edit. If at all?

 

[vcs]

Including Crawley is a bit of a joke TBH. The guy has played a whole 2 matches against SL FFS.

 

[taipan1]

Interesting that he included a few match fixing cheats in his list.

Says a lot about the man.

 

[vcs]

Interesting that he included a few match fixing cheats in his list.

Says a lot about the man.

 

[NUFAN]

Including Crawley is a bit of a joke TBH. The guy has played a whole 2 matches against SL FFS.

Murali and Crawley played together at Lancs didn't they? Bowling to him hour after hour in the nets might have been enough reason for Murali to vote for him in the list.

I am surprised with the list, but I haven't seen Murali bowl to a fair few of his top ten in Test Matches.

 

[vcs]

Murali and Crawley played together at Lancs didn't they? Bowling to him hour after hour in the nets might have been enough reason for Murali to vote for him in the list.

I am surprised with the list, but I haven't seen Murali bowl to a fair few of his top ten in Test Matches.

Ah, then I guess it makes sense somewhat.

 

[Flem274*]

This will sound biased but I'm a bit surprised not to see Fleming on the list. In test cricket Fleming pwnd Sri Lanka.

 

[_Ed_]

This will sound biased but I'm a bit surprised not to see Fleming on the list. In test cricket Fleming pwnd Sri Lanka.

I actually opened this thread expecting to see him in there - not necessarily near the top, but I thought he'd sneak in at eight or nine.

 

[honestbharani]

I do think the guys who played him better with the doosra (read Sehwag, Fleming, Ponting etc) deserve a mention ahead of the blokes who smashed him out of the park when he was just a big spinning offie with no real variety...

 

[Ruckus]

As Harsha said on Twitter, you can't argue with the list because it's his friggin list and he's the one that bowled to them.

I don't agree with that. That would be true if you knew he made the list for the right reasons (i.e. because he found them genuinely hard to bowl to). But I think a fair few of those selections have been made for disingenuous reasons.

Its not just Murali though, I think most of those player-selected lists are prone to the same limitations. For example, you might select a player to be in the list because the match happened to be memorable, or one instance of bowling to a certain player may have been particularly devastating etc. and has stuck in your mind.

I know this is cynical, but I really think the true reason why there aren't any Aussies in that list is because of his repressed feelings about Australia. He doesn't want to give Australians the satisfaction of knowing he considers some of their batsman amongst the toughest he has faced.

 

[honestbharani]

I don't agree with that. That would be true if you knew he made the list for the right reasons (i.e. because he found them genuinely hard to bowl to). But I think a fair few of those selections have been made for disingenuous reasons.

Its not just Murali though, I think most of those player-selected lists are prone to the same limitations. For example, you might select a player to be in the list because the match happened to be memorable, or one instance of bowling to a certain player may have been particularly devastating etc. and has stuck in your mind.

I know this is cynical, but I really think the true reason why there aren't any Aussies in that list is because of his repressed feelings about Australia. He doesn't want to give Australians the satisfaction of knowing he considers some of their batsman amongst the toughest he has faced.

To an extent, I would agree with you.. But really, it is all still speculation from our side and it would be nice if we didn't act as if it were the universal truth.

 

[fredfertang]

Creepy did bat very well against SL in those two Tests and was a decent player of spin bowling generally

Anyway I don't read Murali's list as Crawley > Ponting - not even I'd suggest that

........................although thinking about it as his average against Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Derbyshire, Middlesex, and Notts is better than Punter's he must be

 

[Ruckus]

To an extent, I would agree with you.. But really, it is all still speculation from our side and it would be nice if we didn't act as if it were the universal truth.

Yeh of course, I wouldn't want to promote mere speculation as truth. After all, its only my opinion. May or may not be true, and I doubt we will ever know (unless he writes a candid autobiography).