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Better ODI batsman?

hang on

State Vice-Captain
In keeping with the cricketing silly season, thought that the following comparisons would be apt:

Who is the better one day batsman in the two pairs:

1) Kallis or Ponting?

2) Ganguly or Anwar?

(Much obliged if the appropriate poll could be set up by the mods.)
 

Jono

Virat Kohli (c)
Ponting definitely in the first.

Ganguly vs. Anwar was once debated heavily in this forum. Can't quite remember whether there was a poll and if so what the result was.
 

vcs

Request Your Custom Title Now!
Ponting easily.

As good as Ganguly was, Anwar for me by a fairly comfortable margin.
 

salman85

International Debutant
Ponting for the first one.

I'm undecided on the second one though.I've always felt that Anwar was extremley underated.During his peak years,he was one of the,if not the best batsmen in the world,although his best days were always more common in ODIs than Test Matches.He for me,is probably the best opening batsman that we've ever produced.

Ganguly on the other hand,played more,piled up more runs,and was a better captain than Anwar. Strictly from the batting perspective though,both had weaknesses that bowlers regularly exploited - width for Anwar,and Bouncers for Ganguly,though Anwar had as good a chance of murdering you when you gave him width as he did of getting caught behind.

Both have almost identically poor records against the best teams of their time - SouthAfrica and Australia.Anwar's overall record in matches won by Pakistan is brilliant.16 of his 20 ODI centuries saw Pakistan winning the match.Ganguly on other hand,as an equally good if not better record than Anwar in matches won by India,and his record against Australia and SouthAfrica is marginally poorer than Anwar's.

Nothing to choose between the two.Match winners on their day,but poor against the 2 best sides of their time.Ganguly was obviously a better overall cricketer because of his bowling and captaincy,but there is nothing between him and Anwar as far as batting is concerned.
 

abmk

State 12th Man
first one, Ponting easily, no contest ...

second one , ganguly ....more solid and dependable IMO, only failed against Aus , did well against SAF

anwar failed against both SA(17) and Aus(23), away avg is pretty poor

Interestingly both were in a race with SRT for the most no of centuries in ODIs at different stages !
 
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vcs

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Bevan was one of the best ever at his role, but I'd take Ponting above him purely because I assign more importance to the role of setting up matches consistently, as compared to finishing them.. Bevan was a brilliant finisher, but 7/10 times, a top order consisting of the likes of Mark Waugh, Hayden, Gilchrist, Ponting, Symonds, Steve Waugh etc. is going to get the job done.
 

salman85

International Debutant
IIRC, both of them have done well against SF.
first one, Ponting easily, no contest ...

second one , ganguly ....more solid and dependable IMO, only failed against Aus , did well against SAF

anwar failed against both SA(17) and Aus(23), away avg is pretty poor

Interestingly both were in a race with SRT for the most no of centuries in ODIs at different stages !
Yes my bad.I mixed up the stats.Ganguly does have a great record against South Africa.That gives him an edge over Anwar obviously.

Another thing needs to be kept in mind is their form over a period of time.Ganguly at his peak was a more dangerous batsman than Anwar at his peak,but Ganguly's decline was uglier than Anwar.I don't think there was ever a time in Anwar's career that his form dipped so low that the selectors considered dropping him.With Ganguly that was a major concern during the Chappell days,where being the captain was the only thing keeping him on the side.His batting form was very poor.

Obviously,a counter argument could be that Anwar never had a serious rival for his place in the openers position,and India did have players that could replace Ganguly,but just saying.
 

smash84

The Tiger King
Ponting easily.

As good as Ganguly was, Anwar for me by a fairly comfortable margin.
Ponting and Anwar but not by a "fairly comfortable margin". its close.

Bevan was one of the best ever at his role, but I'd take Ponting above him purely because I assign more importance to the role of setting up matches consistently, as compared to finishing them.. Bevan was a brilliant finisher, but 7/10 times, a top order consisting of the likes of Mark Waugh, Hayden, Gilchrist, Ponting, Symonds, Steve Waugh etc. is going to get the job done.
Hayden came much later in Bevan's career and Sr Waugh wasn't an ATG ODI batsman. Bevan for me is the greatest ODI batsman of all time because he could play equally well with the tail or with the batsmen above him and while he was at the crease you knew that one one end was safe and the scoreboard will keep ticking over. The guy was almost impossible to dislodge.
 

vcs

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Yeah, on second thoughts, Ganguly vs. Anwar is very close. Ganguly was absolutely gun in ODIs. Think I was getting a bit influenced by the difference in their Test records.

I didn't mean they were all there at the same time.. my point was that the Aussie ODI top order has revolved around Ponting for the last decade, and it was so good that they got the job done more often than not.
 

Blaze 18

Banned
Ricky Ponting is a better ODI batsman than Jacques Kallis by a country mile. There's little to split them in the longest format of the game, but it's a no-contest when it comes to ODIs.

I'm undecided about the second one.
 

Blaze 18

Banned
Yeah, on second thoughts, Ganguly vs. Anwar is very close. Ganguly was absolutely gun in ODIs. Think I was getting a bit influenced by the difference in their Test records.

I didn't mean they were all there at the same time.. my point was that the Aussie ODI top order has revolved around Ponting for the last decade, and it was so good that they got the job done more often than not.
If memory serves me right, their test records aren't all that dissimilar.
 

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