Am I the only person who thinks Kallis was a better player than Tendulkar?

[The Sean]

The top 50 is a funny one though, it is hard to reach any other conclusion than Kallis being better but I still had Tendulkar higher.

Yeah it's so strange. If I had to rank 50 great cricketers, I'd have tendulkar higher. More because of his impact on the game and how he spanned generations like no one else. At the same time, in a direct comparison, undoubtedly kallis is a better cricketer

Yeah, I've done the same (though not sure I still would if I revisited my rankings tomorrow) - I suppose the discrepancy can be at least partly explained by the difference between assessing in terms of "best" and "greatest."

 

[karan316]

I see this thread gradually turning into a serious one where people will use all kinds of stats to prove that Kallis is a better batsmen.
Honestly, I would place Lara, Ponting and Sachin in the same category(the best batsmen I have seen) and rate Kallis as the best all rounder. End of topic.

 

[Shri]

End of topic.

Pfft, you think you are going to have the last word in this thread already?

 

[karan316]

Pfft, you think you are going to have the last word in this thread already?

No but I really don't want to see more stats munching and biased people claiming x>y or y<x, etc.Greats are just greats, can never compare them, I opened a couple of "vs" thread,but that was just to see an interesting debate. But its virtually impossible to compare in reality.

 

[karan316]

Tendulkar undoubtedly is the best batsmanof the era. But quite a few are ahead of him as players IMHO. Imran, Kallis, Pollock, Gilly, Sanga and perhaps Murali for sure in test matches. ODIs he has very few rivals. Dhoni, Bevan Symonds, Gilly and Jayasuriya are notables.

Nice to see a mention of Symonds for a change. Awesome cricketer.

 

[GIMH]

In answer to the question posed by the OP, well our resident cricket authority expressed his views on this recently:

Now, look. I don’t hate Tendulkar, I don’t even dislike him. I like him a hell of a lot more than some of the other ****s on the international circuit right now. What I hate, is this idea…that he is somehow the best, because he is not. Jacques Kallis is the best. There’s one thing in the world that Tendulkar is better at than Kallis is, and that’s getting people to kiss his arse. Kallis is the best cricketer in the world, and has been for a considerable time now, and he’s been vilified and hated on because of it simply because he doesn’t have the rapid, facile and sycophantic fanboy following that Tendulkar has.

In order to reach this level of stardom that Tendulkar has you evidently have to jump through a number of imaginary hoops in order to satisfy various criteria. Having reflected on this for a while, it’s dawned on me that these imaginary hoops are just that. They are completely imaginary. The only thing that is real is that Kallis’ ability is greater than any other batsman out there in the world, and this has been consistently proved day in and day out for god knows how long now. Nobody can touch him. And yet, no matter how many times he proves it, he’s not plastered all over various pieces of merchandise, he’s not on the cover of the matchday program, he’s not on the poster for the cricket world cup, he’s not on ****ty chat shows, but the fact of the matter is that he should be, and trust me, this isn’t sour grapes, but the fact that Tendulkar gets all this despite the fact that he’s been clapped out for the best part of half a decade and Kallis doesn’t makes me sick.

Oh hey, let me get something straight. All of you who are bagging on me for the angle I’m taking on this, you are as big a part of this problem as anyone else. You’re the ones buying this merchandise, staring lovingly at the posters that Kallis’ face isn’t on, you’re the ones buying into this massive media circus which has elevated this clapped out old duffer to Demigod status, and aided what can only be described as a massive vanity project.

Even worse, is that once Tendulkar is gone, some of you fools will continue to buy into this crap. You’re still going to pour money and affection into this nonsense. He’s just a spoke on the wheel. I’d like to think that things will improve upon his retirement, but the fact is his role will only be taken over by the idiotic Virat Kohli or some other idiot. This whole episode, and the huffings and puffings of an old man trying to cling to the status he once had is just reflective of the way that mediocrity is too often mistaken for excellence, and actual excellence is relegated to insignificance. It’s despicable.

 

[Spikey]

was on board until " idiotic Virat Kohli"

 

[dhillon28]

Shahid afridi, Shane Watson, and shakib al hasan are all better 'test cricketers' than tendulkar and Ponting........but who cares?

 

[NasserFan207]

Haha Murali placed in there despite being a gumby in both the other two facets of the game.

Murali is a better player than Tendulkar or Ponting

 

[Burgey]

Nah, I think it'd actually be the predominant opinion here, but it's not based purely on batting. I don't think you'd even be the only one here who thought he was a better batsman than Tendulkar but you'd be in a small minority, and I say that as one of CW's greatest Kallis flagwavers.

Cribbeh, I misread "flagwavers" just now and nearly fell over.

 

[kyear2]

Tendulkar undoubtedly is the best batsmanof the era. But quite a few are ahead of him as players IMHO. Imran, Kallis, Pollock, Gilly, Sanga and perhaps Murali for sure in test matches. ODIs he has very few rivals. Dhoni, Bevan Symonds, Gilly and Jayasuriya are notables.

Would say Sachin is undoubtebly the best batsman of the era. It's razor thin between him and Lara and all comes down to personal preference. Ponting isn't too far behind either and after Ponting is where I would rate Kallis and Sangakarra's. With regard to being players being better cricketers, it's all a matter of perspective. I personally, even when looking at all rounders still have to rate them based on their primary discipline first. After all that's the main reason they are in the team.

 

[DDP]

Would say Sachin is undoubtebly the best batsman of the era. It's razor thin between him and Lara and all comes down to personal preference. Ponting isn't too far behind either and after Ponting is where I would rate Kallis and Sangakarra's. With regard to being players being better cricketers, it's all a matter of perspective. I personally, even when looking at all rounders still have to rate them based on their primary discipline first. After all that's the main reason they are in the team.

I'd still rather have the very slightly inferior batsman who can step in and take 3 wickets in an innings when your 3rd seamer breaks down, than the slightly better batsman who is content in hiding at fine leg

 

[Jono]

Hey boys, **** off with your stats and ****. I was the ****.

 

[Prince EWS]

Cribbeh, I misread "flagwavers" just now and nearly fell over.

 

[Zinzan]

Well he is Sri Lankan so your point is invalid.

Er, how does that make my point invalid exactly? I'm well aware Migara is a Lankan supporter. I was questioning his use of the word 'undoubtably' as the statement it was used in seemed to imply almost all cricket fans agree Tendulkar was categorically the best batsmen of his era which is palbably untrue. Certaintly not true in the same sense as saying Bradman is 'undoubtably' the greatest batsman, in which 99% of cricket fans would agree with. To be fair on Migara, he may have simply been expressing his own opinion, which is fine, however it read as if all cricket fans think it.

 

[Jono]

I'm obviously a huge Tendulkar fan but he is definitely not "undoubtedly the best batsman of his era". He definitely has challengers. He is the most accomplished in terms of runs, centuries etc. (although Lara has some different kinds of records to challenge him). But Zinzan's point is true in that there are some that have Lara ahead (probably his biggest competitors). And then others may view Ponting better due to his peak. Others then may also see Kallis or Dravid as better, though I daresay they are probably a serious minority.

 

[Jono]

Shahid afridi, Shane Watson, and shakib al hasan are all better 'test cricketers' than tendulkar and Ponting........but who cares?

No they're not. Not every allrounder is better. Only the ones whose total contribution is greater than the individual batsman.

The point about Kallis from an allround point of view is he was comparable as a batsman to Tendulkar, Dravid, Lara etc. but also had facets to his game that the others didn't. Its quite astounding.

 

[kingpin]

Yes!!

 

[Zinzan]

I'm obviously a huge Tendulkar fan but he is definitely not "undoubtedly the best batsman of his era". He definitely has challengers. He is the most accomplished in terms of runs, centuries etc. (although Lara has some different kinds of records to challenge him). But Zinzan's point is true in that there are some that have Lara ahead (probably his biggest competitors). And then others may view Ponting better due to his peak. Others then may also see Kallis or Dravid as better, though I daresay they are probably a serious minority.

Indeed. In fact Bradman is really the only cricketer who is universally recognised as the absolute best at his craft which of course makes him unique. The next closest is arguably Warne, as the greatest leg-spinner of all time, although even then there's decent arguments for O'Reilly & Crimmett.

 

[Prince EWS]

Indeed. In fact Bradman is really the only cricketer who is universally recognised as the absolute best at his craft which of course makes him unique. The next closest is arguably Warne, as the greatest leg-spinner of all time, although even then there's decent arguments for O'Reilly & Crimmett.

I don't think too many people think someone other than Murali was the best off spinner of all time.