The Official 'Is Mahela Better than Aravinda' Thread

[Dan]

Keep it out of the retirement thread, ****s.


FTR I'm #TeamAravinda but cbf with stats and ex-player quotes.

 

[Spikey]

Chandana Aravinda | Sri Lanka Cricket | Cricket Players and Officials | ESPN Cricinfo

 

[Hurricane]

Keep it out of the retirement thread, ****s.


FTR I'm #TeamAravinda but cbf with stats and ex-player quotes.

I am also in Team Aravinda and explained myself in a long post about a month ago. He was the forerunner and had to break ground and made it easier for those who followed him.

 

[grecian]

Aravinda for me. Dreamy.

 

[Athlai]

Dan is slowly turning into Phlegm. I'm not sure how I feel

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Aravinda is one of the only batsmen I'd pay to watch. Love 'im.

I'd have Russel Arnold a clear 2nd.

 

[Dan]

Dan is slowly turning into Phlegm. I'm not sure how I feel

More divided than usual?

And nah, I'm not going to start talking exclusively about horses and rocks any time soon.

 

[Flem274*]

sometimes i talk about the weather

 

[Flem274*]

like weather i'll talk about horses or rocks today.

 

[viriya]

It depends on what you value.. style or substance.. not that Mahela wasn't great to watch either though.
Aravinda was SL's first truly great batsman, which will always make people pick him over others.
I think Mahela was clearly the better Test batsman, and Aravinda was clearly the better ODI batsman.
Angelo has taken the mantle of being SL's best player of fast bowling from Aravinda/Sanga I think.

 

[Migara]

Aravinda did not have formal coaching and this has to be taken in to account. When he grew as a batsman, his average got better. In 90s he averages 46+, and only few batsmen average more than him. But I can assure none of them brought the "god fear" in to fast bowlers at bowling short at a batsman. If Aravinda was in a better team, as well as had more home matches nor for civil unrest, would have averaged 50+ and would have been giving SRT and Lara a run for their money in the 90s.

There are two instances I remember for his genius. First was pulling Brett Schultz through straight mid wicket. Schultz did make look Donald pedestrian at his peak. Second the first time he face Akthar, who was fresh from demolishing India. The first ball was a rising short of a length ball and Aravinda got in to position on to the back foot and played it as if in slow motion. He has better innings, but this were the instances where he absolutely demoralized fast bowlers with one stroke.

 

[YorksLanka]

Aravinda for me but both great batsmen IMO...

 

[viriya]

As much as I like Aravinda people mythologize him as a Test batsman too much. He really was a true great in ODIs, but in Tests he has an average of 36 away from home (considering his skill in handling fast bowling a surprise) - lower than Mahela's 42.
Mahela has been around longer, has won more matches for SL and has a better record in Tests.
If we're combining Tests and ODIs I can understand people picking Aravinda over him, but for Tests only it's a no brainer.
ODIs is a different matter - Mahela underperformed his whole career - imo he should've opened and played care-free from the start. He always managed to come up big when it mattered though.

 

[harsh.ag]

Too close to call overall. In the sub-continent, Mahela, and in seaming conditions outside Asia, Aravinda.

 

[smash84]

Aravinda was probably more inconsistent at the test level but with the exception of Sangakkara I haven't seen a better batsman from Sri Lanka. It is not just a question of nostalgia but the fact that he faced much better quality of attacks and he could take the attack to them. Having seen both of them bat I would definitely pick Aravinda ahead of jayawardena in the pantheon of SL batting greats. Aravinda also had the disadvantage of playing a lot of his matches when SL were proper minnows

 

[akilana]

Too close to call overall. In the sub-continent, Mahela, and in seaming conditions outside Asia, Aravinda.

Aravinda in seaming conditions? any examples?

 

[akilana]

As much as I like Aravinda people mythologize him as a Test batsman too much. He really was a true great in ODIs, but in Tests he has an average of 36 away from home (considering his skill in handling fast bowling a surprise) - lower than Mahela's 42.
Mahela has been around longer, has won more matches for SL and has a better record in Tests.
If we're combining Tests and ODIs I can understand people picking Aravinda over him, but for Tests only it's a no brainer.
ODIs is a different matter - Mahela underperformed his whole career - imo he should've opened and played care-free from the start. He always managed to come up big when it mattered though.

ya but you just rely on statsguru and never bothered to watch them bat.

 

[harsh.ag]

From what I've seen, I guess.

 

[akilana]

How convenient

 

[harsh.ag]

How classy