Sanga retiring, where does he place?

[viriya]

Curious to hear what people have to say on his place among the greats. I thought he had a genuine chance of retiring as the clear #2 after Bradman had he stuck around for a 1-2 more years and pushed his average close to 60, but since he's signing off now I rate him at the same level as Tendulkar and Lara, not above or below.

 

[viriya]

Some of his statistical highlights:

- Fastest to 8000 runs
- Fastest to 9000 runs
- Fastest to 10000 runs
- Fastest to 11000 runs
- Fastest to 12000 runs
- Most double hundreds after Bradman (with most 190s ever with 3 and one 199*)
- Highest average for batsmen with >8000 runs (assuming he makes at least 60 in 2 innings in his last Test to stay above Sobers)
- Most runs by a Sri Lankan
- Most hundreds by a Sri Lankan
- Highest partnership ever (624 with Mahela)
- 2nd highest total partnership runs (6554 with Mahela, behind Tendulkar & Dravid)

 

[Contra]

Poll needs a "well below Tendulkar and Lara" option.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Poll needs a "well below Tendulkar and Lara" option.

Yeah it does. That way we'll be able to find out who needs to be punched in the face.

Smidgen below Lara and Tendulkar for me. But as good as anyone else in the last 20 years.

 

[Prince EWS]

Below Tendulkar and Lara but ahead of everyone else who his career crossed paths with, for mine. Firmly inside the top 20 Test batsmen of all time.

 

[akilana]

Just below Lara but ahead of Sachin

 

[OverratedSanity]

I'd rank Lara and Tendulkar just ahead, and come to think of it, Ponting and well. Firmly convinced though that he's slightly superior to Dravid, Waugh and Kallis who are close behind the top tier.

 

[harsh.ag]

Equal to anyone bar Sachin

 

[weldone]

Sanga vs Dravid is an interesting comparison for me.

 

[Prince EWS]

Sanga vs Dravid is an interesting comparison for me.

I rate Kallis the highest out of the next lot down of modern batsmen, so I had to think about Sanga v Kallis. For me, if I could decide he was better than Kallis then he was also better than Dravid, Ponting, Waugh, Younis etc automatically.

I think he's closer to Kallis than he is to Lara, but I do think he's just eclipsed Kallis. The career career ratings programme I made on top of my standardised average calculations actually disagrees there and puts Kallis slightly ahead but I do think it's Sanga, just.

 

[mr_mister]

I clicked better than Sachin and Lara, was kind of transfixed by all those stats posted earlier. But after much rethought, he wasn't as good. That quality of bowling Sachin and Lara (AND STEVE WAUGH) had to face

 

[OverratedSanity]

After Tendulkar-Lara-Ponting, it's Sanga>Dravid>Waugh>Kallis>Younis for me.

 

[mr_mister]

maybe it's nostalgia but I feel Steve Waugh was better than Dravid. Tho I dont know why I'm complaining you placed him pretty high. But yeah I can't see Dravid scoring centuries in some of the situations Steve did

 

[91Jmay]

I've gone with same level as Sachin and Lara, given that he kept for bulk of his career his record is staggering especially given how good it is virtually everywhere.

 

[akilana]

I clicked better than Sachin and Lara, was kind of transfixed by all those stats posted earlier. But after much rethought, he wasn't as good. That quality of bowling Sachin and Lara (AND STEVE WAUGH) had to face

It is not like Sachin and Lara were very successful against great bowlers of the 90s. Lara failed against Akram and Co and was terrible against SA. He was very good against Australia but plenty of times Australia had the better of him.
Sachin averaged something in 40s against Australian attacks led by McGrath and his overall record against Donald, Akram, Waqar was very average. He did well against the rubbish attacks of the 90s though. Waugh probably did better against better bowling attacks than Lara and Sachin.

 

[akilana]

maybe it's nostalgia but I feel Steve Waugh was better than Dravid. Tho I dont know why I'm complaining you placed him pretty high. But yeah I can't see Dravid scoring centuries in some of the situations Steve did

Dravid is massively overrated in this forum. He scored his runs at the same rate as Kallis did but people here have selective amnesia.

 

[mr_mister]

yeah thats why I love Waugh. However, (though I only really remember Lara slicing and dicing our attack) the fact that they did poorly against quality bowling attacks doesnt change the fact they had to face those bowling attacks that Sanga was lucky to miss. Meaning their averages were neutered and his padded. The words neutered and padded are an exaggeration but yeah you get my point.

 

[Contra]

Dravid is rated highly because the innings Dravid can play... only Dravid can play lol

I do agree that Dravid is a little overrated on here though, people seem to forget that he was average-above average during his last few years, everyone seems to ignore that because of that one fantastic tour of England in 2011.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Blanket statements like "overrated here" make no sense. I've seen people here say he's better than Tendulkar, in that case, yes he's overrated. At the same time I see mr_mister say Dravid couldn't play innings Waugh could, which I don't agree with at all, so there he's being underrated. He's in the Kallis-Waugh class but just like them, he's not as good as Tendulkar and Lara.

 

[G.I.Joe]

I refuse to vote on the basis that the poll options do not reasonably cover the entire gamut of view-points.