royGilchrist
State 12th Man
Personally its Azhar for me. That memorable innings in Calcutta, against England is probably the most dominating display of batting I have ever seen by anyone. And to give you an idea, Sachin playing alongside Azhar looked like a schoolboy just beginning to learn the trade from the master.
The thing that was so intriguing to watch was Azhar's unpredictability, I remember one time in Sharjah I think, Waqar was at his peak. Azhar came in to bat, and the first ball was an attempted swinging yorker, a scorching delivery, which had perfect length but a little bit on the off in line. And Azhar did something that I can assure you, no one would even have attempted to do. He played a late cut. A non-chalant late cut, first ball to one of the fastest bowlers of all time, bowling at his peak, and attempting his trademark delivery. And it went for a clean four! He attmpted a similar shot in the next over, to get clean bowled. But still the audacity to attempt something like that makes him unique.
That being said, Laxman played an innings which cosidering the situation, was probably the greatest innings in test cricket for the last 30 years. And then there was the little matter of Azhar's debut series.
Difficult comparison, but I would go for Azhar since he had this artistic quality to his batting.
The thing that was so intriguing to watch was Azhar's unpredictability, I remember one time in Sharjah I think, Waqar was at his peak. Azhar came in to bat, and the first ball was an attempted swinging yorker, a scorching delivery, which had perfect length but a little bit on the off in line. And Azhar did something that I can assure you, no one would even have attempted to do. He played a late cut. A non-chalant late cut, first ball to one of the fastest bowlers of all time, bowling at his peak, and attempting his trademark delivery. And it went for a clean four! He attmpted a similar shot in the next over, to get clean bowled. But still the audacity to attempt something like that makes him unique.
That being said, Laxman played an innings which cosidering the situation, was probably the greatest innings in test cricket for the last 30 years. And then there was the little matter of Azhar's debut series.
Difficult comparison, but I would go for Azhar since he had this artistic quality to his batting.