BazBall21
International Captain
Ponting 33.15
Smith 30.56
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Sunil Gavaskar vs Ricky Ponting
- Thread starter PlayerComparisons
- Start date
Smith 30.56
Pap Finn Keighl
International Debutant
Generally Gavaskar rated among 2nd to Bradman category ( Sachin, Lara, Hutton.. Etc )
Ponting a level below, in the company of Chappell , Border, Sanga.. Etc
Ponting a level below, in the company of Chappell , Border, Sanga.. Etc
silentstriker
The Wheel is Forever
This is actually a hard question to answer (Gavaskar vs Ponting), and I can’t decide. But impactful? If Ponting wasn’t in the Australia side, they would have still been the best in the world with Hayden, McGrath, Warne, Gilchrist etc.
if Gavaskar wasn’t in the Indian side, they would have been way way worse than they already were.
capt_Luffy
Hall of Fame Member
I can't see except of more runs and being more attacking; what more Ponting has going on for him.... He isn't even better than Dravid.
Other than scoring more runs in a manner that enables matches to be won…
That’s precisely why Ponting wins
capt_Luffy
Hall of Fame Member
Gavaskar scored fast runs when times called for it too.... I swear, the skill of sticking to the wicket gets way too much slack here.
like that 36 in the 1975 world cup
capt_Luffy
Hall of Fame Member
No, like his maiden ODI century; or during the third test against West Indies in '76; where he scored 102 with 13 boundaries while chasing over 400 (India won that match).
kyear2
Hall of Fame Member
My one issue with Sunil wasn't so much his strike rate, it's that as prolific as he undoubtedly was, he struggled vs anything resembling a good attack on anything outside of slow / flat / unresponsive pitches. It really would have been interesting to have seen him in WSC.
I don’t think he struggled any more than any other great player and I don’t think there isanywhere near enough sample size to draw a conclusion
kyear2
Hall of Fame Member
I believe I went through Australia and the West Indies, series, and the contrast was stark.
Yes every great player ever struggled when the ante was raised and they faced off against premier bowlers on helpful surfaces, but the great ones had break through performances. Not consistently great, but breakthrough performances.
When I first heard of Sunny's performances in the Caribbean, which is the calling card if it were, I was surprised how misleading the stats were. He also only was successful in Bourda and I think one match at the Queens Park Oval.
Please note, again not saying he wasn't a great batsman. He's in my AT XI.
capt_Luffy
Hall of Fame Member
Sunny has played 3 series in West Indies. Not mentioning the first he had a great one against an attack comprising of Holding and Garner; and a bad one against them at full force with Marshall averaging only 30. He also played Marshall twice in India; and was great in both of those series, averaging 90 in the first; and 54 In the second one, while Richards averaged 34 against a significantly weaker bowling lineup. He had three series in Australia; one against a weak bowling unit in which he was extremely successful, one against a great bowling unit where he was very unsuccessful (only a 50 in 6 innings) and another against a good bowling unit against whom he was moderately successful.
And let's be real for a moment; Gavaskar should had scored more in the '83 tour; Amarnath certainly did; but most ATG batsmen would definitely had struggled against that unit in anything but a flat pitch. There was also the issue of him losing the captaincy, the team was in a falloff and he clearly had a bad patch during that time that only really improved when Windies came to India.
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PlayerComparisons
International Captain
Gavaskar scored runs against peak Jeff Thomson too
capt_Luffy
Hall of Fame Member
Yeah, in the series where Australian bowling was in shambles; they still had Thompson, and Wayne Clarke a bowler notorious for throwing.