Fair, but as Luffy already clarified, what he means is that Gilly is just as much of a lock as Marshall. If Gilly isn't a lock, neither is Marshall, which is a perfectly fine take.
He's literally not.
It's like if my guy isn't then neither is yours, lol.
There's two ways to look at this and what constitutes a lock.
1. Who actually makes the actual larger, credible AT teams. When we look at it that way, it's Bradman and Sobers the obvious ones, third has to be Warne, then it's Hobbs, Marshall and Tendulkar (in that order). Despite the fact that most here would disagree Richards and Gilchrist are up next.
The truth is that by the time we get to team no. 1 or 2 Gilchrist is already missing.
2. Is there a legitimate argument that can be made against a player, or is there close competition.
Warne has Murali. Just watched a video where Murali was the unanimous choice. Of course the team was ****, and the panelist not exactly top tier, so wouldn't be taking it too seriously, but it was a panel , sooo...
Gilchrist has Knott. There's a video with Bumble and Kimber speaking of the value of taking the better keeper, there's an article for the Cricinfo team where it questions the need for Gilchrist considering the batting line up, and extols the virtues of going for the genuine AT gloveman. Chappell also goes that way, so does Boycott and Swanton among others. Willis chooses neither.
Hobbs and Hutton has Sunny, who has made teams ahead of both, though primarily Hutton, and Barry who pops up intermittently (even if not enough). It's not the majority, but yeah Hutton has Gavaskar, and it's not a one off.
Hobbs (even though not my personal choice), Marshall and Tendulkar, don't have those prevailing arguments.
Don't think there's a sufficient constituency of people who rate two middle order bats ahead of Tendulkar (Willis being a notable exception), and none that rate two new ball bowlers, or three pacers in general over Marshall. Hobbs is still revered as the Master and is treated as such.
So if you think neither of the 3 are genuine locks in both categories please highlight. Sachin is almost universally seen as a top 3 bat, similarly Marshall as the GOAT pacer.
Hobbs is the greatest and very arguably best after Bradman.
If a team has Hayden over Hobbs, that speaks more to the team than Hobbs. And Marshall unlike McGrath can bat, has a greater body of work and over different conditions than Barnes, and isn't comparable statistically to Lillee. He literally also makes more AT teams than even Tendulkar and about par if not slightly more than Hobbs.
