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Better test bat: Dravid vs Sangakkara

Better Test Bat: Dravid vs Sangakkara


  • Total voters
    48

subshakerz

International Coach
Peak Dravid was absolutely imperial and was probably India’s best batsman overseas. Sanga was mostly below par barring the odd decent knock and has **** technique.
Where was Sanga below par?

If someone like Sanga was on strike, a captain would want to get him out as soon as possible.

If someone like Dravid was on strike, captains would mostly worry about getting the blokes at the other end out as soon as possible.
 

Himannv

International Coach
I went for Sangakkara because Himannv is notoriously bad at evaluating cricketers called 'Sangakkara'.
Au contraire, I am very good at evaluating him because I’ve watched most of his games.

People say his knock at Hobart is his best, but Hobart is not some minefield or something and if you’re a decent player of fast bowling, you will probably do ok. He’s had a lot of knocks where you kind of expect him to score and he does, and I don’t think those are a big deal. The double 100 against SA, the countless big knocks against the likes of BAN and ZIM, and various other innings that he’s played look good on paper, but aren’t really great ones in reality. I’ll give props to the person who mentioned the performance against New Zealand, I think that was pretty good considering the conditions. The 98 at the Centurion is another good one.

His best knock was actually at Asgiriya stadium against West Indies. The West Indian team didn’t exactly have world beaters playing for them at the time but they had a decent pace attack with an Australian back room staff giving them great advice on where exactly to pitch it. Now this pitch was actually a minefield, with uneven bounce and the ball moving about a fair bit. The top order had failed for the whole series at that point and in the second innings he came out to bat and made one attempt at his ghastly cover drive and decided to shelve it. After that he was patient and restricted himself from playing that pointlessly flamboyant shot for the rest of his innings. He waited for the short ball and pulled well and did not take the bait when they pitched it up. That was a proper gritty cricketing knock where he batted for ages and had a bruised wrist and had the early signs of flu. Cricinfo tells me he scored 157 not out off 284 deliveries with a MOTM award despite Murali running through them in the end. I’d have a higher estimation of him if he didn’t immediately revert to his usual pointlessly flashy style of play after that game and if he wasn’t a prick.
 

subshakerz

International Coach
Au contraire, I am very good at evaluating him because I’ve watched most of his games.

People say his knock at Hobart is his best, but Hobart is not some minefield or something and if you’re a decent player of fast bowling, you will probably do ok. He’s had a lot of knocks where you kind of expect him to score and he does, and I don’t think those are a big deal. The double 100 against SA, the countless big knocks against the likes of BAN and ZIM, and various other innings that he’s played look good on paper, but aren’t really great ones in reality. I’ll give props to the person who mentioned the performance against New Zealand, I think that was pretty good considering the conditions. The 98 at the Centurion is another good one.
That knock in Hobart was top tier though. Nearly scoring a double ton in the 4th innings in Australia is always an achievement, but Sanga was in complete control against Lee in his worldclass phase, Stuart Clark and Johnson.
 

Coronis

Cricketer Of The Year
Peak Dravid was absolutely imperial and was probably India’s best batsman overseas. Sanga was mostly below par barring the odd decent knock and has **** technique.
Peak Sanga was absolutely imperial and was definitely Sri Lankas best batsman overseas and at home. Their overall away records turn out pretty similar, Dravid just needed Sanga to teach him to bat a bit better at home. Also, does your technique really matter if it is effective?

the countless big knocks against the likes of BAN and ZIM
Meh, both scored heavily against Bang and Zim and played 15+ tests against them. Once again though, Sanga was better at taking advantage of it than Dravid.
 

BazBall21

International Regular
That knock in Hobart was top tier though. Nearly scoring a double ton in the 4th innings in Australia is always an achievement, but Sanga was in complete control against Lee in his worldclass phase, Stuart Clark and Johnson.
156* out of 268 at Basin Reserve was among his best too.
 

subshakerz

International Coach

Himannv

International Coach
Peak Sanga was absolutely imperial and was definitely Sri Lankas best batsman overseas and at home. Their overall away records turn out pretty similar, Dravid just needed Sanga to teach him to bat a bit better at home. Also, does your technique really matter if it is effective?
Peak Sanga was meh barring a few knocks here and there. People talk about him like he’s the second coming of Bradman sometimes and that’s just laughable really - he’s not anywhere near that good.
 

Migara

Cricketer Of The Year
Peak Sanga was meh barring a few knocks here and there. People talk about him like he’s the second coming of Bradman sometimes and that’s just laughable really - he’s not anywhere near that good.
There is nothing called peak Sangakkara. He was bloody consistent. If you needed peak performances, it is Aravinda de Silva. You don't get many people come out on a minefield, swinging and seaming and go after Wasim and Waqar at 5 rpo.
 

Coronis

Cricketer Of The Year
There is nothing called peak Sangakkara. He was bloody consistent. If you needed peak performances, it is Aravinda de Silva. You don't get many people come out on a minefield, swinging and seaming and go after Wasim and Waqar at 5 rpo.
When I say peak Sanga, I basically mean post-keeper, since that whole period was pretty much a peak.
 

Bolo.

International Vice-Captain
I very rarely vote in these polls. Either i don't know enough, consider them too dumb to vote in, or consider them close enough to not care who wins.

But this was an auto vote for me.

Sanga for sure.
 

ashley bach

International Captain
Sanga but only just really. He was outstanding down under and solid everywhere else.
Dravid in England was incredible, nearly 1400 runs in 13 tests at just a tad under 70.
Maybe my memory serves me wrong here, but it's quite possible Rahul played a higher percentage than Kumar against top tier teams at the time.
 

TheJediBrah

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Maybe my memory serves me wrong here, but it's quite possible Rahul played a higher percentage than Kumar against top tier teams at the time.
He definitely would have. Sri Lanka played an amazingly high percentage of their games against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe during Sanga's time, and no where near much against stronger teams as India.

No fault of theirs of course, India were just a bigger drawcard and got 4-Test series regularly. Sri Lanka had to make do with what the other boards would give them and fill their schedule with games against minnows and lesser teams

running the numbers it definitely affects the stats. Kumar played 20 Tests v Ban & Zim averaging 94. Taking away those games his career average drops to 52.

edit: tbf Dravid minnow bashed a lot too, but not quite to the same extent as Sanga or as high a percentage of his games
 
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