Saeed Anwar vs Sourav Ganguly

[MasterBlaster24]

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[Thala_0710]

Anwar

 

[ankitj]

I am going to stick my neck out and say Ganguly > Anwar. The best 3 bowling attackes in their playing days were Aus, SA and Pak. But since Anwar didn't face Pak let's take them out. Against Aus and SA, Ganguly averaged respectable 35 with 4 hundreds and 13 fifties while Anwar averaged 21 with 1 hundred and 0 fifties. Anwar bullied subcontinent teams a lot but somehow has a reputation of being a more all round batsman than Ganguly.

 

[Randomfan]

I did not realize Anwar was that poor against 2 best bowling side . On top of that he did not face third best bowling side.

Changing the vote.

 

[MasterBlaster24]

@ankitj If we apply the same logic to the other thread, then Sangakkara > Ganguly because he performed well against South Africa and Australia. I'm not saying that, but you have to remember that Anwar and Ganguly didn't have the same level of batting support when comparing them. Ganguly had Sachin, who was one of the best in ODI history, and Dravid, who was also really good in ODIs during that period. Anwar had to play a consistent, high strike-rate role for his team because most of his teammates often batted with a strike rate of around 70.

For your information, Ganguly averages 25 with the bat against top teams in world cups if we exclude his 183 against the Sri Lankan team. That Sri Lankan team was similar to India’s 2007 World Cup team. They looked good on paper but performed horribly, getting knocked out in the group stage. For the record, they had the second-worst bowling average in that World Cup among all teams.

 

[ankitj]

No beef with anyone rating Anwar over Ganguly. I discovered this oddity in Anwar's record only today.

 

[Randomfan]

@ankitj If we apply the same logic to the other thread, then Sangakkara > Ganguly because he performed well against South Africa and Australia.

I think situations are a bit different. You could perform better than others against 2 best bowling side so you can get some brownie points in comparison but if you simply struggle in entire career then it's a huge black mark.

Crossing 50 only once in 50+ innings and averaging 20 in entire career against two best sides should count as a huge negative. It's not some sub sample size, it's his entire career.

In other comparison, Sanga and Gangully both have a resonable record against Aus/SA with Sanga having better. Both have also faced Pak which Anwar did not have to face.

 

[reyrey]

They both average 23 against Australia

Anwar was very poor against SA, Ganguly was very impressive against them. Their records are otherwise pretty similar with Anwar having the better SR. Coin flip

 

[ankitj]

Reason I'm on this Ganguly advocacy mode right now is because many on here have completely forgotten how good Ganguly was (and so was Anwar tbf). If you just look at his average he doesn't come off as anything special with 41 average. But he was for a period of 4-5 years performing at a level where he wasn't too far off Tendulkar. Within a few months of each other he led India to its then highest ODI total ever and to its (and world's) then highest successful run chase. Its not some Kallis/Dravid level middle overs accumulation but playing the role of an actual enforcer. His average also was north of 44 around 2002 which was impressive for the time.

Anwar was also top tier opener of course. I won't be able to list his defining knocks (his record breaking 194 apart) as easily as maybe a Pak fan can. But curious to compare the best knocks of both.

Here's the best of Ganguly:

• 124 vs Pak at Dhaka in 1999 in tri-series final to set up the highest successful chase in all ODIs at the time
• 183 vs SL at Taunton in 1999 world cup taking India to their highest ODI total at the time
• 141* vs SA at Nairobi in 2000 ICT semi final against Pollock & co.
• 117 vs NZ at Nairobi in 2000 ICT final (very next match) although Cairns chased down what should have been a winning total
• 141 vs Pak at Adelaide in 2000 against Wasim, Akhtar, Saqlain
• That crazy bi-lateral series vs Pak in 1997 in Toronto when Ganguly was the top scorer, top wicket taker and also had the best batting as well as bowling average of anyone who had an average.

This is just overseas performances against stronger teams.