Virender Sehwag vs Sanath Jayasuriya

[Richard]

Sehwag has been good since his comeback to ODIs

Which one? He must've had at least 4 by now, and surely there will be more in future too.

 

[ret]

Which one? He must've had at least 4 by now, and surely there will be more in future too.

obviously the last one .... seems like you are so hung up on his failures to give credit when its due

 

[Richard]

What, credit for 4 good innings or something?

Big wow!

 

[ret]

What, credit for 4 good innings or something?

Big wow!

how many has he played? 30

 

[Prince EWS]

obviously the last one .... seems like you are so hung up on his failures to give credit when its due

Or perhaps you're so euphoric regarding his Test performances that you fail to recognise his repeated ODI failures when they are obvious.

He's looked better since his last recall indeed, but that doesn't mean he should be viewed as a better player just because it is recent - the sample size hasn't been big enough. He's played well in little patches before but generally returns to mediocrity. He isn't a great strike-rotater and he's just not quite good enough at hitting over the top to get away with that limitation consistently.

He should definitely be given a run in the team now given the other players India have lost and/or chosen not to select, but I wouldn't really regard him as "good" yet.

 

[ret]

Or perhaps you're so euphoric regarding his Test performances that you fail to recognise his repeated ODI failures when they are obvious.

He's looked better since his last recall indeed, but that doesn't mean he should be viewed as a better player just because it is recent - the sample size hasn't been big enough. He's played well in little patches before but generally returns to mediocrity. He isn't a great strike-rotater and he's just not quite good enough at hitting over the top to get away with that limitation consistently.

He should definitely be given a run in the team now given the other players India have lost and/or chosen not to select, but I wouldn't really regard him as "good" yet.

well, i m not making any tall claims but saying that he is improving .... the way he is going, he could well turn into the best batsman for this new look team

 

[Uppercut]

Well one day I'll actually find some exact numbers. Until then, those Sehwag fans can mistakenly think it's ridiculous to consider the idea he's more lucky than most.

Jayasuriya hasn't often scored lots of runs by the time he faces decent balls if the bowlers haven't bowled poor deliveries at him though. He either doesn't receive many balls that can trouble him and gets lots of the sort of stuff he can smash, or the direct inverse. Because if he's got the good balls, he doesn't have the stick-around time to stay there when the bad ones come along.

And yes, that is a bit simplistic TBH, but so is the analogy you posted. Reality is neither is quite true.

In short, Jayasuriya is better than most at putting away the bad ball, and worse than most at not getting out to a good one. Is that it?

 

[Prince EWS]

In short, Jayasuriya is better than most at putting away the bad ball, and worse than most at not getting out to a good one. Is that it?

Not sure about Richard, but that's my stance on it.

 

[Richard]

how many has he played? 30

Since his most recent recall, in June this year, he's so far played 6 innings, scoring 89, 2, 119, 49, 42 and 60. This is nothing he hasn't done several times previously in the last 6 years. It's highly unlikely, given how long (ie, his entire career apart from 2002) he's been very poor for, that this is going to be the start of a new trend of better performance.

 

[Richard]

In short, Jayasuriya is better than most at putting away the bad ball, and worse than most at not getting out to a good one. Is that it?

Not sure about Richard, but that's my stance on it.

As I said, it sounds rather simplistic, but that's basically it.

 

[ret]

Since his most recent recall, in June this year, he's so far played 6 innings, scoring 89, 2, 119, 49, 42 and 60. This is nothing he hasn't done several times previously in the last 6 years. It's highly unlikely, given how long (ie, his entire career apart from 2002) he's been very poor for, that this is going to be the start of a new trend of better performance.

it's not just the scores but how one goes abt his batting that counts too .... so apart from the scores, have you noticed the difference b/w how he went abt batting in ODIs in the past and now?

 

[Uppercut]

As I said, it sounds rather simplistic, but that's basically it.

Ah. I wouldn't disagree with that at all, I just thought it was kind of obvious and it isn't really too big a criticism to level at a player so long as he's scoring plenty of runs.

Not much more to be said on the matter.

 

[Ikki]

There is no "overall". It's either as Test openers or ODI openers. Or as bowlers, or something else. Jayasuriya is clearly far better than Sehwag at ODI opening, Sehwag is clearly far better at Test opening, though neither are from the top drawer in the Test department. Everything aside from this is a sideshow.

why can't someone take overall? for e.g. if someone says that you can only pick one to play both the tests and the ODIs for your team then you pick one that you think is better overall duh

Exactly. Another case of Richard trying to shove his standards down everybody elses' throat. Whilst I think Sehwag is the better Test batsman and Sanath the better ODI, I think the distance between the test records is much larger than the ODI records.

As for their bowling, I haven't considered it much. Neither are that great, simply handy.

 

[weldone]

Virender Sehwag

 

[Richard]

Exactly. Another case of Richard trying to shove his standards down everybody elses' throat.

It's not really my standards. There is no game which is a cross between Test and ODI cricket. They're two different things and trying to blur them together is totally pointless.

 

[Richard]

it's not just the scores but how one goes abt his batting that counts too .... so apart from the scores, have you noticed the difference b/w how he went abt batting in ODIs in the past and now?

I can't say I've ever noticed the slightest difference in Sehwag at any time in his career - the most recent time I watched him he played pretty well exactly the same as the first time.

And no, I've not watched any of the recent ODIs. I'm sure he has batted well. What I doubt is that he can keep doing that.

 

[Migara]

Why anyone didn't even mentioned that Jayasuriya was among top 20 fielders in cricket in his youth? Until about 36 he was better tha Sehwag at nay time of his career with fielding.

And captaincy . . .

The margin in ODI's among them is mammoth when you consider the full player profile.

 

[Richard]

Never particularly regarded Jayasuriya as an outstanding captain myself TBH. He was a bit like Shaun Pollock - did a more than acceptable job with a mostly fine team, but certainly not an exceptional one. He was always under a difficult task following Ranatunga, the best captain Sri Lanka ever had, but if I had to compare him and Mahela Jayawardene, currently I'd say Jayawardene was better.

As for fielding, I honestly can't remember much of Jayasuriya. He rarely struck me as outstanding, but equally he rarely fumbled (with one awful exception at Lord's in 2002, a match more noted for Ruchira Perera's elbow, where he dropped Michael Vaughan twice in a couple of overs, thus setting in motion Vaughan's Year Of The Good Luck). The sign of a good but not outstanding fielder is that you don't notice them I guess.

 

[adharcric]

Why anyone didn't even mentioned that Jayasuriya was among top 20 fielders in cricket in his youth? Until about 36 he was better tha Sehwag at nay time of his career with fielding.

And captaincy . . .

The margin in ODI's among them is mammoth when you consider the full player profile.

Jayasuriya has been a good fielder, not spectacular. Sehwag is just a little behind in that regard - safe but nothing special. I'm not sure how you can say that Jayasuriya is a considerably better captain than Sehwag either. Batting, yes ... clearly Jayasuriya in that regard.

 

[Ikki]

It's not really my standards. There is no game which is a cross between Test and ODI cricket. They're two different things and trying to blur them together is totally pointless.

No one is blurring them together. We could be talking about football and tennis. One player may be stronger in football than he is in tennis but overall a greater sportsman than the person he is being compared to. Simple logic.