Who is the best young batsman around right now?

[honestbharani]

I think what people forget with Lara is that he never had a great technique, his was really a triumph of hand- eye coordination and balance over technique and its one of the reasons why Glenn McGrath worked him over time and time again. An extraneously high backlift along with feet that often got nowhere near the pitch of the ball meant that he was often susceptible to the ball going away from him. My own personal opinion with Bravo is that I just dont think he has the ability of Brian Lara to make up for the deficiencies in his technique though obviously considering that he is only 24 he could very well figure it out over the course of his career.

I havent seen enough of Pujara, at least not on helpful tracks to judge so I will reserve judgement on him for the time being. His record though shows an insatiable appetite and the fact that he has scored FC runs for India A across the world probably is a good sign. I'm also quietly fond of Murali Vijay's technique, though once again, it remains to be seen how he holds up away from home.

The thing is, TEC, technique is a combination of your footwork, hand-eye co-ordination, ability to time the ball, speed of backlift etc etc.. There is no one perfect technique. Each one just work ways to position themselves to the ball based on their own strengths and weaknesses. Lara's was as good a technique as can be found for a guy of his abilities and strengths.

 

[Jono]

Vijay's a funny one. He has an attractive technique. It looks tight and compact. His feet move quite well. You would think he's not going to get bowled or LBW too many times. His attacking shots don't consist of him playing far away from his body, or flaying his arms... yet I worry about him overseas. Mainly because he failed so badly in WI.. but then again Raina succeeded in the WI and well... it's Raina.

 

[sphynx]

When does India tour Australia next?

Could be interesting for their batsmen, especially seeing as Pattinson, Starc, Cummins etc will be around that 24-26 mark.

 

[Jono]

Ages. They toured in 2011/12, so it would be December 2015 I imagine.

 

[Maximas]

Don't see why Chandimal and Thirramanne from Sri Lanka don't get any mention - I would have to say Chandimal out of those two.

Nasir Jamshed looked OK at one point in SA but he struggled - his ODI record in the sub-continent is incredible atm though.

Tamin Iqbal has been carrying Bangladesh for a while too - but he doesn't convert starts enough, and Bangladesh don't play outside the sub-continent enough to make a judgment - was good in England though.

Overall, I think Dinesh Chandimal takes the cake - he has proved himself everywhere he has played - except maybe for SL of all places, but he did score a ton against BD just recently.

 

[Teja.]

Pujara's scored 1068* runs @ 80.08 in 10 tests in the last 12 months with two double tons.

He's in mammoth form right now.

 

[benchmark00]

Yeah a fine effort to make 1068 on debut.

Srsly though, this is not even a discussion. It's P00jara by miles.

 

[Daemon]

Pujara and Patto are just way ahead in their respective departments atm.

 

[Cevno]

But Either haven't done anything in the West Indies yet.

 

[WindieWeathers]

But Either haven't done anything in the West Indies yet.

It's true though, Pujara had a good start in the A-team tour last year but was soon found out in the end while Patto only last one test!! .

 

[Viscount Tom]

I really don't think the batting front in WC is at the moment something to shout about its very mediocre to be honest I reckon the next decade will look not too dissimilar to international cricket captain in that you'll end up with many more low scoring matches.

 

[lockton2skipper]

kane williamson is going to be very good.

 

[Daemon]

So now that they're all in the 25-28 bracket, in no particular order

Smith
Root
Kohli
Rahane
Williamson
Mathews

Genuinely finding it hard to split them now. Root's been absolutely brilliant at home but besides the Windies he hasn't got much chance to play overseas, Kohli's been good but he's got that shocker of an England series on his record while Rahane's scoring tons everywhere he tours. Williamson, Rahane and Smith seem to have the most complete record atm, but I honestly can't rank them atm.

 

[Flem274*]

Mathews imo

 

[Jono]

Pujara and Patto are just way ahead in their respective departments atm.

you jinxed both of them ya piece of ****

 

[OverratedSanity]

Mathews doesn't really count imo

 

[mr_mister]

is jamshed still a chance? I really liked watching him bat against Australia a few years back

 

[Dan]

Heh.

 

[hendrix]

I legitimately liked Jamshed too. Now it's fair to say the best thing about his career is his parody twitter account.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Yeah I liked him too. He had a 30-40 run innings in SA where I thought I was impressed with his temperament. Shame he became utter ****e.