Jump before he's pushed as well? One century since 2023 and a batting average that is dropping alarmingly, (just 32.56 over the last two years). Still a beast at the shorter form of the game but as a test player he's done. Hard to imagine he was one of the best a few years ago when he was walking into bat with a 55.10 average behind him.
On another note, Warwickshire played Surrey yesterday in the County Championship and after being put into bat they ended the day on 364-4 with new signing and top Kiwi, Tom Latham hitting 139 not out. I see we've also got Beau Webster in the team who is a very good Aussie all-rounder. Could be a good year for the Bears..
I can understand why BCCI wants Virat to play in the England series. I want us to move on & start putting in the youngsters. On a side note, Virat anyways is going to be in the UK, considering he is moving there for good.
maybe he'll play in the Lords and Oval test and say he doesn't want to travel to Manchester or Birmingham, I'd sympathise with him then..
Officially retired As much as I dislike him for his onfield behaviour & his PR, which he uses to badmouth other players or coaches, he retires as the greatest Indian Test captain. I wouldn't put him in the top five Indian Test batsmen, but definitely in the top 10 & that is still a great achievement. No Rohit & Kohli in England tour. Will be interesting & possibly a long hard tour.
I haven't been following his rehabilitation but will Jaspirit be fit for the tour? I really hope so as I love watching this guy.
Yeah Bumrah is back & has been bowling well in the IPL. But it's just four overs. I'm concerned with what his former MI bowling coach, Shane Bond said about him. https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/...asprit-bumrah-return-from-back-injury-1476741 Basically he has to be managed & can't play regular Tests.
Mmm, that would be a crying shame if his career was cut short. Just looking at the itinerary for this summer and the second and third and fourth and fifth tests are back to back so he'd potentially have be rested for the third test at Lords to give him the break he needs, and he won't want to miss that game..
I was in the crowd for most of Kohli's second innings hundred at Trent Bridge in 2018. As much as his team were well on top in the game at that stage, I've never seen a player - before or since - make a Test hundred while looking like he was in the batting equivalent of second gear. If he'd wanted or needed to, he could have taken that England attack apart that day. He was that good at his peak and if he's not in your top five Indian Test batsmen, then I'd love to know who is. As for the tour coming up, India may well be helped by the fact that they're likely to be facing a pretty inexperienced English attack, at least at first and if the selection for the Zimbabwe Test next week is anything to go by. A lot may well depend on the outcome of that first Test match at Headingley and, given 78 all out there four years ago, I don't think it's a coincidence that we're starting there this time around. There is a week between Headingley and Edgbaston and then between Lord's and Old Trafford, assuming the games go the full five days, which ought to help Bumrah there. But as much as it might well make our task easier if he can't play the whole series, it would be a travesty if such a wonderful talent as he is wasn't in the opposing line-up.
Sachin & Gavaskar are unmatched. After that in no particular order, Dravid. Absolute beast at number 3 for years. Probably overshadowed by his swashbuckling teammates, but almost as important as Tendulkar overseas. Laxman. When one of the greatest Test sides fears you it matters. & Waugh's & Ricky's Aussies admired him openly. Was a delight to watch as well. Part of some great wins. Sehwag. Just edges Virat for me because of the kind of innings he played. Funnily someone who was built for the white ball cricket, but had a better Test record than his white ball record. 23 Hundreds with 6 double centuries & 2 triple tons. Once scored 200 in a day in Australia. Has a better average than Virat. For me Kohli comes after this. What also doesn't work for Kohli are the quiet last few years & his inability to remedy his problem with that fifth-stump line delivery. The batters above had encountered issues as well, but came through them by adapting. Sachin changed his game multiple times (even changed his grip post tennis elbow injury). So did Dravid. Sehwag radically improved his shot selection after getting whacked (figuratively & literally by John Wright). But Virat failed to cure his latest weakness. Virat is still a great batsman for me & we will massively miss him. Sixth best for me. Old timers rate the likes of Vengsarkar high as well, but I haven't seen a lot of him. Gavaskar's generation regarded Gundappa as a great. Played against some of the greatest bowlers of all times. But again haven't seen enough of him.
I can only endorse what Has been said above. I was lucky enough to see all of the batsmen that @Zydus has mentioned and for me Sunil and Sachin were gifts for the whole world of cricket to enjoy. It’s easy to class Sehwag as a one day expert but he could pace an innings as well as destroy the bowling. I think the last 24 months or so has severely damaged Virat’s legacy, I watched him in Melbourne recently and there was simply no aura about him at all whereas when Sunny came out to bat you went “now then”.
You won't get any argument from me about Tendulkar (the best I've seen of anyone), Gavaskar or Dravid. Until I went back to the numbers, I'd forgotten just how good Sehwag's record was, albeit that he struggled over here, and the case for Laxman is boosted by a fine record against those great Australian sides in Australia. I wondered about Vengsarkar, albeit that I never saw him bat either. You could argue his average is probably worth a few more than the raw numbers given the depth of fast bowling talent around in his time but his record away from home (other than in England) wasn't that great. I also wonder whether, particularly given his recent struggles, at least part of Kohli might privately regret giving up the captaincy. If the figures are anything to go by, a career average of nearly 55 as captain compared to a mere 37 in the ranks might suggest leadership brought the best out of him.
A bit like Graham Gooch. Didn't he have a far superior batting average once he'd taken up the captaincy?
Indeed. Overall career average of 42.58 according to Cricinfo, but up to nearly 59 as captain compared to a flick under 36 as a mere player.
West Indies obviously don’t have many options for test captain so picked one who hasn’t played for 2 years . West Indies Cricket: Roston Chase named as new Test captain
IPL restarts from today. Expect a lot of rain disruptions, since the monsoon is arriving earlier this year.
This is when I don’t miss living in that part of the world. Monsoons are great to experience but the flooding in Chiang Mai was dreadful..
Warwickshire, you require 310 to win. Kyle Abbott, you require eight overs with the new ball to make that very difficult..
does it matter, he's either a good captain choice or not, and isn't like he has never played FORTY NINE Tests to his name, pretty ordinary averages (26.34 and 46.00), even for windies, and whilst I don't see captaincy as being as important to results as many, could point to Brearley as low averaging captain for example if he gets the team performing then who cares when he last played, makes me laugh people are questioning his captaincy appointment based on not having played for 2 years rather than merits of being in the side at all!
