Print

[ramshorns]

Ravi, KKK: Good observations on Vishy and why he is so unique that every cricket follower during that time of his has a tale or 2 on his stroke play.  No wonder Gavaskar thinks Vishy is the best batsman of his generation.

Sahir:Good observations on Wristiness of VVS/Azhar/Vishy.

[ramshorns]

rams

you may be right i am not doubting you, its just that i dont remember. wanted some info from an obvious vishy fan.

Inoc: No I did not think you did for a sec.  Any time someone brings up Vishy either you or CLR I get goose bumps thinking about the good old days of cricket.  Seeing cricket when I get a chance in a staduim, mostly radio (still my favorite when it comes to cricket) and reading it in the HINDU and the EXPRESS.   Also coming back to Vishy you and CLR were spot on the way you described his wristiness, playing late and into the gaps etc.  The hook was not Vishy's forte if I have to put it that way and he was not a complusive hooker like Jimmy Amarnath.  Remember how Jimmy got trapped playing the shot more than once either caught at fineleg or the regions in between fineleg and Squareleg.  Great memories indeed of all these great batsman.

Rams, I have just finished Ram Guha's new book. He is an avid Vishy fan. According to him, there were some strokes like the lofted six over extra cover or mid on (!!) and the hook that Vishy played very well, but did not play them in international matches. Perhaps the little master did not consider them aesthetic enough. Anyway, according to Ram Guha, seeing Vishy on the nets was a revelation because he would send balls out of the stadium with a nonchalance and regularity that was surprising. I will shortly post some excerpts from the book.

CLR:Thanks for sharing.  Please post R.Guha's observations on Vishy at your convinience.  Looking forward to it.

[vincent]

this is what Azza also used to do...pick deliveries on off stump and flick them thru' mid wicket...amazing confidence, sense of timing and extremely wristy ....and now VVS

Always believe that Indians are the most wristy of them all

Most definitely-- there is nothing quite like wonderful wristy batting.  I distictly remember Ian Chappell commentating during our last tour down under when VVS struck a glorious cover drive to a ball outside off.  The next delivery was a delivery even further outside off only for him to on drive it through the modwicket area.  There was nothing quite like watching VVS and even Azhar in full flow-- and VVS really was in sublime touch in Australia.  Azhar, however, was not quite as strong as VVS through the offside, but was probably a little better and even wristier through the onside.  However, such wristy batting can get quite difficult when not in good form, which will explain some of the slightly prolonged lean patches both suffered.  I remember Mike Atherton discussing how when he first saw Azhar batting, he thought to himself that he could only succeed in the subcontinent where there was no lateral movement (that theory actually stands to logic considering how risky it is to play a wristy stroke from outside off through the onside when the ball is moving away through the air and/or off the pitch).  However, Atherton then said that once he saw Azhar hit the same strokes in seamer friendly conditions, he was in absolute awe of him, one of only two batsmen he has been in awe of (the other being Brian Lara).  Similarly, Vishwanath also performed incredibly against great pace attacks outside the subcontinent (unfortunately never saw it, but can only go by reports, records, and the knowledge of those that did) and VVS has scored rather heavily against just about all opposition in all conditions, with the exception of Pakistan.  It may seem logical that these wristy artists may not be able to whip balls from outside off through the onside outside the subcontinent, but they have defied all logic and it has been a real treat to watch, none more so than VVS against the Aussies.

Yes, I agree.I did watch Vishy play at the Lords Test in 1974. Though Engineer and Gavaskar scored a few more runs than him, Vishy was indeed very effective against Bob Willis, probably the fastest bowler Engalnd has produced. You saw the score board ticking quickly as long as he was at the crease.Indeed he got out only against a "spin" ball from Underwood.I was not the only one appreciating his batting.I did notice that Tony Greig,the captain at first slip,every time he changed the side  after the over,would give a pat on the back of Vishy......(Well,that Test however,should be best forgotten since in the second Innings India were all out for 42 or so...)

[KKIRANK61]

rams

you may be right i am not doubting you, its just that i dont remember. wanted some info from an obvious vishy fan.

Inoc: No I did not think you did for a sec.  Any time someone brings up Vishy either you or CLR I get goose bumps thinking about the good old days of cricket.  Seeing cricket when I get a chance in a staduim, mostly radio (still my favorite when it comes to cricket) and reading it in the HINDU and the EXPRESS.   Also coming back to Vishy you and CLR were spot on the way you described his wristiness, playing late and into the gaps etc.  The hook was not Vishy's forte if I have to put it that way and he was not a complusive hooker like Jimmy Amarnath.  Remember how Jimmy got trapped playing the shot more than once either caught at fineleg or the regions in between fineleg and Squareleg.  Great memories indeed of all these great batsman.

Rams, I have just finished Ram Guha's new book. He is an avid Vishy fan. According to him, there were some strokes like the lofted six over extra cover or mid on (!!) and the hook that Vishy played very well, but did not play them in international matches. Perhaps the little master did not consider them aesthetic enough. Anyway, according to Ram Guha, seeing Vishy on the nets was a revelation because he would send balls out of the stadium with a nonchalance and regularity that was surprising. I will shortly post some excerpts from the book.

CLR:Thanks for sharing.  Please post R.Guha's observations on Vishy at your convinience.  Looking forward to it.

With vishy's fans like fineleg,inoc,ramshorns,CLR james etc are around alongwith me; all of us agree on one point that however great we feel vishy is ; one thing is certain that statistically he was not dominating the list as many others like SMG and likes. Then we fans make an attempt to explain new comers about the kind of value vishy had in totality.
Here I add that, if the batting evaluation was made even finer than just avg and sr; the outstandingness of vishy would have been perhaps easy to prove. If one recollects a thread on 'performance measurement......' (a much torchuring one for many !), some parameters such as good placement, good defence, well left etc are duly counted. (barring the difficulty in understanding the system) Certain potentials, credibilities were not measured by the existing statistical system, which we as viewers have witnessed. I remember some of vishy's innings like the one in madras vs WI (112 odd) where he hadn't erred even once to any delivery- while leaving, defending,pushing for singles and twos and stroking for fours. A perfect optimization of efforts. Unlike a powerful stroke going to a fielder, missing an edge while defending, leaving bouncers auckwardly etc. (viewers may recollect a recent innings of Wasim Jafar (200+) in WI. How many have noticed his errors like a few stated earlier ? there were a a a loooottt. But neither scorecard showed nor many not-so-keen viewers noticed. But never mind that is the kind of game he has and it can be seen again as well any time. This was just one such example.