Kallis and the art of slow batting
Recently read this article by Peter English on cricinfo on the effect of Kallis's second innings on the match.
Kallis has on more than one occasion sacrificed his team for personal glory. Apart from this Test match other occasions that come to immediate memory is the 4'th ODI between India and SA and the Champions League semifinal again v/s India where Gibbs almost took them to victory single-handedly. Not only was Kallis oblivious to the team cause, his painstaking run accumulation reduced the chances of his victory drastically.
The fact that he has been the highest run accumulator in the last few years and the best batsman in the SA lineup has prevented any reprimand from the authorities concerned.
The argument that he cannot up the run-rate when required as he is a technically correct batsman holds no ground as he has the fastest Test fifty to boot against a hapless Zimbabwe attack in a farce of a Test match. Rahul Dravid, who is no less a technician than he is, has shown wonderful improvement in his strike-rate for the betterment of the team cause.
His not-so-good average against the Aussies probably prevented him from taking undue risks and history will judge him by the averages (reason why I sometimes hate statistics so much). It all boils to being a team player or not. Gibbs's daring display and Smith's wonderful declaration brought the crowd and interest back to the Test. Sad that a brilliant batsman who could have turned the tide decided to stay away.
As Peter English aply said in his article, "Kallis has managed to be a great batsman without being a thoughtful one".
Kallis has on more than one occasion sacrificed his team for personal glory. Apart from this Test match other occasions that come to immediate memory is the 4'th ODI between India and SA and the Champions League semifinal again v/s India where Gibbs almost took them to victory single-handedly. Not only was Kallis oblivious to the team cause, his painstaking run accumulation reduced the chances of his victory drastically.
The fact that he has been the highest run accumulator in the last few years and the best batsman in the SA lineup has prevented any reprimand from the authorities concerned.
The argument that he cannot up the run-rate when required as he is a technically correct batsman holds no ground as he has the fastest Test fifty to boot against a hapless Zimbabwe attack in a farce of a Test match. Rahul Dravid, who is no less a technician than he is, has shown wonderful improvement in his strike-rate for the betterment of the team cause.
His not-so-good average against the Aussies probably prevented him from taking undue risks and history will judge him by the averages (reason why I sometimes hate statistics so much). It all boils to being a team player or not. Gibbs's daring display and Smith's wonderful declaration brought the crowd and interest back to the Test. Sad that a brilliant batsman who could have turned the tide decided to stay away.
As Peter English aply said in his article, "Kallis has managed to be a great batsman without being a thoughtful one".
posted by Manish Amde at 11:42 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home