Cricketers who surprised you

[War]

Interestring thread, thanks War for starting up
Here goes my list:

Gautam Gambhir: Though he's been shoddy since last better part of last 2 seasons, I'd never thought he would turn out to be the kind of success he was across 3 different formats for India. As much as test match wins are attributed to opening batsmen, Gambhir had a significant role to play in India's march toward test no.1 ranking during 2008-09-10, during which phase, he was awarded ICC test player of the year. Willing to fight it out in spite of lacking a typical left-hander's finesse, he was equally adapt against pace & spin. Most importantly showed his big match temperament by top-scoring in both the ICC tournament finals he has played. Definitely not someone I had imagined him to be when I first saw him being cleaned up regularly by Aussie and Pakistan bowlers during 2004-05 when he started out. Even though he averages close to 42 in ODIs in 2012, his decline has coincided with that of Team India's in general.

Hashim Amla, Alistair Cook, AB De Villiers: I've had almost similar thought about these 3 gentlemen as I had about Gambhir. Never saw the spark initially, which now shines through brightly in these cricketers these days across formats, across roles, both home & away.

Cook has adapted staggeringly in ODI format and blends traditional English traits quite well with modern day tactics in test matches.

Amla has amazing patience, willingness to occupy crease and hunger for runs in test matches & these days he has turned a new leaf in shorter formats too.

& AB, is there anything on the cricket field he can't do..although doesn't bowl, he is as good a dynamite all-round cricketer as the cricket world has ever seen.

Tilakratne Dilshan & Mohammed Hafeez: For people who were considered just another bit-&-pieces player when they started out for their teams, especially in shorter format, both their career graphs have been touching quite significant highs over the last couple of years.

Dilshan turned his career inside out when he was sent to open ODI innings in CB series in Australia in 2007-08 series. He grabbed the opportunity in both hands, became a regular opener in all formats & even went on to captain his team in test matches. His recent exploits in test match as an opener has been quite surprising, never expected a player like him to score big hundreds in England against Anderson, Tremlett, Broad in 2011 & more recently against Australia in Australia. Add to that, he has been recently used in a similar role to that of former SL great Aravinda De Silve in 1996 world cup. Against England in 2011 CWC quarter finals, he opened bowling, tied up Strauss before eventually castling him. And I was almost dreading a SL win when he brilliantly caught Kohli off his own bowling in the 2011 CWC final before MSD turned the tables.

Similar for Hafeez, started out as a middle-order batsman in Pakistan national team who could bowl part-time off-spin. But his current nickname "The Professor" goes well with his current exploits. Opens batting, sometimes opens bowling, even though his bowling is pretty much part-time given the all-round quality of Pakistan bowling unit, he sits pretty high ICC bowlers & all-rounders ranking, captains T20 team, his batting is pleasing to the eyes in test matches as much as it is daring & innovative in T20 format. And, just like Dilshan, his team management has enough confidence on him to ask him to take new red cherry against England in UAE in early 2012 and got Cook out a couple of times too.

"Incredible" is the word for these 2 players!!!

Good choices here for sure.

I personally wasn't surprised by Gambhir, at least current struggles in the last 2 years. I always view his initial success with a pinch of talent especially in tests, because he wasn't really facing quality pace attacks.

But even since Morne Morkel in 2010 starting troubling him with a round-the-wicket attack - most good quick bowlers worldwide have exposed him.

Cook current form especially in odi's was a surprised. I certainly didn't support his recall to the odi set-up & after being on the verge of being dropped just before the 2010/11 his batting in tests in recent years has always been a pleasant surprise for sure.

I always thought Amla & De Villiers looked like good international potential players when i first saw them, so their current success to me was sort of expected.

Agreed for sure on Dilshan & Hafeez, their transformation from bits & pieces players to solid openers across all formats has been a shock. Although i'd say at times especially in tests, both of them can still be suspect to quality bowling.

 

[sifter132]

Dilshan is an interesting player, definitely. I don't rate his batting much at all - he just throws his hands at anything outside the line of off stump. Yet the man makes a lot of runs, and I'm not really sure how! He's obviously got a very good eye, but he still plays and misses a heck of a lot, and his shot selection is pretty awful. But he's fun to watch (in the 'watching a car crash' type way...), and once he gets going and finds his timing is difficult to contain.

 

[cesare]

A couple of names that I am going to take:

1. Vinod Kambli: After scoring a couple of double hundreds, I expected this guy to sustain at a minimum of 60-70 test matches! Alas, that wasn't the case. It took a gentleman called "Walsh" to bounce him out of Test cricket for ever. If I remember correctly, the last test match that Kambli played was in Mumbai (last test match in that series against the Windies)

2. Robin Singh: Guess what.. coming back at the age of 34(?), he managed to play 100 ODIs.. phew.. after his disastrous start to his career (I guess against the Windies in the Caribbean).. that was some achievement. I think we had a decent team at the time, however he filled the allrounders slot pretty ok. Was a decent fielder too!

 

[Slowcoach]

Interesting question/whatever, I am clueless right now.

Hmmm, cricketers who surprised me?

Shane Warne would have to be number one...from an overweight, some said "average club spinner", with a mullet, who got carted on his debut, he turned into one of the greatest bowlers of all time.
Imagine if he had been given the Bryce McGain treatment and been jettisoned after that one test, where would we, and he be now?

 

[icyman]

What about Mohd Kaif. He was the blue-eyed kid of Indian cricket in 2000 when his side won the U-19 WC. He was quite the decent bat and a lot of us touted him as a Future Indian captain. But now, he is nowhere to be seen.

 

[cerande]

And he was such an excellent fielder!He and Yuvraj Singh were extraordinary in the field then.One of the best India has ever seen in fielding.

 

[cesare]

You are right Icyman! Very surprised that he fell out of favour with the BCCI after such a promising start to his career. I remember the ODI in England when he and Yuvraj took India home after the top order had collapsed.

But then again, he did nothing of importance to be back in reckoning post his downfall!

 

[StinkyBoHoon]

in the fall from grace category upal tharanga's career has been baffingly pathetic.

the fact he's had two notable highs, (2006 in england and then the 2011 world cup) which he's completely failed to build upon has been very strange. especially since he lacks any real competition for an openers spot with sri lanka and thus needs to be really terrible to get dropped, which he manages quite easily sadly.

 

[KBC]

Joginder Sharma.

 

[cesare]

I somehow always felt that Joginder Sharma never had the talent to sustain at the international level.

 

[puddleduck]

in the fall from grace category upal tharanga's career has been baffingly pathetic.

the fact he's had two notable highs, (2006 in england and then the 2011 world cup) which he's completely failed to build upon has been very strange. especially since he lacks any real competition for an openers spot with sri lanka and thus needs to be really terrible to get dropped, which he manages quite easily sadly.

Wasn't surprised at all. If anything I was surprised he actually scored the runs he did. Terrible player.

Kaif is a great shout, really did look like he might be a quality player but faded away spectacularly.

 

[Adarsh]

Graeme Smith. Most awful technique in Test cricket, yet the man averages 50. Staggering.

 

[puddleduck]

A prime example of knowing your game and sticking within your comfort zone

 

[War]

Digg..

Mitchell Johnson: His career has been a surprise, in that the way he has bowled in this Ashes - he really should have been bowling in his entire career. For AUS sake - i'd hope the Ashes is the beginning of the best phase of his career & not a "on great series wonder" similar to his effort in S Africa 2009.

Vernon Philander: Admittedly when he got a test debut 2011, i thought initially S Africa had taken their test quota policy too far - especially after seeing him in ODIs in previous years look very average.

So his superb start to his test career, caught me totally off guard.

Ashis Nehra & Irfan Pathan: When these two young Indian bowlers emerged, along with Zaheer Khan circa 2003 world cup & the 03/04 tour of AUS - i reckoned India were in good hands post Srinath retirement in the pace bowling department.

But they surprisingly went backwards - which unfortunately for Indian fans is common trend with their a lot of their fast bowlers in the 2000s era.

Shaun Marsh & Phillip Hughes: Simply put after the excellent starts to their international careers, it been one of the biggest surprises and disappointment that they aren't permanent players in the AUS team. If they were guys like Chris Rogers & George Bailey wouldn't be playing test cricket today.

Graeme Swann: Now that he has retired & is being rightfully spoken as potentially ENGs best ever spinner, to more i analyze what he accomplished - especially in test was a pleasant surprise.

- In county cricket for years he seems nothing more than your average journeyman spinner like Dean Cosker, Robert Croft, Gary Keedy for

- His early days in international cricket in 99 wasn't anything special.

- He gained success in international cricket at a time when most taught standard off-spin was useless & they needed to bowl the controversial "doosra" to be a threat.

Will think of more players later....

 

[cricket_icon]

Basically list & describe the cricketers since you have been watching cricket that surprised you by their careers performances, in which they either exceeded your expectations or shocked you by their struggles/failures.

Only just noticed this thread, great start, totally agree with your selections on under/overachieving cricketers.

My own list would be, excluding anyone you picked in your original post:

Stuart Broad
For too long, England's blue eyed boy was talked about as a potential star. Tall, fast and handsome, he was supposed to be the best young pace bowler around but he was too consistently inconsistent. Not in 2013, highest wicket taker, a terrific average and England's bets performer down under, at a time when everyone around him is losing their head. Let's not forget that he was under the kosh most when arriving in Australia, with every Aussie and his dog having a go. Broad has shown everyone what he can really do.

I though he'd just be a player who faded away, a bit like Harmison, or Jones or Hoggard but Broad may be one for the future.

Misbah ul-Haq
Now, one of the world's leading batsmen, but when he made his debut, it all seemed to be too late. He was the wrong side of 30, especially for a team like Pakistan, he was coming into a team going through harsh changes and controversies but through all of it, he has kept his composure, class and form. When I first saw him, I thought he was just filler, where the team were using him, waiting for the next Pakistani batting sensation.

Not only has he kept his place, he has been one of Pakistan's most successful captains in both formats of the game. Series wins over England, great tussles with South Africa, ODI series win in India and an Asia Cup. Misbah has been my biggest surprise.

Steven Finn
There's still time for Finn so this may seem premature, but what I first saw 3-4 years ago is so different from what I've seen over the last 7 or 8 months. He has no confidence, which he himself has admitted to. The best, pure pace talent for England I've seen in a long, long time, has been totally miss used and may never fulfill his full talent.

Dwayne Bravo
He should have been the Windies next truly great all rounder. In his youth he had good pace and could hit the ball a long way. Since then, he has carved out a more than decent career but there will always be a massive question mark. His batting and bowling stats only give half the picture, he seems to be doing ok but when you watch him play, you can catch glimpses of real promise, but now, having reached 30, he doesn't really have the time to prove himself to be great, or at least very good. He will go down as a good player, nothing more, although he could have been so much more.