Jacques Kallis or Rahul Dravid?

[sohum]

I'd rather watch paint dry than watch Dravid bat, Boxing Day we saw an incredible innings that, at one stage, was about 3 off 50 balls. The 'If you're bored stand up' chant reverberated around the ground as everyone stood up. Besides that, I think Kallis has achieved more, he was the best batsman in the world at one stage, a mantle which I'm pretty sure Dravid has never held.

Sigh. This is an easy one:

Rahul Dravid test ranking. He was best in the world during the following periods:

2-28 January, 1999
6 October 2004 - 24 March 2005 (a period of almost 6 months)

Not to mention the fact that you are judging him based off 1-2 series. I can assure he was quite exciting to watch when he added 180 along with Laxman's 281 to decimate the Aussies in Kolkata in 2001.

sohummisra added 3 Minutes and 19 Seconds later...

And a Kallis vs. Dravid ranking comparison can be found here. Kallis has been pretty consistent but as you can see he has not been best in the world on two completely separate occasions.

 

[smssia0112]

Sigh. This is an easy one:

Rahul Dravid test ranking. He was best in the world during the following periods:

2-28 January, 1999
6 October 2004 - 24 March 2005 (a period of almost 6 months)

Not to mention the fact that you are judging him based off 1-2 series. I can assure he was quite exciting to watch when he added 180 along with Laxman's 281 to decimate the Aussies in Kolkata in 2001.

sohummisra added 3 Minutes and 19 Seconds later...

And a Kallis vs. Dravid ranking comparison can be found here. Kallis has been pretty consistent but as you can see he has not been best in the world on two completely separate occasions.

I didn't realise he had been. Here's an interesting one though: http://www.iccreliancerankings.com/test/batting/all-time-ranking.php

They have Kallis as 10th best of all time and Dravid as 29th. This is based on their best rating of all time, and includes past greats (Bradman is unsurprisingly first) and only consistent performers are there too.

 

[sohum]

I didn't realise he had been. Here's an interesting one though: http://www.iccreliancerankings.com/test/batting/all-time-ranking.php

They have Kallis as 10th best of all time and Dravid as 29th. This is based on their best rating of all time, and includes past greats (Bradman is unsurprisingly first) and only consistent performers are there too.

The all-time list is simply a sorting of a player's highest score. It doesn't have anything to do with consistency. If some guy scored double-centuries in every test match of a series and did nothing in his career before or after that, he would be pretty high up on that list.

Besides, can you take a list seriously that rates Tendulkar the 25th best and Lara the 23rd best of all-time?

 

[smssia0112]

The all-time list is simply a sorting of a player's highest score. It doesn't have anything to do with consistency. If some guy scored double-centuries in every test match of a series and did nothing in his career before or after that, he would be pretty high up on that list.

Besides, can you take a list seriously that rates Tendulkar the 25th best and Lara the 23rd best of all-time?

Players make the all-time list by sustaining excellent form over a prolonged period. The ratings shown are the highest points totals these players have attained and no player is allowed to appear on the list more than once.

I know it's in order of best score, but their consistency is also taken into account in making the list. All I'm saying is that Kallis' best there is better than Dravid's best. It has some strange ones, but I'm sticking with Kallis anyway.

 

[shravi]

Just to back up Sohum's point- you guys probably know this but Rahul Dravid was also Wisden Cricketer of the Year 2000, ICC Test Player of the Year 2004 and ICC Player of the Year 2004. That said, Jacques Kallis has also been ICC Test Player of the Year 2005, ICC Player of the Year 2005 and Wisden Leading Cricketer 2007 .

Personally, I would have Dravid in my team because as I see him who can be the lone warrior. I don't see Kallis as that type of batsman. Dravid offers something just a little different than Kallis by maintaining somewhat of a sleeper hold over the opposition while he's out there. Also, I just love watching Dravid bat. He just looks so good when he's in good touch. I'm a big fan of both but if you held a gun to my head and asked me to choose one, I would choose Rahul Dravid in his prime over Jacques Kallis. Presently, however, it's a whole different story.

Everyone's entitled to one bad patch in their career. I just hope Dravid's is over and he put things right in Sri Lanka.

 

[Chetan0304]

Dravid for me...reason??/ you will see that in the SL test series

 

[India2011]

Dravid by far. Kallis is a good batsman, but Dravid is cool under pressure and has been extremely consistent over the years. He has been extremely dependable for India in clutch situations time and time again, and is probably the greatest finisher India has ever had in ODIs, and until Mike Hussey came along he was the best finisher in the world.

What I hate is that everyone judges Dravid for his innings in the first two tests in the recent Australia series. Okay, he was out of form, but what was really admirable was how he fought for his wicket even when he was clearly not in any form and with the Australian fast bowlers bowling so well. And people seem to forget how his valiant knock of 93 in the Perth test led India to victory . . .

He's a fighter. And he is NOT a boring batsman by any means . . . at one time he was one of the best one day batsman in the world (late 90s early 2000s)

 

[mattfb]

I didn't realise he had been. Here's an interesting one though: http://www.iccreliancerankings.com/test/batting/all-time-ranking.php

They have Kallis as 10th best of all time and Dravid as 29th. This is based on their best rating of all time, and includes past greats (Bradman is unsurprisingly first) and only consistent performers are there too.

LOL Tendulkar is 25th, even Pieterson is ahead of him

 

[sohum]

I know it's in order of best score, but their consistency is also taken into account in making the list. All I'm saying is that Kallis' best there is better than Dravid's best. It has some strange ones, but I'm sticking with Kallis anyway.

It's not consistency at all--just because they put that at the top of the page doesn't make it true. Remember how MS Dhoni was at the top of the ODI rankings after a couple of good innings? That list is topped by players with consistent performance over a short period.

 

[SaiSrini]

Dravid in recent times has been struggling for form, and has not had it going. But he is one of the worls's best batsman with an excellent technique, a cool head and doesnt care for emotions (once or twice, he got a bit of emotions but thats it in such a big career)

He will retire as a legend. I just hope that he gets back his form of the old and retires on a high. He has been a champion player!

And, BETTER THAN KALLIS ANYDAY!

 

[usy]

The Great wall of India, and classic, I've actually enjoyed watching that guy bat. (as rest of Indians, I don't like when they hit for runs ;P)

A example of how a Cricketer should be.

I've not seen much of Kallis TBH, don't know why, just seen him bowl really well.

 

[stereotype]

Rahul Dravid as a batsman is better but as cricketers they are probably even or Kallis is a little better due to his bowling

 

[Cricketman]

Dravid captained his side, kept wickets, and has been India's prime slip fielder for years. I think that owns Kallis bowling :

 

[Will_NA]

Kallis is World Class but he bats at one pace - Jacques Kallis' pace. Still, I would watch and attacking Kallis over an attacking Dravid. Unfortunately, that only happens every 5 years.

 

[Cricketman]

Attacking Dravid is something like his 50 off 22 against New Zealand.

He can hit the ball, and he does do it regularly in the shorter forms of the game.

Dravid had one bad series against Australia, seriously shocking that everyone is writing him off after that.