Overrated and Underrated Test XI

[TumTum]

I think most people put Hughes there because of me :laugh

 

[LongLegs?]

Hughes is overhyped, not overrated. As far as I'm concerned. He's got great stats, although I guess it's not all about stats(see: Vettori). He also started off fairly well, until his weakness to the short ball was discovered. Although the whole "next Don Bradman" nonsense is stupid.

 

[DJ Ager]

Underrated Test XI:

1. A.Cook
2. A.Strauss
3. R.Dravid
4. P.Collingwood
5. M.Clarke
6. S.Katich (c)
7. M.Prior (wk)
8. G.Swann
9. N.Hauritz
10. G.Onions
11. B.Hilfenhaus

That's pretty near my underrated XI in my head, I would probably make a case for Chanderpaul, Amla, Nash, Fidel Edwards, Jerome Taylor and Haddin as well. Hilfenhaus and Onions are very underated in my opinion.

I'm not sure where to start with Overated XI but Broad and H Singh would get in

 

[Kiko_97]

Sachin Tendulkar x11 overrated
England except KP underrated

 

[War]

What are your XIs of the most overrated and underrated players currently playing Test cricket.


Over-Rated XI:
1) P Hughes
2) V Sehwag
3) any Pakistani batsman
4) R Sarwan
5) Y Singh
6) JP Duminy
7) H Singh / B McCullum
8) S Broad
9) P Siddle / Umar Gul
10) Ishant Sharma (or any Indian seamer apart from Khan)
11) C Martin (or any kiwi seamer)

Cant see how Hughes & Sarwan are over-rated as batsmen. Last i heard they where rated pretty fairly.

Same thing goes for Dumminy, McCullum, Siddle or Gul.

Under-Rated XI:
1) Alastair Cook
2) G Gambhir
3) Hashim Amla
4) T Samarawerra
5) M Guptil
6) B Nash
7) Mahmudullah
8) G Swann
9) R Harris/ M Aamer
10) J Anderson
11) M Asif

Cant see how Hughes & Sarwan are over-rated as batsmen. Last i heard they where rated pretty fairly.

Same thing goes for Dumminy, McCullum, Siddle or Gul.

Strange chocies in the "under-rated section" as well i must say sir. I would put Gambhir in the over-rated section by the way.

 

[Howsie]

Overrated XI:

1.Shane Watson
2.Gautam Gambhir
3.Ricky Ponting
4.Kevin Pietersen
5.Jean-Paul Duminy
6.Shakib Al Hasan
7.Prasanna Jayawardene
8.Jeetan Patel
9.Peter Siddle
10.James Anderson
11.Ishant Sharma

Underrated XI:

1.Simon Katich
2.Chris Gayle
3.Mahela Jayawardene
4.Ross Taylor
5.Michael Clarke
6.Paul Collingwood
7.Brendon McCullum
8.Shakib Al Hasan
9.Fidel Edwards
10.Dale Steyn
11.Mohammad Asif

Yeah, so fire away if you dare

 

[drainpipe32]

You have got to be kidding me! Ricky Ponting, overrated! I like your choice of Gayle in the underrated side though. I don't see how Gambhir is overrated, he hasn't done anything to deserve that tag, although we'll have to wait till he plays overseas!

And Ross Taylor is definitely no underrated....

 

[TumTum]

That was a bit stupid Howsie.

TumTum added 4 Minutes and 38 Seconds later...

And why did you put Shakib al Hasan in both teams? :doh

 

[-D-S-B-]

Even if someone is very good, they can still be overrated.
I agree with most of Howsies teams, apart from Shakib being Underrated and Ponting being Overrated. McCullum is definitely underrated ATM in test cricket mainly due to his past but he is very good and sensible now.
Oh and I think only the NZ selectors rate Jeets :laugh

 

[Howsie]

You have got to be kidding me! Ricky Ponting, overrated! I like your choice of Gayle in the underrated side though. I don't see how Gambhir is overrated, he hasn't done anything to deserve that tag, although we'll have to wait till he plays overseas!

And Ross Taylor is definitely no underrated....

Ponting's a very overrated test batsmen these days, the amount of times in the last year or two I've heard him mentioned as the best test batsmen going around is almost laughable, he isn't even the best batsmen in the Australian team AFAIC, infact he'd be third for mine.

Gautam Gambhir is an overrated test batsmen IMO because he's played all of his test cricket (bar the three match test series against New Zealand last year) in the sub-continent, and the pitches in New Zealand were the flattest I've ever seen since becoming a cricket fan.

Until Gambhir plays in England, Australia and South Africa I'll have a hard time picking him as one of the best openers going around.

As for Ross Taylor, well he's probably not underrated when it comes to playing New Zealand (because he's easily our best batsmen) but when it comes to international test recognition he is. He basically carries a whole international batting line-up by himself at the age of 26 and has just entered the ICC top ten rankings, but he probably wouldn't even be in most peoples top 20 best test batsmen going around, he's underrated because of his 20/20 success AFIAC.

 

[ZoraxDoom]

I think he meant Shakib as an underrated bowler and overrated batsman. In which case, I agree.

 

[Howsie]

That was a bit stupid Howsie.

TumTum added 4 Minutes and 38 Seconds later...

And why did you put Shakib al Hasan in both teams? :doh

Because he's a overrated batsmen, but underrated test bowler. Pretty simple really tbh. While he has a pretty tidy batting record, you'd have to think against some of the better attacks he'd most likely struggle to average 30+ batting at six.

 

[drainpipe32]

Gautam Gambhir is an overrated test batsmen IMO because he's played all of his test cricket (bar the three match test series against New Zealand last year) in the sub-continent, and the pitches in New Zealand were the flattest I've ever seen since becoming a cricket fan.

Yup, I thought of this, but it's not enough to label him as Overrated....

As much as I want to argue against Peter Siddle being the overrated side, I know I can't wihtout being marginally biased. Shane Watson's appearance also surprises me, he's been brilliant of late, albeit against sub standard opposition. If that's your criteria, Doug Bollinger would have to have a reasonable case for the overrated side.

I don't think Brendon McCullum is underrated. Brad Haddin maybe....

 

[TumTum]

Well it's not Gambhir's fault he hasn't played much outside the SC.

IMO he will play just as good in Eng, SA and Aus.

And calling Ponting over-rated =

 

[War]

Well it's not Gambhir's fault he hasn't played much outside the SC.

IMO he will play just as good in Eng, SA and Aus.

And calling Ponting over-rated =

Not so sure about that to be fair. Since Gambhir made his test return to the Indian team around mid 2008 vs SRI. In the last 2 years the only quality pace attack he has faced (home or away) was vs Steyn & Morkel recently. Other than that he has mainly be cashing on poor attacks on flat decks.

In that series Morkel exposed and apparant weakness in his game by coming aorund the wicket to him & Gambhir seemed to not know where his off-stump was. Basically he looked like the uncertain Gambhir in the 2009/10 series vs the Saffies - that struggled when he last encounted a quality pace attack on his debut vs AUS in 2004.

So the jury is still very much out on whether he can do well in ENG, SA & AUS againts those countries quality pace attacks.