Underachievers an Overachievers in World Cricket.

[max_dillon2007]

Hi guys,
Cricketers can be generalised in two types. Gifted and not so gifted. Gifted players are generally expected to succeed and not so gifted generally expected to have a hard time in international cricket(read: Struggle). When a gifted player succeed or a not so gifted player fails to perform we dont see anything out of ordinary as we had expected both of the outcomes. But when a gifted player fails to perform we feel dissappointed because it is generally caused by lack of attitude & money and when a not so gifted player succeed,we feel astonished due to his determination & hardwork. So here we would discuss the later two types of cricketers. The Underachievers and Overachievers.

I would like to add two more catagories which came in my mind.
1)E.S.P player: Early Short Prime Players. These are players who made a terrific debut and then drifted away and failed to recover their magic.

2)L.L.P player: Late Longer Prime. These are players who either had bad debut and thus dropped for a longer period of time or who got selected very late and then made their mark

According to me here are some

Overachievers:
Rahul Dravid
Simon Katich
Jacque Kallis

Underachievers:
Shaun Tait
Ajit Agarkar
Shahid Afridi
Shaun Marsh

E.S.P:
Steve Harmison
Vinod Kambli
Shahid Afridi


L.L.P:
Mike Hussey
Grahem Thorpe
Jayasuriya(he was dropped for a year and then came back from retirement)

 

[age of the fall]

The Poster boy for "ESP" Would be Matthew Sinclair.

 

[aussie_ben91]

Overacchievers: Matthew Hayden & Rahul Dravid.

Underacchievers: Kevin Pietersen & VVS Laxman.

 

[metallics2006]

E.S.P:

Ajit Agarkar

Vinod Kambli

Dinesh Karthik

L.L.P:

Matthew Hayden (Failed in 1994 against the like of Donald and Pollock in their prime then came back as an absolute beast in 2000/2001)

Misbah-Ul-Haq

Zaheer Khan (Failed when he was abot 26-27 years old and came back and is doing well for India when he is 30)

 

[Cricketman]

VVS Laxman is sex with a bat.

 

[Harrypotter_fan]

Rohit Sharma. No need to say what he is, a big underachiever.

 

[srikarr12]

McCullum...........epic underachiever

 

[KBC]

Robin Uthappa! What a player! He didn't get much chances as many players clouded over his presence in the team or the team couldn't let him bat because nearly the top 5-6 players above his position used to finish the game. But whenever he gets to bat, he doesn't fail. His knocks are amazing at times when the team's under a lot of pressure like the England Vs India match at the Oval where Robin was the guy who managed to get India the win by smashing the last 5-7 overs not to mention Sachin's and Ganguly's performances and the Partnership which were mesmerizing but in the end, it was robin's performance which gave India the historic win.

The second player in the Indian team is Ajit Agarkar. Of course, there's a lot of criticism on him for giving away runs and bowling wrong at right times. But, don't forget who big he is, He's got great skills; One that the Round arm action, the deadly late swinging out swing, variable pace and when he's at his best, his accuracy and the Slog over strategy that he succeeds in lot of times. He has been the key bowler for india in the 2000-2006 and a gun in ODis, playing 191 matches he took 288 wickets closing in 300 wickets which puts him 13th in the most wicket takers in ODIs list below Kumble and Srinath Making him the 3rd Highest ranked Indian in the records and fastest to 50 wickets. But He's been In and Out due to the Injuries and when time gave him chance, he got trouble with it as well. Whenever he has got to perform, it's the big tournaments or series'. He didn't settle well in the last 2 years to be honest, his injuries made him available irregularly and saying that, He had been a star in 2005-2006 where India won almost every ODI series they played.

He gave India good starts and it was very less that he failed to take a wicket in the Match's first 10 overs with Irfan Pathan backing him.

Not to forget his batting skills which can't be put away completely. He's much more than a tailender and it'd not be appropriate to call him that. He is tricky. He either bats like a lion or like a cat which might not have anything to do with his talent, but it does with his fitness that effects his batting a lot. He does the job for the team when wanted and some times the lapse of concentration puts him away. 50 off 22 balls although against Zimbabwe and the Test century against England at Lords! Tells he can do if everything is right enough for him. He's a good all-rounder but didn't capitalize on his abilities often.

So those are Two good Underachievers who've played for India in the last/this decade.

 

[King Cricket]

E.S.P

1. Vinod Kambli
2. Laxmipati Balaji
3. David Warner

L.L.P

1. Gautam Gambhir
2. Misbah-ul-Haq
3. Ryan Sidebottom

Overachiever

1. Anil Kumble (He's the poster boy)

Underachiever

1. Victor Trumper (He could have done a lot better, in my eyes he's the second best Aussie batsman after Bradman)

 

[aussie_ben91]

Makhaya Ntini would be another overacchiever.

Shoaib Akhtar = Biggest underacchiever in the history of the game.

 

[King Cricket]

Shoaib Akhtar = Biggest underacchiever in the history of the game.

He's not any underachiever, in fact he's no "achiever" at all. He's just a scum who likes to get himself involved in troubles and enjoys taking drugs and everything .

 

[aussie_ben91]

He's not any underachiever, in fact he's no "achiever" at all. He's just a scum who likes to get himself involved in troubles and enjoys taking drugs and everything .

His spell of bowling in 2002 vs Australia was arguably the greatest and unplayable spell of bowling in the history of the game.

Had he lived up to his potential and been an overacchiever then Pakistan would've been the most dominant team over the past decade and Akhtar would be averaging in the teens in Test Cricket as a bowler.

You're also the last person who should be commenting on drugs, as you probably have no earthly idea what certain drugs are and what they can do to you.

 

[mrtwisties]

Bit early to say David Warner is ESP, don't you think? He's clearly got natural talent, just needs to focus on technique and shot selection and he could have a good long-term future with Australia.

Underachiever: Keith Miller. Spent all his time drinking and playing AFL, and if it wasn't a close match he didn't try very hard. THE poster boy for a brilliant talent who underachieves.

 

[King Pietersen]

Modern Under-Achiever XI:

Michael Vaughan- Blessed with superb talent, with a superb technique when on form, but has only shown glipses of genius with the bat. Could have been a legend.
Stephen Fleming- A man more famed for his superb captaincy, but also an immensely talented batsman. Fleming had to battle to end his career with an average over 40, but he should have been alot better than that. For a man that made 46 Test match 50's, he should have made at least 20 Test hundreds, but his inability to convert led him to only score 9 and finish his Test career with an average of 40.06. He really should have been better.
Ian Bell- Probably the most talented batsman in England in terms of talent alone. He's technically superb, has shots all round the wicket, is capable of playing decent spin bowling, fantastic against pace, but just has a mental incapacity to succeed. Shame.
Kevin Pietersen- Could be up there as one of the greatest to have ever played the game, but a mix of not curbing his attacking strokeplay and a few technical issues means he flatters to decieve. Still averages over 50, but could have a record a hell of alot better than he does.
Sachin Tendulkar- Could be better than Bradman, better than Warne, better than Akram, better than Muralitharan. He could have been the perfect player if he had the detirmination to work harder on his bowling..............
Andrew Flintoff- Hmm, another Englishman =/ But a guy that's been blessed with immense bowling talent and a natural gift to hit boundaries. Should have made himself into one of the greatest all-rounders of all-time, but injuries and a strange lack of ability to pick up hauls of wickets have stopped him surpassing the greats.
Brendon McCullum- Naturally gifted with the bat, but has failed to find any sort of consistency with the bat. Could be easily the best Keeper-Batsman in the game if he could turn himself into an Average of 40+ Test batsman.
Irfan Pathan- Burst onto the scene with a mix of genuine pace and swing, but injuries and coaches tinkering with his action led him to being a medium pace swing bowling all-rounder. The Indian coach tried to get him to become a batsman, leaving the art that made him famous behind, and it's definitely had an impact on his career. Could have been a superb left-arm swing bowler.
Brett Lee- Pace, the ability to swing the ball, and an almost perfect biomechanical action, yet Brett Lee's never really set the world alight with the ball, apart from 1 or 2 good years. He could have been one of the great fast bowlers, but for some reason has failed to really live up to the expectations at Test level, leading him to still average over 30 in Test cricket.
Shoaib Akhtar- One of the most naturally destructive fast bowlers we've ever seen. Supremely quick, a brilliant yorker that is capable of beating the best and capable of bowling conventional and reverse swing, yet Akhtar has massively over-achieved. Scandals involving drugs, lack of discipline and even violence have led his career to take a downward spiral. He could have been one of the greatest fast bowlers of all-time.
Mohammed Asif- The 2nd of the Pakistani moron twins. Asif is still only 26 years old, but instead of now being settled into Test cricket and have taken a huge haul of wickets, his career has been marred with controversy and idiocy. Caught with illegal drugs in his system twice and also caught trying to smuggle drugs into another country, Asif has led his supreme talent slip. He burst onto the scene taking wickets of class players. His tour of England showed glimpses of brilliance, making Kevin Pietersen his bunny, but he hasn't been able to capitalise on that talent, making only 42 International appearances. He could have been a star.

I've probably forgotten some clear candidates, but I'm pretty happy with the choices. If all XI had lived up to their talent, it'd have been a heck of a team. There's a ridiculous amount of talent in that XI, but they've all underachieved, some of them have massively under-achieved. Such a shame.

 

[KBC]

I like the Sachin one. But in fact, Irfan pathan is an underachiever at present, but he's still 23-24, so a comeback is possible anytime if he gets selected!