Test cricket in its 2 centuries-long history has seen many fabulous batsmen who have been exceptional for their team. There have been aggressive batsmen like Sir Viv Richards, Virender Sehwag, and Matthew Hayden who have taken on the bowling right from the word go. While there have been accumulators like Sunil Gavaskar and Alastair Cook. But teams have often depended on a select bunch of batsmen who were the pillar and the backbone of the team.
StumpsandBails brings to you a list of 5 most dependable batsmen of all time:
#5 Jacques Kallis
Test cricket hasn’t seen a more complete player than Jacques Kallis. He is one of those rare allrounders who could walk into the side purely on basis of a single skillset. Kallis scored 13289 runs at an average of 55.4 and picked up 292 Test wickets where his wickets came at an average of 32.6. But the numbers alone don’t quantify the greatness of Jacques Kallis. He was the batsmen alongside whom the entire batting team revolved. Kallis liberated the likes of Graeme Smith, Hashim Amla, and AB De Villiers to play their natural game. He was their most dependable batsman for over a decade and contributed immensely to South Africa’s success.
#4 Kane Williamson
Kane Williamson is currently the world’s number one ranked batsmen. He is arguably the greatest batsman New Zealand has ever produced. Williamson was touted for greatness right since his childhood. He is undoubtedly one of the greats of the game. Owing to New Zealand’s dependability on Williamson, his game has developed even further. While Williamson’s peers like Joe Root, Steve Smith, and Virat Kohli have other batting stars in their lineup. New Zealand has only Williamson to take them home each and every time. He has racked up 7115 runs at an outstanding average of 54.3. His presence in the batting order provides calm to an entire nation.
#3 Kumar Sangakkara
Kumar Sangakkara was to Sri Lanka what Rahul Dravid was to India. He was the architect behind so many Sri Lankan victories. Sangakkara didn’t achieve greatness overnight, he evolved into being a batting great. After having had a tough start to his career, Sangakkara kept improving by leaps and bounds. He scored runs throughout the world and was an all condition batting maestro. Sangakkara holds the distinction of having one of the highest batting averages for a batsman who has scored more than 10000 runs. He notched up 38 centuries, raking up 12400 runs at a brilliant average of 57.4. He was the glue that held the Lankan batting together. It gave freedom to players like Sanath Jayasuriya, Marvan Atapattu, Mahela Jayawardene, and Hashan Tillakaratne to play their expansive game.
#2 Sachin Tendulkar
Sachin Tendulkar is undoubtedly the greatest of all time. 51 Test centuries, 15921 Test runs at an average of 53.8, even the numbers reaffirm his greatness. Tendulkar made his debut at the age of 16 and smashed runs across the world even during his teenage years. He became the most dependable batsman of his team just in his teens. During the 90s, the Indian batting team was all about Sachin Tendulkar. He singlehandedly won and drew games for the country in the 90s. While opponent bowling attacks had great bowlers, it was Tendulkar alone who countered them all. He was the best batsmen in the world even before the likes of VVS Laxman, Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag, and Rahul Dravid made their way into the team. And for that reason alone, Tendulkar was the most dependable batsman of his time.
#1 Rahul Dravid
It was owing to Rahul Dravid that the word dependable came into play. He was called Mr. Dependable owing to his assuredness at the crease. His presence at the wicket made millions of Indian fans happy. They knew that as long as Dravid stays in the crease, we won’t be losing a game. Dravid came into his own at the turn of the 21st century. He was constantly under the shadow of Sachin Tendulkar but he gradually outgrew him as India’s most dependable Test batsmen. Dravid is considered to be one of the best number 3 to have ever played the game. He earned the sobriquet of “The Wall” and “The Rock” of the Indian team. Dravid notched up 13288 runs at an average of 52.3. But numbers alone don’t justify the batsmen that Dravid was. He enabled players like Sehwag to score a triple century, a Laxman to score a 281. As these batsmen knew they can be their selves as Dravid is at the other end. That was the hallmark of Rahul Dravid. The most dependable batsman of all time.
