Best and worst oppositions of 10 legendary batsmen
Over the years there have been many batsmen who have played one amazing innings after another and staked their claim to greatness. However, there are a select few who just took greatness to a whole new level. Throughout their career, they weaved magic with their bat and left the spectators spellbound. But these players were only human. While they had an amazing run of form against a few teams wherein they accumulated truckloads of runs, they ended up falling short against a few others. Here’s a look at some of these batsmen and their performances against notable opponents:P.S : This list includes only players who have retired from the game. Some of the active greats like Kumar Sangakkara and Shivnarine Chanderpaul have therefore not been included.
#1 Sir Don Bradman
Considered to be the greatest batsman in the history of the game, Sir Don Bradman’s average stands unsurpassable till date and it is also pretty likely that it will stay that way for many years to come. His staggering average of 99.94 bears testimony to the fact that he excelled against all opponents. Moreover, that average is over 52 Tests in a career that lasted 20 years, from 1928 to 1948, making it look all the more impressive.
In 37 matches played against arch-rivals England, Sir Don played 63 innings and scored 5028 runs at a staggering average of 89.79. The sample size and the numbers that go with it are enough proof of Bradman’s legendary status. In 8 Ashes series he featured in, there were 7 in which he scored atleast 2 centuries.
Overall he scored 19 centuries versus England, 6 of which were double hundreds and 2 of which were triple hundreds. This just goes to show the hunger for runs he had and the liking he had in particular for the English bowlers.
His worst average, which actually is not bad by any means, was against the West Indies. One of the reasons why he did not have as big an average vs the West Indies as against the other teams was that he did not manage to stay unbeaten in any of the 6 innings he played against the men from the Carribean.
So, in Sir Don’s case, it would be safe to say that he didn’t dread coming up against any opposition in the world during his time.