Such a fine analyst of the game, Arjuna Ranatunga comes up with gems at times. Writing a tribute to Dean Jones in the English daily The Island, the World Cup winning captain came up with some sharp observations.
Read – An average better than Sanga’s
He came up with this theory that the true greatness of a batsman from England or Australia should be measured by how well they did in India. That is why he said Dean Jones was special. Deano averaged more than 90 in India in Test match cricket.
Ranatunga also went onto add that Jones was always a thorn in the flesh when he played Sri Lanka. This made us to do some research and the numbers that we came up with were truly mindboggling!
We all know that Dean Jones was revolutionary when it comes to One-Day cricket. But take a look at the stats. He averaged 109 against Sri Lanka in 17 ODIs that he played. This took us to view some old cricketing footage via YouTube and Deano dominating the Sri Lankan bowlers in the 80s and early 90s was as good as Viv Richards humbling the Englishmen or Sanath Jayasuriya making the Indians eat humble pie.
Jones was not just a slogger or a flat track bully as his average of 60 plus in Tests against Sri Lanka shows. That makes us ask the question, was he the best batsman against Sri Lanka?
Well, statistically he may be but it’s no secret that Sri Lanka’s bowling at that point was one dimensional. Occasionally someone would bowl with fire and show some aggression but the inability to keep the pressure on for an extended period of time was a major factor.
That is why Brian Lara perhaps was the best batsman against Sri Lanka as he played when Muttiah Muralitharan was at his peak and the off-spinner was well backed up by Chaminda Vaas. Lara averaged 86 in Tests against us and 48 in ODIs. The numbers are fine but they do not tell you truly how he dominated the bowling. Murali would bowl to a packed off-side field and usually he is on the money landing at the right spot. Lara would still find ways to sweep him and fetch those boundaries making a mockery of the field placements.
Read More – Dean Jones – A man ahead of his time
Another player who featured heavily during Sri Lanka’s team meetings was Mr. Cricket – Mike Hussey. Such a nice guy off the field, he has claimed many times that given the obsession Muttiah Muralitharan has for the sport he should be called Mr. Cricket.
Chaminda Vaas who rubbed shoulders with Hussey in County Cricket used to say that he felt sorry for Hussey as he was making tons of runs for Western Australia and Northamptonshire in County Cricket but wasn’t getting a chance to wear the Baggy Green. In successive seasons, Hussey had posted three triple hundreds in County Cricket. He made his Test debut after his 30th birthday. Soon Vaas had to regret his goodwill for Hussey as he started scoring big runs against the Sri Lankans. He has got the best average against us in Tests – 110.
M.S. Dhoni was another one who was a pain in the neck for Sri Lankan sides. The Indians will remember that six at the Wankhede to seal our fate in the 2011 World Cup final while we will live to regret the costly blunders that cost us cricket’s most prestigious trophy.
You tend to get the feeling that against certain players Sri Lanka’s body language gave the indication about their submission. At times even before the player had made an impact, the wheels were falling off. This was exactly the case with Dhoni. He made his Test debut against us in Madras in 2005. During the same tour, he smashed a manic 183 not out, his career best score in ODIs. Sri Lanka had set India a target of 300 runs in Jaipur, Dhoni was promoted to number three and he just threw caution to the wind, hitting ten sixes. Since then, every time Dhoni walked into bat, Sri Lanka were defensive. Dhoni averaged 48 in Tests and 64 in ODIs against Sri Lanka.
Another player who always excelled against Sri Lanka was Younis Khan, who was quite popular among the local press. Younis made a hundred on debut against us in the famous Rawalpindi Test where Arjuna batted with a broken thumb to guide us to a two-wicket win.
Younis made 2286 runs versus Sri Lanka and he is the only player to score more than 2000 runs against us. Not the most elegant, Younis was mighty effective and was a fine player of spin bowling. Of his 34 Test hundreds, eight were against us, including his career best 313 in Karachi. His best knock perhaps was the 171 not out at Pallekele as it came against many odds. This effort from Younis came in the fourth innings on a crumbling wicket and he helped Pakistan to a record run chase – 388 – the highest successful run chase in Sri Lanka.
Those are the usual suspects but there are a few players who come to mind who did not have the numbers but were feared like the plague by the Sri Lankans. The foremost of them is Navjot Singh Sidhu. The Sikh, who was called a ‘strokeless wonder’ by respected cricket writer Rajan Bala, didn’t look like not having the strokes when he took on Sri Lanka. For spin he had one answer. Step out and loft the bowler over his head.
Mohammad Azharuddin was another who was quite popular among Sri Lankans. Azhar’s wristy stroke play was loved by fans and he became an instant hero when he captained the joint India-Pakistan side for a friendly game at RPS after Australia and West Indies pulled out from their World Cup commitments.
Martin Crowe was another player who excelled against us. He literally saved us from cricketing isolation in 1992 when he decided to stay back and complete the tour after Navy Commander Clancy Fernando was assassinated in front of the team hotel. Crowe made his career best score of 299 against us in Wellington in 1991. He was denied the opportunity of becoming the first Kiwi to post a triple hundred by just one run. That too, dismissed by one Arjuna Ranatunga of all people.
