This question remains unsolved over the last few years since the retirement of swashbuckling opener Virender Sehwag. Although, this comparison is absurd among the two greatest players in the Indian Cricket History who have played in the complete different eras along with different rules but people like to have a comparison to get to know about the different parameters of player character while playing in different conditions.
Sunil Gavaskar was the great player of technical batting who had made the batting look so easy with almost every shot in his arsenal while Virender Sehwag was a genius of hand-eye coordination with his whirlwind hitting makes him the once-in-a-lifetime-player. There is one thing common between these two great players that they were the “trendsetters” in their eras which makes this comparison look right at some point. In this segment sports social brings you to take a look at the career numbers of these two players to know who was the better batsman.
Career Runs:
Virender Sehwag:
First-class: 194 Matches 14,683 runs 47.35 average 42 centuries 55 half-centuries
List-A: 332 Matches 10,454 runs 34.05 average 16 centuries 57 half-centuries
Test: 104 Matches 8685 runs 49.34 average 23 centuries 32 half-centuries
ODI: 251 Matches 8273 runs 35.05 average 15 centuries 38 half-centuries
Sunil Gavaskar:
First-class: 348 Matches 25834 runs 51.46 average 81 centuries 105 half-centuries
List-A: 151 Matches 4594 runs 36.17 average 5 centuries 37 half centuries
Test: 125 Matches 10122 runs 51.12 average 34 centuries 45 half-centuries
ODI: 108 Matches 3092 runs 35.13 average 1 hundred 27 half-centuries
If we compare the career stats of both the players it seems to be the tough one to decide whose is the better and if we neglect First-class and List-A runs. In the format like test and ODI the number of matches are not equal one has more matches from the other in the limited overs cricket. Let us say if we compare only the test record because there was no limited overs cricket then it has only a slight margin between the number of the matches. Overall, it is very difficult to decide who is better.
Runs In The Home Conditions:
Virender Sehwag:
65 Matches 6091 runs 58.56 average 18 centuries 22 half-centuries
Sunil Gavaskar:
74 Matches 5739 runs 49.47 average 18 centuries 27 half-centuries
It's not a difficult task for a player to score runs in his own backyard where he is aware of the situations from the overseas conditions much better. Sehwag completely dominated as an opener in terms of the runs and average from Sunil Gavaskar in the home conditions.
Runs In The Overseas Conditions:
Virender Sehwag:
34 Matches 2116 runs 35.26 average 4 centuries 8 half-centuries
Sunil Gavaskar:
45 Matches 3868 runs 51.57 average 15 centuries 15 half-centuries
The most daunting task for any player is to score runs in the overseas conditions to define his batting strength and calibre of his character. If Sunil Gavaskar was termed as the greatest opener ever then it is without a doubt the number of runs and average. Clearly Sehwag is no where near Gavaskar in terms of the overseas records even in centuries too.
Runs In The Victories:
Virender Sehwag:
41 Matches 3424 runs 54.34 average 8 centuries 15 half-centuries
Sunil Gavaskar:
22 Matches 1597 runs 43.16 average 6 centuries 6 half-centuries
If Gavaskar had a better record in the overseas conditions then Virender Sehwag proved his batting strengths in terms of victories which once again proved the character of his Swashbuckling opener. Although Gavaskar's record is not bad his average is quite good in the victories too. But this clear factor where Virender Sehwag stands above like the overseas records of Sunil Gavaskar.
In conclusion, it is difficult to say who is better: the bowlers were more dangerous in the Sunil Gavaskar era from the Virender Sehwag era and the playing conditions were different. If Gavaskar had more runs then Virender Sehwag had the rare ability to score runs in the first hour of batting against any pace attack in the world which was never seen before.
Read Also | Javagal Srinath – The Trendsetter Of The 90s Era
