Historically, Tests have been a bastion of conservative batsmen, technically adept and perseverant, capable of grinding bowlers down all day long. These were batsmen who rarely played a false shot or gave in to impulses. However, every now and then comes a player who redefines the way cricket is played. In this regard, there are some players who seemed set to rule the shorter formats of the game, players with killer instincts, natural aggression and a devil-may-care approach to batting.
And some of those players would surprise you further by making it big in Test cricket. These are players, who despite their flamboyant cricket and flair of the game, racked up numbers just as good or even better in the longer format of the game compared to the shorter formats.
1) Virender Sehwag
Sehwag was never supposed to succeed. Even in the ODI format. He was just a middle order batsman, primarily in the team for his off-spin. And then a masterstroke propelled him to the top of the order and a second masterstroke brought him into the Test arena, where he made a mockery of everything that whites had to offer.
Sehwag scored 8,586 runs in just 104 Tests at a sensational average – strike-rate combination of 49.34 and 82.23. For anyone with more than 2,000 runs in Test cricket, Sehwag has the highest strike-rate besides two triple centuries as he nearly became the first player ever to score three Test triple centuries.
It was not like Sehwag was bad in ODIs having raked up 8,273 runs at 35.05 with a strike-rate of 104, part of a rare club of players with a career strike-rate higher than 100. However, a difference of close to 14 points in the positive direction was unanticipated when it came to Sehwag, who never really moved his feet much and almost always relied on his hand-eye coordination, playing high-risk cricket which he defined with a different mantra.
Sehwag inspired an entire generation of modern day players who believe in scoring at more than a strike-rate of 75 even while playing red-ball cricket, exploiting the open areas on the field and the absence of various fielding restrictions that ensure fielders in the outfield in the shorter formats of the game.
Sehwag, despite his attacking style, had a penchant for daddy hundreds, scoring the third (168 balls), fourth, sixth, tenth and eleventh fastest double hundreds in Test cricket.
2) David Warner
The southpaw who started his career as a swashbuckling player, specialising in ODIs and T20s in particular, turned his career around, on the lines of Sehwag, someone he dearly respects and acknowledges often.
Warner who has the seventh fastest 100 in Test cricket scored in 69 balls boasts of the fourth highest strike-rate in Test cricket for anyone with over 2,000 runs – 76.92. He still has an amazing conversion ratio with 16 centuries and 20 half-centuries.
The Australian has scored 4,506 runs in just 51 Tests at an average of 50.06, the hallmark of a truly great player. His ODI average is 39.15, which is a tad low for someone who bats up the order.
Warner made his Test debut way back in 2011 but had a few initial hiccups before he made his place permanent coming back from a suspension following a brawl. Warner is one of the most complete players on the circuit, capable of playing shots around the ground, both conventional as well as unconventional.
3) Adam Gilchrist
Adam Gilchrist was never a man to fuss about footwork and technique. Nevertheless, sheer confidence and hand-eye coordination made him probably the greatest wicket-keeper batsman to play the game.
While that could well be argued, there is no doubt about the fact that Gilchrist, who has played many a counterattacking innings lower down the order including a fabulous one at home against Pakistan, was a man who looked more like succeeding in the shorter formats of the game.
Surprisingly though, he averages a whopping 47.60, with 20 not-outs, having scored 5,570 runs in 96 Tests. His ODI average is 35.89 in 279 innings with 9619 runs, a format that he seemed to dominate especially on the big occasions.
While Gilchrist scored 16 centuries and 55 half-centuries in those 279 innings, he managed 17 centuries and 26 half-centuries in just 137 Test innings, despite batting in the lower half of one of the most powerful, consistent batting orders the game has ever seen.
Gilchrist scored the eighth fastest double ton in just 212 balls against South Africa, in his opponent’s own backyard. He also has the fourth fastest Test century scored in just 57 balls against England.
The game has been richer for his presence, as the great man was also known for his tremendous sportsman-spirit. Gilchrist also boasts of the second highest Test strike-rate for anyone with more than 2,000 runs – 81.95, just behind Sehwag.
4) Brendon McCullum
Brendon McCullum, who represented probably the greatest of transformations a player can go through on the field, was a man who loved bulldozing bowlers. For someone, whose T20 average is higher than his ODI average, McCullum surprised many with late career success in the Test match format.
McCullum, who averages only 30.41 in ODIs, finished his Test career very recently with 6,453 runs in 176 innings at 38.64 with a triple century to his name. McCullum, who holds the record for the fifth fastest double ton in Test cricket has also scored the fastest Test century, in just 54 balls against Australia.
His career strike-rate of 64.60 is a tad lower than expected for someone known for genuinely attacking the bowlers. Another interesting aspect of his career stats is his 12 centuries and 31 half-centuries in Test cricket, a big improvement over his ODI numbers – 5 centuries and 32 half-centuries.
One of New Zealand’s most revered skippers looked a part as a shorter-format player and yet, ended up playing a major role in the Kiwi renaissance of the present.
5) Matt Prior
Matt Prior is a strange case-study. An aggressive and attacking wicket-keeper, Prior maintained a more-than-impressive strike-rate of 61.66 in Test cricket and that too, with an average of 40.18, scoring 4,099 runs in 123 innings.
However, he didn’t replicate the same success in ODI cricket, where he managed just 1,282 runs at 24.18 with a meagre strike-rate of 76.76 in 62 games. Prior has 7 centuries in Test cricket, quite a few coming in genuine salvaging and counter-attacking innings from No.5.
Prior’s peak form overlapped with England’s ascent to the top of the Test playing nations, although his form ebbed away pretty quickly towards the fag end of his career, the curtains brought down by a disastrous Ashes series.
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