5 most underappreciated batsmen in the sport

The universe of cricket isn’t a very big one with just ten Test-playing nations. As a result, you would expect players who have consistently performed well at the international level to get recognized all over the world. Sadly, that’s not the case due to the great inequality among cricket playing nations.

This is especially true among batsmen as players from the ‘big three’ – India, Australia and England – along with some from South Africa get instant recognition the world over, whereas many cricketers from other nations with great records and impressive achievements are hardly known by fans outside their home countries.

Furthermore, the emergence of big T20 leagues has made big-hitters in the shortest format of the game overnight superstars, while those who play in a more orthodox style and have successfully plied their trade in Tests get completely sidelined.

Here is a list of five batsmen who have been very successful in international cricket but haven’t got the coverage and attention they deserve.

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Kraigg Braithwaite

Braithwaite has scored runs in different parts of the world

Being a West Indian batsman is a tough thing in Test cricket. With your team constantly losing and suffering batting collapses, it’s hard to be able to have respectable career stats. But there is one doughty batsman with an unassuming technique who has been scoring runs consistently for the Caribbean side but is not given his fair share of credit – Kraigg Braithwaite.

The cricketing world is dazzled by the big-hitters from the West Indies who shine in T20 cricket but Braithwaite, with qualities of dogged determination and patience, has emerged as the most consistent and reliable West Indian batsmen in Tests in the last few years.

An average of 37.43 from 44 matches with six hundreds may seem a very modest record in the bat-dominated modern era but it has to be remembered that any batsmen’s average is bound to be adversely affected by playing in a team which doesn’t usually provide much support to its batsmen.

Braithwaite’s ability to score runs in different conditions adds to his stature. With centuries in South Africa, UAE and England and many good scores in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Australia, he has proven how capable he is.

Braithwaite has grown from being a purely defensive batsman to one who can play big shots as well. This shows his improvement and with age being on his side, there is no reason to not expect him to get even better in the future.

Asad Shafiq

Shafiq has excelled against both spin and pace bowling

A diminutive batsman, Asad Shafiq has been one of the most impressive and consistent performers in international cricket. Yet due to being from a low-profile cricket nation and batting at the relatively less prominent position of No 6 for most of his career, Shafiq doesn’t get talked about as much as other exciting young batsmen from the subcontinent.

An average of 39.71 could justify this relative oversight of Shafiq but with him also, there is a long list of very impressive accomplishments.

He is a brilliant player of spin and his many good knocks in Asian conditions testify to this fact. But Shafiq is also very capable against fast bowling. In the winter of 2012/13 season, when the South African pace trio of Steyn, Morkel and Philander were knocking over batting line-ups for fun, Shafiq produced a magnificent hundred in challenging conditions of Cape Town against that bowling line-up.

His fighting knock of 137 against Australia in the day/night Brisbane Test of December 2016 was another show of his batting prowess.

With 11 hundreds, scored all over the world, in 58 Tests, Shafiq is certainly a very admirable performer and with the departure of Misbah and Younis from the Pakistani team, may take his deserved position in the top-order and could reach an even higher level of success.

Azhar Ali

Ali has been a rock for Pakistan at the crucial No 3 position

Think of all the wonderful No 3 batsmen in the world and if you are not a Pakistani, you may easily not remember Azhar Ali. The 33-year old Pakistani occupies this most pivotal position in the Pakistan batting line-up and, just as is expected of a batsman at that spot, has been a rock for his team.

Primarily a defensive style batsman, Ali made his debut in Pakistan’s 2010 tour of England. While most of the batting line-up failed on that forgettable tour for his team, Ali showed his mettle with a fighting 92* at The Oval.

Over the years, Ali turned into a very dependable and solid batsman for Pakistan and was part of, and integral, to a very successful period in Pakistan cricket under Misbah-ul-Haq’s captaincy where his team remained undefeated in their adopted home of UAE in Tests.

Ali has over 5000 runs from 62 Tests with 14 hundreds. To draw a comparison, Joe Root has 13 from 65 matches. Yet one hardly hears much about him except when Pakistan are playing.

What’s even more impressive is that Ali is getting better with time. He now has a triple hundred, a double hundred in Australia and hundreds in each innings of a Test (vs Australia in 2014).

With such a great list of achievements, Ali deserves to be considered among the best batsmen in the world of Test cricket.

BJ Watling

Watling is a top-class wicketkeeper-batsman in Test cricket

The cricketing community has been looking for a wicketkeeper-batsman who can be called a deserving successor to Adam Gilchrist since his retirement. There have been many pretenders but no one able to reach the same level of success and impact-making ability.

However, there have been many keepers who achieved great success at the Test level. Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Matt Prior, Brad Haddin are some of the names that come to mind.

But one guy, who for a time was better than all of them and yet never received the due recognition, was New Zealand’s BJ Watling.

In a period of less than a year from February 2014 to January 2015, Watling was twice part of two partnerships amounting to 350+ runs that rescued New Zealand from perilous situations and in one instance even secured victory for his team. He also starred with a hundred in New Zealand’s victory at Headingley vs England in 2015.

What these innings demonstrated was Watling’s ability to play gutsy knocks for his team in difficult situations, something he did on many other occasions as well. Still, the world of cricket never paid as much attention to him as they should have.

A strike rate of under 50 means he is not in the same mould as Adam Gilchrist but with 6 hundreds and 13 fifties in 52 matches, many of them scored in difficult situations, Watling is certainly one of the best in his category.

Mominul Haque

Mominul is emerging as a very classy batsman

Bangladesh have come a long way from where they were a decade and a half ago and their rise has been powered by batsmen like Tamim Iqbal and Mushfiqur Rahim. But the next big hope for Bangladesh cricket going forward is Mominul Haque who once averaged over 50 in Test cricket.

Mominul is short in stature but is blessed with great timing and has shown a great appetite for getting runs. He first made a big impression with a knock of 181 against New Zealand in 2013.

The 26-year old was prolific in getting half-centuries initially in his career. But he could not always convert starts into big scores. That seems to be changing and recently, he accomplished a big feat by scoring hundreds in each innings of a Test against Sri Lanka at Chittagong.

Overall, with six Test hundreds and a very impressive average of over 46, Mominul seems to be on his way to become the great batsmen Bangladesh would need to reach a higher level of performance. While yet to get a big score outside Bangladesh, fifties in New Zealand, West Indies and South Africa suggest there is no dearth of potential.

While he may not have the same kind of exciting stroke-play that Tamim or Mushfiqur have, when it comes to ability and hunger for scoring runs, Mominul may well turn out to be Bangladesh’s best bet.