5 great batsmen who dominated the best bowler of their times

In my opinion, the greatest spectacle in the game of cricket is a truly great batsman going head to head against an equally great bowler. With there being no team sport where individual battles play as crucial a role in deciding the outcome of a match as cricket, it is often fascinating to see who emerges triumphant in a battle of equals.Over the years, many great batsmen have been pitted against bowlers of outstanding ability, and unsurprisingly, such contests tend to remain fairly even. However, there have been a few occasions where the batsmen have completely dominated and gained a stranglehold over the bowler that they are up against. Here are five such instances:

#1 Sachin Tendulkar vs Shane Warne

When the Australians visited India in 1998 for a 3-match Test series, the contest was popularly billed as the greatest batsman in the world vs the greatest spin bowler in the world. Despite both having played Test cricket for a period of 7-8 years, they had never played a Test against each other in India before. There was naturally enormous hype and anticipation surrounding the battle as a result, with the entire cricketing world eager to see who comes out on top.

The first innings of the 1st Test in Chennai went Warne’s way as he dismissed Tendulkar caught at slip by Australian captain Mark Taylor for just 4. The Mumbai batsman would have been bitterly disappointed without doubt, but he made up for it in emphatic fashion as he hit a majestic 155 off just 191 balls to hand India a 179-run victory. He knew that he couldn’t afford to allow Warne settle into his rhythm and attacked the blonde leggie right from the start of his innings, thereby getting into the psyche of Warne.

Some of his other great innings against Warne are his consecutive ODI innings of 143 and 134 against Australia at Sharjah in 1998, which made Warne jokingly remark that he had nightmares about bowling to the Little Master.

#2 Brian Lara vs Muttiah Muralitharan

The 3-match Test series between Sri Lanka and West Indies in late 2001 was one of the rare occasions where Sri Lankan spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan failed to come up with the requisite answers. And that was courtesy none other than Brian Lara.

The West Indian left-hander, who had already made scores of 178, 40, 74 and 45 in the first two Tests of the series, was at his destructive best during the 3rd and final Test in Colombo, in particular, as he racked up scores of 221 and 130, rendering Muralitharan completely ineffective in the process.

In fact, Lara averages 56.80 against Murali in his overall Test career, which is more a reflection of Lara’s brilliance against spin bowling as opposed to an indictment of Murali’s ability.

#3 Viv Richards vs Dennis Lillee

Viv Richards, by his exceptionally high standards, averaged a relatively moderate 44.43 against Australia over his 34 Tests. But against Dennis Lillee, the greatest fast bowler of his time, he averaged a remarkable 61.33 after having played 11 Tests against the fiery Australian. It is often said that greater the challenge, the greater he played, and that was certainly the case when it came to his battles against Lillee.

Richards’s century in a Test match between the two sides at Brisbane in December 1979 was one of his greatest knocks against Lillee. In reply to Australia’s 1st innings total of 268, West Indies were 68/1 when Richards strode out to the crease. Over his 5-and-a-half hour stay the crease, he just about displayed every shot in the book and went a long way to ensuring his side’s victory.

Although Lillee did have the final by getting Richards out, it wasn’t before the Master Blaster had smashed a dazzling 140 containing 20 boundaries.

However, Lillee too had his fair share of wins against Richards. This gem by Rob Moody goes on to demonstrate that well.

#4 Virat Kohli vs Lasith Malinga

While both Virat Kohli and Lasith Malinga have not been able to achieve much success in Test cricket - that might change in Kohli’s case - but there is no doubt regarding their greatness in limited-overs cricket. Kohli, at the age of 25, has already racked up 19 hundreds in ODI cricket, and Malinga is widely acknowledged to be the greatest ODI bowler of the last decade.

Kohli, though emerged well on top during India’s ODI encounter against Sri Lanka in Hobart a couple of years back as he smashed a scintillating 133 off just 86 balls to hand India an improbable victory. Needing 321 from 40 overs to qualify for the CB series final, Kohli went about his job serenely at first before going berserk during the final few overs of the run-chase. He took a liking to Malinga, of all bowlers, as he hit him for 44 runs from just 15 balls, leaving the Sri Lankan with abysmal overall figures of 7.4-0-96-1.

#5 Virender Sehwag vs Muttiah Muralitharan

Virender Sehwag never seemed to be daunted by the reputation of the bowler that he was coming up against, not even if it was Muttiah Muralitharan at the other end. He was one of the few batsmen who consistently went after Murali and averaged an astounding 145 against the maestro from no less than 9 Tests.

His innings of 293 against Murali & co. at Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai, in 2009, which helped India achieve the No.1 Test ranking, will go down in history as one of the greatest by an Indian batsman with some of his strokeplay against Murali especially through the off-side being absolutely breathtaking to watch.

Out of his 293 runs, 284 had come in a little less than a full day’s play, and he was severe on all bowlers including Murali, whom he hit for 83 runs off just 77 balls at a strike-rate of 107.79.