On Aug 9, 8:21 pm, "Cicero"  wrote:
> In my view, Border or Waugh have never had the natural talent of Lara or
> Tendulkar. However they succeeded because of their determination and mindset
> and were successful captains (probably Border less so than Waugh but the
> comparative strength of their teams and the opposition counts).
>
> To me, Border and Waugh had a lot more mental strength than the other two   Border definitely had a lot of mental strength. Steve Waugh too
   had it, yet he was *way* over-rated as a batsman. The line
   "If I wanted any bastman to bat for my life, it would be Steve
   Waugh" has been used on innumerable occasions. Yet it doesn't
   reflect the fact that Steve Waugh had a *poor* batting average in
4th
   innings run chases. Now, a 4th innings run chase is when you
   would want your premier batsman to step up and score runs for
   the team.

   Steve Waugh averages 26 in the 4th innings with a highest of 80,
   which came in his last test innings. Obviously he didn't score
   a single century in a 4th innings run chase. Sunil Gavaskar was
   way superior to Steve Waugh as a batsman in 4th innings
   run-chases. He had 4 centuries in 4th innings run-chases.
   2 of them resulted in draws, 1 in a famous victory for India
   at Port of Spain chasing 406 (a world record at that time)
   and 1 resulted in a loss at Brisbane.

   100's made by Sunil Gavaskar in 4th innings
   SM Gavaskar 221 The Oval 1979 D
   SM Gavaskar 117* Bridgetown 1970-1 D
   SM Gavaskar 113 Brisbane 1977-8 L
   SM Gavaskar 102 Port-of-Spain 1975-6 W

   To paraphrase Samarth, "SMG was God in 4th innings".

   More in this old thread below.
   http://tinyurl.com/628gu8