lol can't stop laughing !!! whoever has written this must be living in a dream. will just say one thing bro just look at the batting averages of sehwag and katich !!! dats all i want to say

I didn't even bother to read after the auther blasted Viru! Agreed I am Indian and may be biased towards Indians...still Viru is certainly a better opener than Katich! Remember his centuries in SA, England, OZ (Adelaide..Melborune....et al)
Katich better than Viru....lame joke!!

Is this article about Aus vs Eng or about dissing Sehwag? And if Sehwag always made 30 off 20 then why would he have a career average of over 54? I think you're better off criticizing someone like Afridi or Gayle, who never scored enough runs and often got out too quickly.
A truly pointless article and one of the worst I have had the "pleasure" of reading.
And if you think he's among the best openers Australia had, one can only laugh. What about Trumper, Morris, Hayden, Simpson, Lawry, etc? He's not even among the best openers of this era - Graeme Smith, Strauss, Sehwag are better than him.

lol...sehwag has won india matches in all conditions...at the end of the day he is the best and most dangerous opener.stop praising others at his expense....

This is a bizarre piece, sans any logic other than promoting Katich's virtues as an opener. Sure Katich is a fighter,is patient, and has done superbly for Australia, but he would be the first to accept that he does not have the perfect technique. He has been caught LBW on the crease by balls swinging in a lot. And I don't understand the need to compare Katich with Sehwag, which is basically comparing Chalk and Cheese. BTW, Sehwag is not just a biffer who scores a quick 30 off 20 balls, he scores at the same rate through the day. He has 15 Scores of over 150, most @ SR's of 100, which, as you mentioned in the article, is way better than scoring 80* off 200. If Sehwag is an uncultured slogger not fit to open,and big muscular guys like Hayden & Watson are influential, then what can one say? Your article shows you have not followed cricket other than aussies, and don't rate any other team as well. At the end of the day, cricket is a game of runs and wickets, and it is all that matters.

Are you deluded? I am as Australian as they come. But Australia 5-0? Be serious. Bowlers win matches. Not batsmen. That's the nature of the game. England have the best spinner in the world in their team. He will make the difference. Nothing more to say.

My comment is very straightforward and simple.

Mr Katich will go down in history as being Steven Finn's first ( of many ) Ashes wickets.

We'll let him get into double figures........say 12....then a Finn bouncer will see him caught by Prior !

PS I am a part time Barmy Army clairvoyant !

The author seems to be living in some other world. Before critisizing sehwag's ways he should look at these facts.
The facts from the last ind vs srilanka series. 2 results in 3 games.
1st Test: India v Sri Lanka at Ahmedabad - Nov 16-20, 2009
India 426 and 412/4; Sri Lanka 760/7d
Match drawn

2nd Test: India v Sri Lanka at Kanpur - Nov 24-27, 2009
India 642; Sri Lanka 229 and 269 (f/o)
India won by an innings and 144 runs

3rd Test: India v Sri Lanka at Mumbai (BS) - Dec 2-6, 2009
Sri Lanka 393 and 309; India 726/9d
India won by an innings and 24 runs

Another fact: Sehwag's career:

Tests 82 ings141 runs:7326 Hs319 ave53.86 Srike rate 82
Simon Katich;
Tests 54 ings95 runa 4091 Hs157 Ave45.96
Strike rate 50
Comparing sehwag and katich(i do like him for the job he does)is like comparing bradman and border.

He has problem when facing a left arm bowlers, but does English have one in team.

how could cricinfo let dis hogwash be published! Its fine to sing the praises of katich, bt wth wats with Mr Sehwag. Sehwag is a legend beyond compare to katich. Dont discount sehwags innings because of its strike rate, look at his average. Sehwag wil win a game single handedly scoring 300 in 250 balls wile wickets are falling on the otherside. And the team will end up with 400. While katich will score his 100 in 250 balls and the team will end up with 200. So dnt come with crap 30 of 20 balls, look at all the 150 plus scores of sehwag! Btw im not evn indian n dis is my view..so dnt reply with indian patriotism crap n ur comments.

I appreciate the effort you have taken to laud Katich's - as you have repeatedly (almost tiringly) reminded us - traditional approach. But the same could have been done without belittling the approach of Sehwag or other like minded players. It is one thing to be besotted with one player but to do that while berating another is a little unacceptable.

Besides, you are fine with the same attacking approach by Hayden, but it makes Sehwag a "t20 tonker"? Haww!!!

Most of all, I think it takes all kinds of players to make up a team, and more importantly, draw in the crowds. Furthermore, the team cause matters, doesn't it. India has been winning with these tonkers, and what has Australia been getting out of these traditional (make-shift by the way) openers?

I completly agree. I would rather Katich in my side than Sehwag

Katto is definitely underrated. But note nobody seems to be complaining about his form which is good but his age. Ponting, Hussey and Katich are all 35+. Even in India's case, you can tell that Dravid's time is up. Tendulkar is still going because he has one final burst of energy in him. After that he will go. Same with Katich.

He will definitely last this Ashes and do well. But the Australian selectors are trapped between two goals: Win the Ashes (short-term) or rebuild the team (Long-term). I guess rebuilding can come after the Ashes for Tests and the World Cup for ODI/T20.

Of course England's aging cricketers have gone unnoticed. Collingwood is 34 and Strauss is 33. This is probably their last tour in Aus. It will be a tight competitive series IMO. Not sure if Australia or England will win but cricket will win.

He averages just 33 against England, rest assured, our bowlers will be happy to let him nurdle his way to 33, while at the other end, the likes of Clarke and Punter make mistakes as they are forced to make the pace.

By the way Mr. Whoever, Sehwag has more test runs at a far better average and even better strike rate as compared with Mr.Katich.
Just to remind you.

This is trash. You article implies that Sehwag has been scoring only 20s and 30s but Hayden is scoring big, and that Katich is more effective than Sehwag. Then can you explain why India is now no. 1 (and winning more matches, including against Australia) but Australia us no. 5 (and not winning many matches)?

The Supreme President of Cricinfo bloggers, Andy Zaltzman, was absolutely bob-on in his latest Confectionary Stall offering, when he described katich as a 'bums-off-seats' batsman. Brilliant. Succinct, funny and true.

Has the writer lost his mind
This player is nothing compared to sehwag who can single handedly destroy a country. On his day he plays like a one man army.
this kangaroo has not even scored a single 150 leave alone the thought of bringing the ashes

I suspect this is a parody.

For crying out loud, it was a whimsical piece, yet we end up with Sehwag-promoting puff? Do the Indians out there really think that this article was meant to say that Katich is better than Sehwag. I'm an Australian, and can admit that nobody thinks that. Seriously, guys, lighten up.

PS - Tendulkar is a poor man's North.

Eh? Shouldn't this article be put in the Page2 section? Its more fictional humor than factual!

Agree with Luke - guys no-one is saying that Sehwag is not a better batsman overall than Katich (he is). He's just an utterly different TYPE of batsman. Sehwag's style is not at its best against top class bowling with the new ball on a seaming wicket.

Whereas, as the article tries to say, Katich' determination and patience makes him at his best in precisely these conditions. Every top class team needs at least one batsmen - preferably an opener - whose prime virtue is that he knows exactly whether or not the seaming ball will miss the top of his off stump. Unfortunately the biff-and-bash versions of the game have made such batsmen very rare - which is the point of the article.

As for Katich, while I admire his temperament his stodgy footwork (especially against class spin) is what stops him being a great batsman. I think you'll see him get through a few opening hours in this series, only to fall rapidly to the older ball.

And Katich is the best bowler in the Australian side over the last 3 years pitty he is to slack to bowl for the sake of prolonging his career.

re Katich vs Sehwag compare stats recently one is gettign better the other is going back...

Katitch? A stop-gap opener at best. Sehwag may not be the greatest opener I've seen but he brings people in to see Test cricket played in its true spirit. I say more power to the batsmen who play with passion: it is what Test cricket needs.

I think katich Will Play Below Average In This Ashes And Ponting,Watson Will Dominate English attack more than any one also they have weak links like Spinners and Quality all rounders