Re: World's dangerous batsmen today?
A dangerous batsman for me is a destructive batsman like Viv Richards who can quickly take the game away from you but more importantly unlike Afridi is an intelligent slogger and knows which balls to smash out of sight and which ones to leave or defend
I agree with the names of Gilchrist and Pietersen on your list - very destructive in both forms of the game.
I would however also add the following names to that list:
- Ponting (the best batsman today)
- Lara
- Tendulkar (of the 90s)........e.g. his desert storm innings in 1998 v Australia in Sharjah and his 98 against Shoaib Akhtar, Wasim and Waqar in 2003 WC QF
Hayden also was for a time a very destructive batsman in both forms of the game.
Jayasuriya, Gayle, Gibbs, Razzaq, Dhoni, Kemp, Sehwag and Symonds can all be very destructive in ODIs but lack consistency
Yousuf is a great batsman with an excellent record in both forms of the game but he does not fit the description of a destructive batsman for me. neither do Hussey, Kallis, Inzi or Dravid - all very good batsmen nevertheless.