5 batsmen who score runs even on the worst pitches

The difference between the good and the great is a fine one. In the field of sports, the debates regarding this rage till the end of time. For a sport like, say, football, the different is a lot more apparent than it is in cricket.In the field of cricket, judging the difference is hard because of the subtlety of conditions. Generally, most batsmen labelled as 'good' have a 40+ average in 50-over games. The fact that pitches these days are usually flat and batsmen-friendly makes it incredibly hard to decipher the better from the best.But every once in a while, matches happen on pitches that are more erratic than the Test career of Rohit Sharma (another flat-deck player). And in those games, we see which player is truly the best.When the going gets tough, the tough gets going.And here are 5 such players who become as immovable as the Himalayas amidst a tempest.

#1 Hashim Amla

Amla is man for all ocassions

The current scenario of cricket is a pretty swashbuckling one. People prefer the likes of Chris Gayle, AB De Villiers and Virat Kohli than the likes of Chanderpaul, Laxman and so on. In a time like this, it is hard to find a batsman with an insane amount of resolution and grit.

However, there is always an exception in every generation and Hashim Amla is one of them. The pitch is tricky? The love affair between the ball and the track is much better than that in Twilight? The ball is moving around like a snake? Doesn’t matter.

For Amla, no matter what the conditions are, he can and almost always does the best among the rest. The most recent example would be his almost inhuman performance against India some days ago as his sublime technique and timeless patience made him the only batsman in the Proteas team to deliver on the potato patches which the Indian cricket team seemed to call 'pitches'.

However, the best moment that defined his greatness was his 25 runs in 159 balls innings against Sri Lanka, in a match that not only saw him score a 100 in the first innings but also establish South Africa's place as the number 1 ranked team in Tests.

#2 Alastair Cook

Cook has often stood tall among England’s batting ruins

There is a reason why England didn’t need Kevin Pietersen to topple Australia in the most recent version of the Ashes. Along with Andrew Strauss, Cook remains the biggest reason for England’s constant overlooking of Kevin Pietersen. And many English fans were befuddled because of this, especially after a torrid showing at the World Cup 2015.

As fans were pessimistic about their chances in the Ashes, Cook stood up and led them from the front to a historic series triumph in what seemed like an impossible task before it began.

On tracks where even the then best Test batsman, according to rankings, Steve Smith, failed to make an impact, he stood his ground and made sure that England didn’t indeed need Pietersen.

He might not have been among the highest scorers, but his 96 at Lord’s and 85 at the Oval were a testament to his ability to handle difficult tracks.

#3 Murali Vijay

Vijay showed his class in the recently-concluded India-South Africa series

India might not be one the best teams in Tests, despite being the number 1 in that format not a very long time ago, but they do have some bright spots in the toughest format of the game.

The recent series against South Africa was a good test to determine the true ability of the batsmen that featured there. The pitches were more potato patches than cricketing surfaces as if the curators just scrubbed spiked boots over the turf to make it spin friendly.

The South Africans batsmen, then, found it incredibly hard to find stability and collapsed like a house of cards. Even the Indian batsmen struggled, but Murali Vijay stood tall like a mountain in a storm and played a huge part in India’s triumph.

His resolute nature and determination, added with an unorthodox backhand strength, allows him to play late and still time the ball, making him a key asset on vicious dustbowls.

#4 AB de Villiers

ABD has shown that he is the man for all occasions

A list without this man is no list at all. Unarguably the best batsman in the world, AB can do things that no man can. He is nicknamed Mr. 360 because of his ability to play strokes all over the park, but that's not all.

On numerous occasions, including the recently concluded Test series against India, AB de Villiers has shown the world that he is not just a hard hitter who likes to disintegrate the thread on the ball.

Against Australia, in a match that wasn’t winnable, AB took the defensive mantle in a grand style by playing 230 balls and scoring just 33 runs in the process. It was this patience and ability to survive on a dead rubber of a pitch that saved the game for the Proteas.

His incredible technique and sheer talent give him the ability to play on any given surface and in any circumstances. No matter how hard the conditions are or how difficult the scenario is, he can always be counted on to deliver.

And most of the time, he does.

#5 Younis Khan

Younis scores when it matters most

This is a man who has a 4th-innings average of 60.59 in 39 Tests – this alone is a huge testament of his abilities and skill as a batsman. His score of 171* is the highest in the fourth innings of a Test, proving his authority as one of the best batsmen on tricky tracks.

As mentioned earlier, the final couple of days in a Test game is the hardest to bat on since the cracks on the pitch start to open up and the spikes under the bowlers' boots make it more erratic than one could imagine.

In such circumstances, Khan always thrives and the fact that he has 7 centuries batting in the third innings of a Test match works perfectly to prove the point. Khan's resolute mentality and other-worldly technique makes it very hard to get him out.

He can mentally tire the bowlers to the point of giving up even on the worst of batting decks and is one of the very few who can boast such a command in the final phases of a Test.