Is Shane Watson the Best All-rounder of This Era?

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Was Shane Watson the Best All-rounder of This Era?
Image Source : The Roar

The Aussie cricketer Shane Watson announced his retirement from international cricket yesterday. He will hang his boots after the conclusion of ongoing World T20. If you count top all-rounders of this era, then definitely the names of Jacques Kallis, Shane Watson, Shakib Al Hasan and Andrew Flintoff will be there.

Watson has continued to enjoy his stature as Australia’s prominent all-rounder over the last one decade, but it seemed to be diminishing over the last couple of years with the inclusion of Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Marsh and James Faulkner in the Kangaroo squad. Yet, Watson’s contribution to his team is huge.

Shane Watson’s International Cricket Career 

Formats/ Game Played Runs 100s 50s Wickets
Test Matches (59) 3731 4 24 75
ODIs (190) 5757 9 33 168
T20Is (56) 1400 1 10 46

Shane Watson Vs Other All-Rounders: A Comparison Study

Jacques Kallis: There can’t be any comparison between Shane Watson and the South African legend in test matches. But Watson has slight edge over Kallis in ODIs, which nobody notices. Though, Kallis (11579) scored twice more runs than Watson (5757), but his career strike rate of 73 is much lesser than Watson’s 90.44. Similarly, Kallis’s most effective all-round performance for the past two decades couldn’t outshine Shane Watson’s two World Cup Victories in 50-over format. South Africa have won no World Cup as yet.

Andrew Flintoff: Freddie’s batting average of 32 in both tests and ODIs is much lesser than Watson’s 35 and 40 along with a good average of 28 in T20Is. Also, one way or other Flintoff roused several unwanted controversies in his career on and off the field, but barring occasional banters Shane Watson has always been a reserved persona.

Shakib Al Hasan: If anyone is capable of outshining Watson across formats, then no doubt Shakib Al Hasan is having an edge. The flamboyant all-rounder is the number one all-rounder across formats and averages far better than the Aussie right-hander. But at the end of the day team wins matter, and there is no doubt that Australia have won far too many matches with Shane Watson at the helm of, than what Bangladesh did with Shakib Al Hasan.