ICF All Time Test XI : Openers

[vvvslaxman]

Gordon and Hayden for me' date=' Sunny was good but like Sachin always came up small when team needed him most.[/quote'] http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/63240.html This is a great innings.. India needed him Also India's chase of of 406 in the 4th innings was on the back of his century at the top. His 96 in his final test was a classic innings. Was undone by a dubious decision IIRC.

[Debutant]

Hayden and Sunny Was compelled to choose Hayden and Viru but since its a test ........ :--D

[King Tendulkar]

Sunny of course. Cant believe people mocking hayden. Brutal opener. Power house who would step down the wicket and pummel pacers. Also superb against spin as evidenced by his breakthrough series in 2001 in India, were he destroyed us on rank turners. Just cos he is modern seems some of teh old fogies dont want to recognise his brillinace and rather put on their dusty rose tinted glasses and look at wisden for their opinions. Gavaskar and Hayden for me!!!

[Sidhoni]

Gavaskar and Hobbs for me. Surprised at the no. of votes Haydos got even though I do not rate him badly.

[rkt.india]

Gavaskar and Hobbs for me. Surprised at the no. of votes Haydos got even though I do not rate him badly.

But how do you rate Hobbs that much? He has good average. If you picked Hobbs based on average. Then why you picked Gavaskar as Hutton and Sutclife both have better average than him.

[Sidhoni]

But how do you rate Hobbs that much? He has good average. If you picked Hobbs based on average. Then why you picked Gavaskar as Hutton and Sutclife both have better average than him.

Have not watched much of Hobbs/Hutton/Sutcliffe but I have seen some great innings of Gavaskar. Out of Hobbs/Hutton/Sutcilffe, I did not check out the stats but some months earlier when SRT's 100th 100 was in the news, I heard that Hobbs has got about 200 centuries in first class matches. And out of the 3, I had heard the most about Jack Hobbs.

[rkt.india]

Have not watched much of Hobbs/Hutton/Sutcliffe but I have seen some great innings of Gavaskar. Out of Hobbs/Hutton/Sutcilffe' date=' I did not check out the stats but some months earlier when SRT's 100th 100 was in the news, I heard that Hobbs has got about 200 centuries in first class matches. And out of the 3, I had heard the most about Jack Hobbs.[/quote'] I am not saying you shouldn't pick Sunny. My issue is how can we differentiate Hobbs, Hutton, and Sutclife when we haven't seen any of them and their test records are very identical. Because you know Graham Hick and Ram Prakash have more than 100 FC 100s and they were hacks at test level.

[Sidhoni]

I am not saying you shouldn't pick Sunny. My issue is how can we differentiate Hobbs, Hutton, and Sutclife when we haven't seen any of them and their test records are very identical. Because you know Graham Hick and Ram Prakash have more than 100 FC 100s and they were hacks at test level.

I did not check out their stats as I mentioned previously but picked Hobbs on what I have heard/read of him.

[Shunya]

nice post... and as expected Gavaskar is unanimous choice... interesting thing is there is only left hander in the list of alltime great...

[thongale]

Hutton and Hobbs.

[Sooda]

Interesting that no one seems to have gone for Hobbs/Sutcliffe, though they are one of the greatest opening combos of all time. I went for Sunny/Hobbs myself

[Lurker]

Bhai saab. It is not just videos. Stats are too on his side and when both mingles together it doesn't leave much space to think more about him.

What was your stance before the YouTube was invented mate? Clearly your criteria has less to do with your cricketing knowledge and more to do with what you can find on YouTube :winky: I am willing to put money that you NEVER saw Kapil Dev in his pomp and yet "claim" to have seen him. :giggle:

[mhr123]

Sunny and Hydo.. perfect combo..

[rkt.india]

What was your stance before the YouTube was invented mate? Clearly your criteria has less to do with your cricketing knowledge and more to do with what you can find on YouTube :winky: I am willing to put money that you NEVER saw Kapil Dev in his pomp and yet "claim" to have seen him. :giggle:

Think like this if even after watching so many videos on youtube and videos on tv if I cant select Kapil according to you then how can I put hobbs, sutclife, and Hutton there. You did not reply about my another point.

[jairamesh]

Think like this if even after watching so many videos on youtube and videos on tv if I cant select Kapil according to you then how can I put hobbs, sutclife, and Hutton there. You did not reply about my another point.

Good point. This selection of all-time great Test teams is always going to be a futile exercise considering how cricket (and physical sports in general) has evolved over different eras. For example, ignoring all the physical and technological changes many fail to recognize the impact of changes in rules, advent of one day matches (and now T20s) continuously shape the players. Would the likes of Gavaskar and Boycott in today's era be content playing in Tests and not change their game to adapt to limited overs cricket?

[deathmonger]

hayden is a far better opener than motu..cant even think of having motu in the X1..just cant bat if theres a tinge of grass' date=' and please dont tell me he scored 100 in saf nd england in difficult conditions, yes he did, but that was 10 years ago, presently he is a liability outside asia[/quote'] hayden and motu are of same level. sucks in eng,nz,sa. rules everywhere else.

[Lurker]

Think like this if even after watching so many videos on youtube and videos on tv if I cant select Kapil according to you then how can I put hobbs, sutclife, and Hutton there. You did not reply about my another point.

The problem with folks like you, and perhaps your generation, is this - You dont know much, dont stand for anything...and argue about everything. Dude, I am perhaps the biggest Kapil Dev fan you will ever see. Unlike you I do not have to reach for my laptop and search YouTube to see his exploits. I was fortunate enough to watch LIVE when the best Pakistani batsman of Benson Hedges 1985 series walked to the middle and got his stump uprooted by a fierce Kapil Dev yorker sending Richie Benaud in an orgasm with a "ball of the tournament" comment. I was lucky enough to see/hear Kapil walk to the middle in the DeanJones-KapilDev-ChennaiTiedTest after the Indian openers had flopped on a docile pitch and carted Aussies all over the park. I was watching with glee when the next best thing to Pakistani cricket Inzamam-ul-Haq walked to the middle and got lbw to the aging legend. and then began his walk back to pavillion that took forever. Of course this happened in the same game where Kapil had shepherded another budding legend SRT. If I select an All-time Indian XI, the first name I would pencil in would be Kapil Dev. And then I would proceed to pick the other 10. And yet, I would also pencil two other names for the all-rounder slot - Vinoo Mankad and Salim Durrani. Even CK Nayudu perhaps. And if someone picks Vinoo saab ahead of Kapil Dev I would be fully supportive of that. And this comes from someone who is a die-hard Kapil fan and has seen him LIVE for better part of his career. You, on the other hand, never have seen him. Your knowledge is based on a few video clips. Like the 90 Test series against England where he smoked 4 sixes...Did you know he averaged 60 or so as a bowler in the same lol? You obviously never bothered to find more about Vinoo Mankad or Salim Durrani either. And somehow you wear it as a badge of prestige too. The reason I am using Kapil as an example here is to show how those who shout from rooftops on "picking players only who they have seen" know little about Indian greats, forget about Hobbs, Turner, Faulkner. But yeah keep up with the whole shenanigan :)

[gaurav92]

Great post Lurker Saahab. Ek baat pe main bilkul sahmati rakhta hu ki Humein jis cheez ke baare mein zyaada jaankaari nahi hai, uspe humein tippanni nahi karni chahiye. :nice:

[Bdeshpatriot]

I would say Greenidge and Gavaskar, best form of agression with caution

[Prakat]

Sunny and Hadyen. Can't believe the crap haydo is catching on this thread. OP isn't about picking the two best openers. The goal is to build an XI and he's a definite chalk in as a foil to Sunny in my book.