India's all time left handed XI in test cricket

[Trichromatic]

Gambhir

Dhawan

Jaiswal

Vinoo Mankad (AR)

Pant (WK)

Ganguly (C)

Jadeja (AR)

Pathan (AR)

Bedi

Zaheer

 

Who can be 11th and 12th players?

 

Bedi and Zak batted right handed, but they were pure bowlers so can be part of the team. Shastri as AR doesn't make cut as he bowled left handed, batted right handed.

 

[goose]

Yuvraj Singh - just for the bat swing!

[Gollum]

Ramesh

Jaiswal

Gambhir

Ganguly (c)

Pant

Jadeja

Mankad

Washi

Pathan

Zaheer

Bedi

 

12th man Dhawan

 

If Shastri is considered leftie, he too should be in contention. 

 

Pretty good XI for SC conditions, even bench strength for spin is good (Nadkarni, Doshi, Rajinder Goel, Shivalkar, Maninder, Ojha). In SENA, very weak even if you bring Nehra, RP Singh into the mix. 

Edited August 27, 2025 by Gollum

[Gollum]

Funny that for most of our history we never produced any leftie ATG. Now we have Jadeja as a titan of the game, Pant second best after Gilchrist. Jaiswal, Sundar too have ATG ceiling at least in tests. 4 world class guys. 

[Trichromatic]

14 minutes ago, Gollum said:

Ramesh

Jaiswal

Gambhir

Ganguly (c)

Pant

Jadeja

Mankad

Washi

Pathan

Zaheer

Bedi

 

12th man Dhawan

 

If Shastri is considered leftie, he too should be in contention. 

 

Pretty good XI for SC conditions, even bench strength for spin is good (Nadkarni, Doshi, Rajinder Goel, Shivalkar, Maninder, Ojha). In SENA, very weak even if you bring Nehra, RP Singh into the mix. 

 

Any reason to pick Ramesh over Dhawan?

[Gollum]

5 minutes ago, Trichromatic said:

 

Any reason to pick Ramesh over Dhawan?

Because of 1999 Pak tests, against that quality of bowling and tough pitches, pressure, he was the best batsman from both sides. Wasn't treated fairly by BCCI IMO. 

 

Dhawan was always found wanting in tough pitches, even at home. Like Mohali/Nagpur 2015, Eden greentop against Kiwis in 2016. 

[Trichromatic]

33 minutes ago, Gollum said:

Ramesh

Jaiswal

Gambhir

Ganguly (c)

Pant

Jadeja

Mankad

Washi

Pathan

Zaheer

Bedi

 

12th man Dhawan

 

If Shastri is considered leftie, he too should be in contention. 

 

Pretty good XI for SC conditions, even bench strength for spin is good (Nadkarni, Doshi, Rajinder Goel, Shivalkar, Maninder, Ojha). In SENA, very weak even if you bring Nehra, RP Singh into the mix. 

 

Aus

 

Hayden

Langer

Warner

Border

Taylor

Hussey

Gilchrist

 

Bill Lawry and Neil Harvey can also be picked. Guys like Khawaja, Head, Katich won't even make it.

 

Bowling

Johnson

Starc

Reid

Davidson

Gilmour

 

Great options for bowling. Spin is only weak area.

 

England

Cook

Gower

Strauss

Thorpe

Trescothick

Stokes

 

Lot of top order batsmen. Bowlers like Underwood, Panesar, Giles.

 

Even SL

Jayasuriya

Sanga

Ranatunga

Karunaratne

Vaas

Herath

 

Only team which can probably compete with Aus is WI

Lara

Chanders

Sobers

Loyd

Gayle

Kalicharan

Roy Fredericks

Jacobs

But bowling is thin..

 

Kiwis had

Vettori

Boult

Wagner

and lot of all rounders.

 

SA has strong batting with Smith, Elgar, Kirsten, but bowling is again weak.

 

Pakistan is another country with very few left handed players who could leave a mark. They produce lot of left arm bowlers though.

 

 

[Gollum]

9 minutes ago, Trichromatic said:

 

Aus

 

Hayden

Langer

Warner

Border

Taylor

Hussey

Gilchrist

 

Bill Lawry and Neil Harvey can also be picked. Guys like Khawaja, Head, Katich won't even make it.

 

Bowling

Johnson

Starc

Reid

Davidson

Gilmour

 

Great options for bowling. Spin is only weak area.

 

England

Cook

Gower

Strauss

Thorpe

Trescothick

Stokes

 

Lot of top order batsmen. Bowlers like Underwood, Panesar, Giles.

 

Even SL

Jayasuriya

Sanga

Ranatunga

Karunaratne

Vaas

Herath

 

Only team which can probably compete with Aus is WI

Lara

Chanders

Sobers

Loyd

Gayle

Kalicharan

Roy Fredericks

Jacobs

But bowling is thin..

 

Kiwis had

Vettori

Boult

Wagner

and lot of all rounders.

 

SA has strong batting with Smith, Elgar, Kirsten, but bowling is again weak.

 

Pakistan is another country with very few left handed players who could leave a mark. They produce lot of left arm bowlers though.

 

 

Maybe historically, Indians were discouraged from being left handed, sort of like a taboo. Across sports I see very few southpaws from Ind, also in day to day life. 

[Gollum]

For a country with such a rich batting tradition, shame that Dada is our greatest LHB. Pant, Jaiswal will set new standards I am sure, but still look at RHBs vs LHBs of India and compare that to with Aus, RSA, WI. 

Edited August 27, 2025 by Gollum

[Gollum]

Now across formats we have:

 

Jaiswal

Pant

Jaddu

Axar

Sundar

Sai Sudarshan

Abhishek

Tilak

Ishan

Krunal

Rinku

Suryavanshi

Khaleel

etc.

 

And many doing well in Ranji, IPL. 

 

Welcome change. 

 

[vvvslaxman]

No love for Parthiv patel? lol

[Trichromatic]

1 hour ago, Gollum said:

For a country with such a rich batting tradition, shame that Dada is our greatest LHB. Pant, Jaiswal will set new standards I am sure, but still look at RHBs vs LHBs of India and compare that to with Aus, RSA, WI. 

 

Could this be one of the reason why Indian teams haven't done well historically.

 

If we look at our overseas victories, we started getting more success when we had bunch of left handed bowlers - Zak, Pathan, RP Singh. Batting wise Yuvi, Raina started playing clutch knocks.

 

Even bowling wise Yuvi was contributing more with ball.

 

Right handed players were great, but clutch or x factor players were lefties like even Dhawan with performances in WC.

[Trichromatic]

Indian players also struggled against lefties. I remember growing up with memories of one lefties being nightmare from each team.

 

Pakistan - Anwar

SL - Sanath

Aus - Hayden, Gilly

Eng - Trescothick

SA - Kirsten

Even Tamim had some good performances v Ind. 

[vvvslaxman]

1 minute ago, Trichromatic said:

 

Could this be one of the reason why Indian teams haven't done well historically.

 

If we look at our overseas victories, we started getting more success when we had bunch of left handed bowlers - Zak, Pathan, RP Singh. Batting wise Yuvi, Raina started playing clutch knocks.

 

Even bowling wise Yuvi was contributing more with ball.

 

Right handed players were great, but clutch or x factor players were lefties like even Dhawan with performances in WC.

 

Even now having a leftie is a massive advantage. Because bowlers are more used to bowling to right handers than lefties.  We always talk about left armer bringing the ball back into the right hander than right hander bringing the ball back into left hander. It is rarely a weakness for a left hander like it is weakness for right hander.

[Gollum]

8 minutes ago, Trichromatic said:

 

Could this be one of the reason why Indian teams haven't done well historically.

 

If we look at our overseas victories, we started getting more success when we had bunch of left handed bowlers - Zak, Pathan, RP Singh. Batting wise Yuvi, Raina started playing clutch knocks.

 

Even bowling wise Yuvi was contributing more with ball.

Yes, maybe. I also feel most bowlers struggle against LHBs. ATG Aus had Hayden, Gilly, Bevan/Hussey stepping up in big games. 

 

If you see the current Aussie pace trio, they average in teens against RHBs, and in early 30s against LHBs. 

Edited August 27, 2025 by Gollum

[Gollum]

2015 WC SF Mitchell Johnson, Starc, Faulkner

 

2017 CT F Fakhar Zaman, Amir

 

2019 WC SF Boult, Santner

 

2021 Dubai T20 WC Shaheen, Boult, Santner

 

2023 WC F Starc, Head

 

In tests:

 

2014 Eng tour Ballance

 

2018 Eng tour Curran

 

2023 WTC F Head

 

2024 BGT Head, Starc

 

Elgar in last 2 test series in RSA

 

In last year's NZ series loss, Rachin, Conway, Santner, Ajaz Patel

 

Recurring problem for Team India. 

Edited August 27, 2025 by Gollum

[Majestic]

Vinod Mankad??

[Majestic]

Gambhir

Jaiswal

Mankad

Kambli

Ganguly(c)

Pant(wk)

Washington

Jadeja

Pathan

Zaheer

Bedi

12th man - Eknath Solkar

 

surprised you didn’t picked Kambli and Eknath Solkar. Solkar was remembered as poor man’s Sobers by West Indies.

[neel roy]

6 hours ago, Gollum said:

2015 WC SF Mitchell Johnson, Starc, Faulkner

 

2017 CT F Fakhar Zaman, Amir

 

2019 WC SF Boult, Santner

 

2021 Dubai T20 WC Shaheen, Boult, Santner

 

2023 WC F Starc, Head

 

In tests:

 

2014 Eng tour Ballance

 

2018 Eng tour Curran

 

2023 WTC F Head

 

2024 BGT Head, Starc

 

Elgar in last 2 test series in RSA

 

In last year's NZ series loss, Rachin, Conway, Santner, Ajaz Patel

 

Recurring problem for Team India. 

Before all that. In 1990 s

 

‘’ Yahan se pachas pachas kos door gaon mein jab Indian fans raat ko rota hai, to maa kehti hai beta so ja, so ja nahi to Jaysurya phirse maarne aa jayega’’

[deathmonger]

8 hours ago, Gollum said:

Funny that for most of our history we never produced any leftie ATG. Now we have Jadeja as a titan of the game, Pant second best after Gilchrist. Jaiswal, Sundar too have ATG ceiling at least in tests. 4 world class guys. 

Just got to do with the rise in infrastructure/economy.

 

Each next Indian generation is better than the one before.

 

Even Abhishek and Tilak can be white ball greats.