India all-time Test XI Part II : Middle order

[Sachinism]

The poet Yeats nearly got it right. He wasn't referring to cricket, of course, but he could have been speaking about the middle order: things fall apart when the centre cannot hold. In the 1930s and 40s, India's middle order was shored up by Vijay Hazare and Lala Amarnath. The next decade belonged to Polly Umrigar, Vijay Manjrekar and Chandu Borde. Then came Tiger Pataudi, ML Jaisimha and Ajit Wadekar before Dilip Sardesai, Gundappa Viswanath, Mohinder Amarnath and Dilip Vengsarkar took over in the 1970s. With three centuries in his first three Tests, Mohammad Azharuddin announced himself in 1984-85. The golden age was certainly the 1990s and 2000s, when Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman came together to give India the best batting side in the world. The larger shortlist means picking the middle order for an all-time India XI is more difficult than selecting the openers. One player more or less selects himself, leaving two other slots up for debate. The candidates Rahul Dravid The finest No. 3 in the history of Indian cricket, and one of the best ever. A one-day aggregate of over 10,000 suggests that he can adapt his game. His record away from home makes him the most valuable batsman when the ball does things domestic players are unused to. Sachin Tendulkar Most runs, centuries, Test matches, and the man Don Bradman thought played like him. Enough said. VVS Laxman Played one of the most valuable innings, 281, by an Indian. It led to a win after following on against Australia and the start of the run that saw India finish as the No. 1 Test team in the world. In an age of utilitarian batsmen, his batting remains a visual delight. Gundappa Viswanath Has anybody been more pleasing to watch than this wonderful player of pace and spin alike? Carried the middle order on his shoulders for a decade, attacking the best fast bowlers and throwing the finest spinners off their length with creative batsmanship. Vijay Hazare Two hundreds on successive days against Don Bradman's Australia, and the Don's wicket in the same Test. He was India's first Test-winning captain, and the finest batsman in the middle till Viswanath. MAK Pataudi Led the self-respect movement in Indian cricket, inspiring the team into believing they could win. Trevor Bailey once said Pataudi might have been in the Bradman class if it were not for his handicap. Six Test centuries and innings of 75 and 85 in Melbourne in 1967, despite a pulled hamstring, established him as the Indian batsman of the 60s. Mohinder Amarnath Successful series against the best fast bowling in the world, in Pakistan and the West Indies, earned him the right to be labelled the best for a while. Innings of 90 and 100 in Perth had already hinted at what was to come. As a medium-pacer, he gives the captain more options. Polly Umrigar His 12 centuries formed the mark Indians aimed at, till Sunil Gavaskar made such calculations redundant. Innings of 56 and 172 not out in Trinidad in 1962 (he had five wickets in the first innings, besides) seemed to repeat Vinoo Mankad's famous Lord's performance of 1952. Sourav Ganguly The only left hander in the list, but that is not the only reason he is there. His average of 42.17 over 113 Tests compares favourably with Viswanath's 41.93 (91 Tests) and Dilip Vengsarkar's 42.13 (116 Tests). India's most successful Test captain, besides. CK Nayudu Was already 37 when he led India in their first Test, and was playing first-class cricket a quarter century later. Nayudu top-scored in the first innings at Lord's. He never lived up to his reputation as a six-hitting bowlers' nightmare in the seven Tests he played, but was an inspiring figure who put India on the international map. Mohammad Azharuddin Belonged to the Viswanath tradition of wristy batsmanship. He never really had to shoulder the batting on his own, though, since in his early days Vengsarkar or Mohinder Amarnath did that job, and soon Tendulkar arrived. Dilip Vengsarkar The link between the Gavaskar and Tendulkar generations, he held the middle order together, once making 166 against Sri Lanka on a dodgy track when no one else made 50. His three centuries at Lord's and six against West Indies' pace made him the most valuable player in the middle order in his time.

[Roshanrocks]

3 - Dravid ( no - brainer) 4 - Tendulkar ( no - brainer) 5 - Vishwanath / Laxman / ???? 6 - Kapil Dev :--D wow.... i was waiting for this... a complete list of top quality middle order batsmen. :hatsoff:

[Lord]

Dravid picks himself too. havent watched most of others.among VVS n Dada,i'd pick Dada

[Rajan]

//Dilip Vengsarkar The link between the Gavaskar and Tendulkar generations, he held the middle order together, once making 166 against Sri Lanka on a dodgy track when no one else made 50. His three centuries at Lord's and six against West Indies' pace made him the most valuable player in the middle order in his time.// it was a tremendous innings by Dileep. in fact he was upset that he was not given M O M. i think kapil scored a fifty in the same test and recvd the M O M because of the 4 wickets he took in one of the innings. but the pitch really tested every batsman's ability. for 2 years in mid 80's he was the best batsman in india and in fact in the top 5 across all teams(until he broke his wrist).

[kabira]

Dravid Tendulkar Vijay Hazare Kapil

[Kumar]

3. Dravid 4. Tendulkar 5. Laxman 6. Dev Very debatable indeed for the number 5 slot, but personally Laxman for me. His beautiful playing of the ball, his hundreds against australia, he works very well with tendulkar and I have to say my indian player of all time, just ahead of sachin!

[bharathh]

Dravid Tendulkar Hazare Umrigar

[ZodiaC]

3. Dravid 4. Boss 5. Dada 6. Kapil Dev/VVS

[kabira]

^there is no debate about number 6 spot. It will be Kapil Dev

[saneindian]

1. Gavaskar 2. Sehwag 3. Dravid 4. Sachin 5. Vishy 6. Kapil © 7. Kirmani (wk) 8. Amar Singh 9. Kumble 10. Bedi 11. Zaheer The top 4 pick themselves. Vishy ahead of VVS, Hazare, and Amarnath due to his superior record versus Australia and WI. In bowling, the only reason I have picked Zak ahead of Srinath is for variety. An attack of Kapil, Amar Singh, Zak, Kumble and Bedi has got enough variety for all sorts of conditions.

[Roshanrocks]

who is amar singh?

[saneindian]

Amar Singh along with Mohd. Nissar formed what was the first (and perhaps the last ) pace bowling pair from India. here's his profile on Cricinfo. http://www.cricinfo.com/india/content/player/26228.html Look at his foirst class bowling average!! :hatsoff::hatsoff: "There is no better bowler in the world today than Amar Singh,'' said Len Hutton in an informal chat with pressmen at Madras in 1970. It was 34 years since the legendary England opening batsman had faced the Indian medium pace bowler while playing for Yorkshire. And it is the perfect tribute to Amar Singh that Hutton still remembered the hard time that the Indian, then a member of the 1936 Indian team, gave him. Another England great Wally Hammond described Amar Singh's bowling as "he came off the pitch like the crack of doom". Indeed, Amar Singh, along with Md Nissar was the first great Indian bowler for his accuracy, stamina and ability to make the ball move alarmingly off the air or cut it devastatingly off the pitch. Mohammed Nissar too had similar figures to Amar Singh, but I have not considered him as he chose to relocate to Pakistan after partition.

[b555]

dravid sachin hazare aharuddin

[ZodiaC]

^there is no debate about number 6 spot. It will be Kapil Dev

Yep, I agree. :--D

[Rajan]

if you keep aside the stats and assume that we are considering only batsmen at the peak of their performances ... 3.Mohinder Amarnath- inarguably the best indian batsman against genuine pace.would add valuable option as a medium pacer and edges Vishy out with this .can save the team by locking one end or attack if necessary. 4.Sachin 5. Vengsarkar- he was a master against spin and also has 150+ against Holding, Marshall, Roberts .has handled Hadlee, Imran,Botham too creditably.had a cover drive to die for! with due respect to Lax,Ganguly and the rest, Vengsarkar is definitely better and more reliable. 6.Kapil Dev- if he had taken his batting more seriously, he could have scored 2000 runs more. was a gifted batsman. a natural attacking batsman. i get goose pimples recalling his 130 against Donald & co in SA.

[The Outsider]

3. Dravid 4. Tendulkar 5. Amarnath Kapil at 6? He hardly batted at that position during his career. Mankad at 6, Kapil at 7, and the wicketkeeper at 8 should be the logical way to go. If not Mankad, then a specialist batsman at 6. 9,10, and 11 can be the bowlers.

[Sooda]

^Youd pick Amarnath ahead of Laxman ? Never watched him play or anything, so cant say with too muc authority. But would have thought both Lax and maybe Vishawanath could pip him to that spot . Though I guess he bowls a bit too. C K Nayudu? Even Pataudi. Vijay Manjrekar could have made it on maybe.

[The Outsider]

^Youd pick Amarnath ahead of Laxman ? Never watched him play or anything, so cant say with too muc authority. But would have thought both Lax and maybe Vishawanath could pip him to that spot . Though I guess he bowls a bit too. C K Nayudu? Even Pataudi. Vijay Manjrekar could have made it on maybe.

It's a tough choice. Amarnath, Laxman, and Hazare would be all excellent choices. If the XI was playing at home, I would pick Azhar above all of them. Lots of really close contenders with no clear front runner. Went for Amarnath for because of : 1. An unmatched away record and demonstrated ability to successfully handle top notch pace bowling that the team would be up against from other all time XIs of Australia, West Indies, and Pakistan. Was one of the first batsmen in the world to successfully counter reverse swing. 2. His seam up bowling will allow the side to have 2 specialist spinners in 9, 10, and 11. So the attack would have two fast bowlers in Kapil and Nissar - one a potent swing bowler and another out and out quick, a left arm spinner in Mankad worthy of a spot as a bowler alone, an off spinner in Prasanna, and a leg spinner in Kumble/Chandra. If I don't have a seam up option in Amarnath, I would have to play 3 pace bowlers which would mean leaving out 2 of Prasanna, Chandra, and Kumble. That would be criminal. 1. Gavaskar 2. Sehwag 3. Dravid 4. Tendulkar 5. Amarnath 6. Mankad 7. Kapil 8. Kirmani 9. Kumble/Chandra 10. Prasanna 11. Nissar

[Cricketics]

I wonder for how long they can keep calling laxman's innings as "one of the best" By all means, we have produce tendulkar, dravid, and other great players, but still that laxman's knock has to be ranked as the BEST EVER KNOCK, and not "one of the best"

[Mamu]

//Dilip Vengsarkar The link between the Gavaskar and Tendulkar generations, he held the middle order together, once making 166 against Sri Lanka on a dodgy track when no one else made 50. His three centuries at Lord's and six against West Indies' pace made him the most valuable player in the middle order in his time.// it was a tremendous innings by Dileep. in fact he was upset that he was not given M O M. i think kapil scored a fifty in the same test and recvd the M O M because of the 4 wickets he took in one of the innings. but the pitch really tested every batsman's ability. for 2 years in mid 80's he was the best batsman in india and in fact in the top 5 across all teams(until he broke his wrist).

He does not have any centuries in WI. And even amongst the ones in India -- he has only 1 century against the truly great WI attack. He was just a mediocre player.