Who were the truly 'great' Indian cricketers?

[Harsh Thakor]

The word 'great' is an often misused word.Some cricketers statistics make them all-time greats but arguably do not reflect their performances in true light.Vice-versa some cricketers statistics do not accurately portray their moral contributions.It was the legendary Gray Sobers who felt that the tag of 'great' was wrongly awarded to some cricketers.To me it means a combination of consistency,class and temperament.Consistently blooming in a crisis is a very important factor and ability to master difficult bowling attacks and wickets. Theses are my selections of 'truly great' cricketers from India.I have placed them in my order of merit.I have discussed why other stalwarts have been bracketed in the 'very good' or 'almost great' class . India 1.Sachin Tendulkar 2.Sunil Gavaskar 3.Kapil Dev 4.Rahul Dravid 5.Vinoo Mankad 6.Vijay Merchant 7.C.K.Nayudu 8.Bishen Singh Bedi 9.Subash(fergie) Gupte Gundappa Vishwanath,Virendra Sehwag,Vijay Hazare ,Dilip Vengsarkar.Mohammad Azharuddin,Vijay Hazare,Polly Umrigar would rank amongst very good but just miss out on the 'truly great' tag.Vishwanath and Sehwag were the most talented of Indian batsmen but their lack of consistency arguably denied them a place amongst the all-time greats.Sehwag is a great batsmen statistically but his record is not outstanding in Australia,England and South Africa.Had he mantained his consistency after 2009 he would surely have secured a place in the elite being the greatest of match-winners and batting geniuses of his day.Had he played in the modern era we could have made a more accurate assesment of Vijay Hazare.At his peak Vishwanath even edged Gavaskar ,particularly on bad wickets,but he often threw his wicket away and eventually faded out.Stylists like Vijay Manjrekar and Mohammad Azharuddin who were simply class acts on their day miss out because of not proving themself sufficiently in overseas conditions.Merchant's first class batting was in the Bradman class just like Gavaskar and Tendulkar in test matches.To bat for your life Rahul Dravid was arguably the best of all post -war middle order batsmen.Morally C.K.Nayudu's batting in 1st class cricket was comparable to that of Bradman,Hobbs and Grace.Vinoo Mankad and Kapil Dev could compare with great all-rounders like Imran and Botham,able to turn games in all types of conditions with bat and ball.Anil Kumble was statistically a giant but not a truly great spinner,in my view.He benefited from turning and bouncy Indian tracks.Bishen Bedi was closest to the pefect spinner with his perfect flight and action.In terms of pure artistry even Shane Warne did not equal Subhash Gupte's mastery of leg-spin. I apologize to readers if I have been unfair to Erapaali Prasana who I hardly saw.Arguably I could be condemned for not including Sehwag and Kumble ,who were statistically giants or Vijay Hazare whose strokeplay eclipsed even that of Vijay Merchant.In 1st class cricket Zaheer Abbas could have been bracketed with Jack Hobbs and he was batting's ultimate artist but assesment is not only about greatness of style.

[Sooda]

From what relatively little I know about Merchant and Nayudu, neither would qualify. Merchant because he only played 10 tests and averaged less than 50 - though I think Im right in saying his FC average is second only to Bradman ? Nayudu was probably in the Salim Durrani class of Indian cricketer. Kumble definitely is an Indian great - he is a cricketing ATG. I would suggest Sehwag is, maybe Chandrashekhar ?

[BlueBee]

I don't think Viru is omitted..He is always an ATG and will remain an ATG for India

[vamos_rafa]

If I had to choose b/w Kumble and Viru then Kumble hands down for me.

[Deleted_User_1]

Yeh laora mujhe de de Thakor!.....

[fineleg]

How can AK not be Indian ATG/GOAT?

[Sooda]

^He gets stick for a relatively poor record away from home. But its not a bad record by any means - 130 wkts in 32 tests in SA, Aus and Eng

[Scarves]

Kumble was India's best bowler for so long. Polly Umrigar was a great all rounder.

[garverpaul]

Sachin Tendulkar is the loyal payer for India.

[Harsh Thakor]

The word 'great' is an often misused word.Some cricketers statistics make them all-time greats but arguably do not reflect their performances in true light.Vice-versa some cricketers statistics do not accurately portray their moral contributions.It was the legendary Gray Sobers who felt that the tag of 'great' was wrongly awarded to some cricketers.To me it means a combination of consistency,class and temperament.Consistently blooming in a crisis is a very important factor and ability to master difficult bowling attacks and wickets. Theses are my selections of 'truly great' cricketers from India.I have placed them in my order of merit.I have discussed why other stalwarts have been bracketed in the 'very good' or 'almost great' class . India 1.Sachin Tendulkar 2.Sunil Gavaskar 3.Kapil Dev 4.Rahul Dravid 5.Vinoo Mankad 6.Vijay Merchant 7.C.K.Nayudu 8.Bishen Singh Bedi 9.Subash(fergie) Gupte Gundappa Vishwanath,Virendra Sehwag,Vijay Hazare ,Dilip Vengsarkar.Mohammad Azharuddin,Vijay Hazare,Polly Umrigar would rank amongst very good but just miss out on the 'truly great' tag.Vishwanath and Sehwag were the most talented of Indian batsmen but their lack of consistency arguably denied them a place amongst the all-time greats.Sehwag is a great batsmen statistically but his record is not outstanding in Australia,England and South Africa.Had he mantained his consistency after 2009 he would surely have secured a place in the elite being the greatest of match-winners and batting geniuses of his day.Had he played in the modern era we could have made a more accurate assesment of Vijay Hazare.At his peak Vishwanath even edged Gavaskar ,particularly on bad wickets,but he often threw his wicket away and eventually faded out.Stylists like Vijay Manjrekar and Mohammad Azharuddin who were simply class acts on their day miss out because of not proving themself sufficiently in overseas conditions.Merchant's first class batting was in the Bradman class just like Gavaskar and Tendulkar in test matches.To bat for your life Rahul Dravid was arguably the best of all post -war middle order batsmen.Morally C.K.Nayudu's batting in 1st class cricket was comparable to that of Bradman,Hobbs and Grace.Vinoo Mankad and Kapil Dev could compare with great all-rounders like Imran and Botham,able to turn games in all types of conditions with bat and ball.Anil Kumble was statistically a giant but not a truly great spinner,in my view.He benefited from turning and bouncy Indian tracks.Bishen Bedi was closest to the pefect spinner with his perfect flight and action.In terms of pure artistry even Shane Warne did not equal Subhash Gupte's mastery of leg-spin. I apologize to readers if I have been unfair to Erapaali Prasana who I hardly saw.Arguably I could be condemned for not including Sehwag and Kumble ,who were statistically giants or Vijay Hazare whose strokeplay eclipsed even that of Vijay Merchant.In 1st class cricket Zaheer Abbas could have been bracketed with Jack Hobbs and he was batting's ultimate artist but assesment is not only about greatness of style.

I may have been unfair on Erapali Prassana,rated by mnay to be the best off-spinner of his time.I made an error in not mentioning V.V.S.Laxman who was a genius at his best.

[Midfielder]

My list but I will keep on adding: Kapil Gavaskar Bedi Vishwanath Tendulkar Kumble Dravid VVS Laxman Ganguly My all time favorite - kapil

[AmreekanDesi]

Kapil paji is greater tha Sachin tendulkar everyday of the week

[Lord]

Srinath?

[Yoda-esque]

Kapil,SRT,Dravid,MSD

[AmreekanDesi]

Srinath?

30+ average in test cricket!! At 60+ strike rate! Are you serious? Very average stats

[Lord]

30+ average in test cricket!! At 60+ strike rate! Are you serious? Very average stats

Can you name 5 better Indian pacers?or even 3?

[AmreekanDesi]

Can you name 5 better Indian pacers?or even 3?

Zaheer Khan. Bhuvi and Yadav wll both be better... and why pacers? theres no shame if we dont have great 'pacers.' Our spinners have historically been enough

[Lord]

Zaheer Khan. Bhuvi and Yadav wll both be better... and why pacers? theres no shame if we dont have great 'pacers.' Our spinners have historically been enough

Zaheer has same numbers as Srinath if not worse.and Srinath had often no support whereas Zak had good young partners.

[AmreekanDesi]

Zaheer has same numbers as Srinath if not worse.and Srinath had often no support whereas Zak had good young partners.

you just dont have a case here. a person becomes a great in his field if he contributes to success. both srinath and zak had periods of 4-6 years where they averaged less than 30 with the ball. they did well but Zaks contributions got us to no.1 test ranking. usually odis are not taken into account when discussing great cricketers but even if you wanna throw them in Zak won us the WC while Srinath went at 9 an over in the 2003 final. Theres just no case in whose the better player. Zak is rated world over and arguably the best left armer of all time after wasim akram.

[Lord]

you just dont have a case here. a person becomes a great in his field if he contributes to success. both srinath and zak had periods of 4-6 years where they averaged less than 30 with the ball. they did well but Zaks contributions got us to no.1 test ranking. usually odis are not taken into account when discussing great cricketers but even if you wanna throw them in Zak won us the WC while Srinath went at 9 an over in the 2003 final. Theres just no case in whose the better player. Zak is rated world over and arguably the best left armer of all time after wasim akram.

Team successes cant be used to judge individuals.Srinath played with a much inferior team for best part of his career.Zak wouldn't have got us anywhere with that team too. Zak played the 2003 WC too and got smacked.Srinath was close to retirement at that time IIRC.