India's Greatest Test XI [ selected by Cricket Australia ]

[Lannister]

The bar is set so low for Indian wicket keepers, its not even worth it to look into them. This would be my Xl,

Sehwag

Gavaskar

Kohli (c)

Sachin

Dravid (WK)

Laxman

Ashwin 

Kapil

Srinath

Kumble

Zaheer

 

[Ankit_sharma03]

Sehwag

Gavaskar

Dravid

Sachin

Laxman

Dhoni

Kapil

Ashwin/Mohinder amarnath ( In case i need the 6th batsman overseas with some all round abilites, the guys had a gud record against Wi, AUs, PAk)

kumble

Zaheer

Srinath

 

Im pretty one among Rahane or kohli would find their way in this at the end of their career, who knows both might. I do have great hopes from KL rahul n shami to

Edited September 23, 2016 by Ankit_sharma03

[kruiser]

no Syed Kirmani anywhere?

[maniac]

1 hour ago, Ankit_sharma03 said:

Sehwag

Gavaskar

Dravid

Sachin

Laxman

Dhoni

Kapil

Ashwin/Mohinder amarnath ( In case i need the 6th batsman overseas with some all round abilites, the guys had a gud record against Wi, AUs, PAk)

kumble

Zaheer

Srinath

 

Im pretty one among Rahane or kohli would find their way in this at the end of their career, who knows both might. I do have great hopes from KL rahul n shami to

You don't need 6 batsmen...Dhoni + Kapil are more than good enough to make up for the 6 batsman especially when you have the kind of top 5 you have listed.

 

Ashwin has not put himself ahead of Bhajji as a spinner,leave alone Bedi etc due to his overseas record.......this is not a criticism of Ashwin because he didn't get a consistent run either(sound familiar  J/K) 

 

2 spinners and 3 world class pacers is the way to go with 1 WK and 5 batsman and the bonus is your wk and one of your bowlers can walk into the team as lower order batsmen alone

[express bowling]

India's  Worst  Test  XI 

 

( Players who have played in the last  35 years )

 

Preferably players who have played a lot of test matches and have performed poorly...cut-off of 15 test matches 

 

Srikanth  (  Average of  29.9  from  43 tests )

Arun Lal  (  Average of  26  from  16  tests )

Gaekwad  (  Average of  30   from  40 tests )

Raina    (  Average of  26.5  from  18  tests )

Rohit  ( Average of  32.6  from 18 tests ) 

Ajay  Jadeja    (  Average of  26.2  from  15  tests )

Nayan Mongia  -- forced choice as a WK is needed  (  2.4 dismissals per test and batting average of 24   )

Agarkar  (  bowling  average of 47 and  and  SR of 83   from 26   tests  with  only  58  wickets  )

Madan Lal  (  bowling average of 40.1  and  SR  of  84   from  39 tests with only 71 wickets  )

Rajesh Chauhan    (  bowling average of   39.5  and  SR  of  101   from  21   tests with only 47  wickets  )

Maninder Singh   (  bowling average of  37  and  SR  of  93  from  35  tests with only  88  wickets  )

 

Roger Binny....with  47 wickets from 27 tests @ only 1.74 wickets per test match, is another strong contender.  Could not even pick 2 wickets per  test match.

 

 

 

 

Edited September 23, 2016 by express bowling

[maniac]

10 minutes ago, express bowling said:

India's  Worst  Test  XI 

 

( Players who have played in the last  35 years )

 

Preferably players who have played a lot of test matches and have performed poorly...cut-off of 15 test matches 

 

Srikanth  (  Average of  29.9  from  43 tests )

Arun Lal  (  Average of  26  from  16  tests )

Gaekwad  (  Average of  30   from  40 tests )

Raina    (  Average of  26.5  from  18  tests )

Rohit  ( Average of  32.6  from 18 tests ) 

Ajay  Jadeja    (  Average of  26.2  from  15  tests )

Nayan Mongia  ( Average of 24 )

Agarkar  (  bowling  average of 47 and  and  SR of 83   from 26   tests  with  only  58  wickets  )

Madan Lal  (  bowling average of 40.1  and  SR  of  84   from  39 tests with only 71 wickets  )

Rajesh Chauhan    (  bowling average of   39.5  and  SR  of  101   from  21   tests with only 47  wickets  )

Maninder Singh   (  bowling average of  37  and  SR  of  93  from  35  tests with only  88  wickets  )

 

 

 

 

It may come as a surprise to you but the  first 2 names I disagree on that list are Kris Srikkanth and Nayan Mongia

 

I thought you are an older fan who saw cricket and not someone who just goes by stats

 

Srikkanth deteriorated immensely towards the end,when he lost the hand-eye coordination which players like him and Sehwag depend on largely....he was the original Sehwag before Sehwag,an impact player....Yes he played 1-2 games too many but in his prime,he was a crowd puller and the original impact player.

 

Nayan Mongia is no way in hell worst player to play for India...yes stigma of match fixing aside,did you know how difficult it must have been to keep to Kumble on those dust-bowls we had in the 90's.....Kumble is probably one of the most difficult bowlers to keep to because of his unconventional speed for a spinner and awkward bounce....considering those were the days for specialist keepers,an average of 24 is more than adequate for that time.

 

 

[Ankit_sharma03]

15 minutes ago, maniac said:

You don't need 6 batsmen...Dhoni + Kapil are more than good enough to make up for the 6 batsman especially when you have the kind of top 5 you have listed.

 

Ashwin has not put himself ahead of Bhajji as a spinner,leave alone Bedi etc due to his overseas record.......this is not a criticism of Ashwin because he didn't get a consistent run either(sound familiar  J/K) 

 

2 spinners and 3 world class pacers is the way to go with 1 WK and 5 batsman and the bonus is your wk and one of your bowlers can walk into the team as lower order batsmen alone

Ashwin plays for me mostly in subcontinent and in Overseas i would pick someone like Amarnath 

 

Dhoni + Kapil well their game was high risk game and Dhoni wasnt as good in overseas as a batsman in test as he was at home. Then i have sehwag to. I have 3 high risk batsman and about 4 well they wont do well all time.

Now mohinder amarnath was hard to ignore- during his time WI, Aus,Pak had best bowling attacks and his avg against all of them in their backyard was

In Wi- 54.81

In Aus- 55.67

In Pak- 57

 

And then he gives me more than few overs, how can i ignore this guy.

 

I dont entirely believe in having a 5th bowler as i think he would mostly be under utilized. 5th bowler main job is to give break to other bowlers and 10-15 overs in a day and dont let the game slip.  Amaranath, Sachin , Sehwag were good enough to give me that many overs.

Dravid, Sachin, Laxman were gr8 batsman but then did also fail on many occasion overseas as well so i realy feel the need of that extra cushion in batting. Also i had kumble who was known to bowl marathon spells leaving a lil for 5th bowler. 

 

I havent seen Bedi, Prassana , subash gupte or anyone so wont comment on them. Neither Ashwin neither bhajji would feature for me in overseas. 

[express bowling]

7 hours ago, maniac said:

It may come as a surprise to you but the  first 2 names I disagree on that list are Kris Srikkanth and Nayan Mongia

 

I thought you are an older fan who saw cricket and not someone who just goes by stats

 

Srikkanth deteriorated immensely towards the end,when he lost the hand-eye coordination which players like him and Sehwag depend on largely....he was the original Sehwag before Sehwag,an impact player....Yes he played 1-2 games too many but in his prime,he was a crowd puller and the original impact player.

 

Nayan Mongia is no way in hell worst player to play for India...yes stigma of match fixing aside,did you know how difficult it must have been to keep to Kumble on those dust-bowls we had in the 90's.....Kumble is probably one of the most difficult bowlers to keep to because of his unconventional speed for a spinner and awkward bounce....considering those were the days for specialist keepers,an average of 24 is more than adequate for that time.

 

 

 

Nayan Mongia....I have to agree with you partly....it was a forced choice as a keeper is mandatory in the team and  there are not many keepers who have played 15+ tests and done badly in the last 35 years.  ....the only other choice can be Parthiv Patel .... I left him out as he was much younger when he played.   Remember that the  we don't have the luxury of choosing the worst player when we are choosing a keeper.

 

Srikanth is the most over-rated Indian test batsman even in Indian cricket.   He was nothing like Sehwag.  He usually got out cheaply after a few spectacular shots.  While Sehwag went on to score big runs after he got set, Srikanth managed only 2 centuries in 43 tests and had crossed 50 in only 14 innings out of the  72 he played.

 

I  am not going by just stats here.  He disappointed more often than not and  batted without responsibility.  He had one good series in Australia in 1985 and shot to fame....that was about it in test matches with one other decent series vs  Pakistan later on.

 

Srikanth averaged around 30 when he was half-way through his career...it did not fall in the later half.

 

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/player/34103.html?class=1;spanmax1=01+Feb+1987;spanval1=span;template=results;type=batting

 

Even in ODIs, he had a SR of only  71 with average of only 29 where-as Kapil had a SR of 95 in the same era and Richards 90+.   Sandip Patil had a SR  of 82.  All his stroke-making was a myth.  He tried to  but usually got out quickly after flashing at and missing a lot of  deliveries and hitting only a few.

Edited September 24, 2016 by express bowling

[velu]

30 minutes ago, maniac said:

It may come as a surprise to you but the  first 2 names I disagree on that list are Kris Srikkanth and Nayan Mongia

 

I thought you are an older fan who saw cricket and not someone who just goes by stats

 

Srikkanth deteriorated immensely towards the end,when he lost the hand-eye coordination which players like him and Sehwag depend on largely....he was the original Sehwag before Sehwag,an impact player....Yes he played 1-2 games too many but in his prime,he was a crowd puller and the original impact player.

 

Nayan Mongia is no way in hell worst player to play for India...yes stigma of match fixing aside,did you know how difficult it must have been to keep to Kumble on those dust-bowls we had in the 90's.....Kumble is probably one of the most difficult bowlers to keep to because of his unconventional speed for a spinner and awkward bounce....considering those were the days for specialist keepers,an average of 24 is more than adequate for that time.

 

 

you forgot to defend Rohit in his worst xi

 

[BeautifulGame]

 

Nayan Mongia....I have to agree with you partly....it was a forced choice as a keeper is mandatory in the team and  there are not many keepers who have played 15+ tests and done badly in the last 35 years.  ....the only other choice can be Parthiv Patel .... I left him out as he was much younger when he played.   Remember that the  we don't have the luxury of choosing the worst player when we are choosing a keeper.

 

Srikanth is the most over-rated Indian test batsman even in Indian cricket.   He was nothing like Sehwag.  He usually got out cheaply after a few spectacular shots.  While Sehwag went on to score big runs after he got set, Srikanth managed only 2 centuries in 43 tests and had crossed 50 in only 14 innings out of the  72 he played.

 

I  am not going by just stats here.  He disappointed more often than not and  batted without responsibility.  He had one good series in Australia in 1985 and shot to fame....that was about it in test matches with one other decent series vs  Pakistan later on.

 

Srikanth averaged around 30 when he was half-way through his career...it did not fall in the later half.

 

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/player/34103.html?class=1;spanmax1=01+Feb+1987;spanval1=span;template=results;type=batting

 

Even in ODIs, he had a SR of only  71 with average of only 29 where-as Kapil had a SR of 95 in the same era and Richards 90+.   Sandip Patil had a SR  of 82.  All his stroke-making was a myth.  He tried to  but usually got out quickly after flashing at and missing a lot of  deliveries and hitting only a few.

You do realise that there were no power plays during Srikanth time .

Strike rate of 82 against the new ball was great Particularly against the quality of bowling attacks he faced .Kapil(still obviously a legendary strike rate) and Patel are middle order batsman who usually had a much easier time .

[Sooda]

India all time XI is one the easiest ones to pick becuse the top 4- Id say top 5 including VVSL- Kumble, Kapil all pick themselves- as do one of Zaheer or Sri. 

 

Bit of debate about Hazare or VVSL at no 5 for me, but would go for Laxman

 

Then the real debate is around spin partners to Kumble, and to an extent the WK if one was to argue that Kirmani or More was a better pure WK than MSD- I dont know enough about that

 

 

[Sooda]

9 hours ago, Ankit_sharma03 said:

Ashwin plays for me mostly in subcontinent and in Overseas i would pick someone like Amarnath 

 

Dhoni + Kapil well their game was high risk game and Dhoni wasnt as good in overseas as a batsman in test as he was at home. Then i have sehwag to. I have 3 high risk batsman and about 4 well they wont do well all time.

Now mohinder amarnath was hard to ignore- during his time WI, Aus,Pak had best bowling attacks and his avg against all of them in their backyard was

In Wi- 54.81

In Aus- 55.67

In Pak- 57

 

And then he gives me more than few overs, how can i ignore this guy.

 

I dont entirely believe in having a 5th bowler as i think he would mostly be under utilized. 5th bowler main job is to give break to other bowlers and 10-15 overs in a day and dont let the game slip.  Amaranath, Sachin , Sehwag were good enough to give me that many overs.

Dravid, Sachin, Laxman were gr8 batsman but then did also fail on many occasion overseas as well so i realy feel the need of that extra cushion in batting. Also i had kumble who was known to bowl marathon spells leaving a lil for 5th bowler. 

 

I havent seen Bedi, Prassana , subash gupte or anyone so wont comment on them. Neither Ashwin neither bhajji would feature for me in overseas. 

 

Good argument but I'd say going with Kumble , Vinoo Mankad and the 3 pacemen away from home would be the way forward for me... Mankad is one of the best all rounders ever, has scored runs opening the batting vs Lindwall and between him Kapil and MSD I think there is enough depth

 

[Sooda]

11 hours ago, Lannister said:

The bar is set so low for Indian wicket keepers, its not even worth it to look into them. This would be my Xl,

Sehwag

Gavaskar

Kohli (c)

Sachin

Dravid (WK)

Laxman

Ashwin 

Kapil

Srinath

Kumble

Zaheer

 

Cant have Kohli at 3 and Dravid keeping in test cricket ! Even if the bar is low, the specialist keepers would be better than Dravid. And it forces him - one of the greatest no 3 's ever - to bat lower down

[Sooda]

17 hours ago, vayuu1 said:

 

Mine would be

 

Gavaskar

 

Sehwag

 

Dravid

 

Tendulkar

 

G vishwanath

 

Mankad

 

Msd

 

Kapil dev

 

Subash gupte

 

Zaheer khan

 

Mohd nissar

 

Attack of all conditions ept batting depth reason for selecting gupte is he was a genuine turner of a ball with an excellent googly, Mankad and Kapil are all rounders, Mohd nissar, a genuine fast bowler of his time, probably the first in our country, with guile of zak, you have bowlers for every conditions also Sehwag provides a useful spinning option as well, in batting a opener like Sehwag, with calm Gavaskar, the composed Dravid with stroke players in Mankad, Tendulkar and vishi, with power hitters like ms and Kapil paaji

Sent from my SM-N900 using Tapatalk

Vishy was a fine bat, but probably a bit inconsistent for al all time team - VVSL or Hazare at 5 would be better. Also as much as Nissar and Amar Singh are lauded as great bowlers they played about 10 or 12 matches right? Cant overlook what Srinath has done over a much longer career...

[Sooda]

Theres a good case for Chandrashekar away from home too!

Home: Gavaskar, Sehwag, Dravid, Tendulkar, VVSL, MSD, Kapil, Ashwin, Kumble, Zaheer, Bedi

 

Away: Gavaskar, Sehwag, Dravid, Tendulkar, VVSL, MSD, Kapil, Mankad,Kumble, Srinath, Zaheer

[express bowling]

40 minutes ago, BeautifulGame said:

You do realise that there were no power plays during Srikanth time .

Strike rate of 82 against the new ball was great Particularly against the quality of bowling attacks he faced .Kapil(still obviously a legendary strike rate) and Patel are middle order batsman who usually had a much easier time .

Srikanth's SR was 71 and not 82 in ODIs.  That would have been good in those days if he had a good average.  For a person averaging only a lowly 29  ....just a SR  of 71 in not good enough for inclusion in the team.

 

Even without powerplays, the field placement in those days in the early overs of ODIs were like test matches. There were lots of fieldrs in catching positions and very few in  the outfield.    Srikkanth's batting style included lofted shots over those fielders for 4s.

 

 

Edited September 24, 2016 by express bowling

[Ankit_sharma03]

51 minutes ago, Sooda said:

 

Good argument but I'd say going with Kumble , Vinoo Mankad and the 3 pacemen away from home would be the way forward for me... Mankad is one of the best all rounders ever, has scored runs opening the batting vs Lindwall and between him Kapil and MSD I think there is enough depth

 

Not much of an idea about vinoo mankad and many other, Was even tempted to have subash gupte on whatever i have heard but just not seen them even not much of video to take a call. 

Even bedi prassana chandrashekhra havent seen them much

[Sooda]

^No, not seen much video either myself, just have to go on what we have read about him

[express bowling]

3 hours ago, Sooda said:

Theres a good case for Chandrashekar away from home too!

Home: Gavaskar, Sehwag, Dravid, Tendulkar, VVSL, MSD, Kapil, Ashwin, Kumble, Zaheer, Bedi

 

Away: Gavaskar, Sehwag, Dravid, Tendulkar, VVSL, MSD, Kapil, Mankad,Kumble, Srinath, Zaheer

Interesting....having 2 separate teams for home and away....good idea.

 

Would just like to point out that Srinath averages 26.6  at home and Zaheer 35.9 and would be a better pick at home.

[Trichromatic]

Indian bowlers away from home (excluding Bangladesh and Zim)

 

Overall figures

Player	Span	Mat	Inns	Balls	Runs	Wkts	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	5	10
SP Gupte	1953-1959	15	25	4836	1854	65	7/162	7/164	28.52	2.30	74.4	6	0
BS Chandrasekhar	1967-1979	26	42	6778	3266	100	6/38	12/104	32.66	2.89	67.7	8	1
N Kapil Dev	1978-1994	65	106	15205	6971	212	8/85	8/85	32.88	2.75	71.7	12	0
Z Khan	2001-2014	44	75	9755	5482	163	5/29	9/134	33.63	3.37	59.8	6	0
BS Bedi	1967-1979	37	64	10973	4350	129	6/127	10/194	33.72	2.37	85.0	6	1
EAS Prasanna	1962-1978	27	45	7660	3182	94	8/76	11/140	33.85	2.49	81.4	5	1
R Ashwin	2011-2016	16	27	3979	2132	62	7/83	10/160	34.38	3.21	64.1	4	1
J Srinath	1991-2002	30	54	7806	3804	110	6/76	8/104	34.58	2.92	70.9	5	0
S Sreesanth	2006-2011	15	27	3204	1937	54	5/40	8/99	35.87	3.62	59.3	2	0
BKV Prasad	1996-2001	22	36	5044	2516	69	5/60	10/153	36.46	2.99	73.1	5	1
A Kumble	1990-2008	61	107	18647	8989	240	8/141	12/279	37.45	2.89	77.6	10	1
I Sharma	2008-2016	43	74	8948	5200	136	7/74	10/108	38.23	3.48	65.7	6	1
M Prabhakar	1989-1993	22	39	5671	2770	69	6/132	6/92	40.14	2.93	82.1	3	0
Harbhajan Singh	1998-2015	39	69	9720	5025	124	7/120	10/153	40.52	3.10	78.3	7	1
RJ Shastri	1981-1992	41	62	8108	3259	77	5/125	8/179	42.32	2.41	105.2	1	0
MH Mankad	1946-1955	21	32	6919	2503	59	5/64	7/146	42.42	2.17	117.2	4	0
S Venkataraghavan	1967-1983	25	41	6602	2753	62	5/95	6/96	44.40	2.50	106.4	1	0