The best Indian test XI of the last 30 years

To celebrate the start of the IPL, here is my Indian test XI from the 30 years I have spent watching cricket. 

 

1. Sunil Gavaskar – India’s pre-eminent batsman before Tendulkar who faced down the legendary West Indian pace attack in the 70s and 80s and took 13 centuries from them at a superlative 65.45.

 

  

2. Virender Sehwag – The most devastating test batsmen ever along with Viv Richards. Sehwag is not a mere mortal, he is a God.

3. Rahul Dravid – The Wall tends to get runs when India needs them most and his technique is impeccable.

4. Sachin Tendulkar – Approaching 100 international test centuries and the leading run scorer in tests and ODI. No other words are necessary.

5. V.V.S Laxman – I could have gone for Vengsarker, Azharuddin or Ganguly, but seeing Laxman bat is like watching poetry in motion.

6. Mahendra Singh Dhoni – A good wicketkeeper and an excellent batsman who already averages around 40 in tests.  

7. Kapil Dev (Captain) – The man who led India to victory in the 1983 World Cup and one of the four great all-rounders of the 80s along with Imran, Botham and Hadlee.

8. Anil Kumble – Over 600 test wickets and a man that performed in all countries and upon all surfaces. India’s leading matchwinner with the ball.  

9. Javagal Srinath – Where Kapil trod, Srinath followed and he was a wonderful leader of the Indian attack

10. Zaheer Khan – Other than the incomparable Wasim Akram, Zaheer has to be the best left arm quick I have seen in 30 years of test cricket.

11. Bishan Bedi – I could have gone for Harbhajan but as a small boy I remember being transfixed by the wily Bedi.

Comments

[Karachikhatmal.blogspot.com]

found your blog through twitter, and was really enjoying it until this post. the zaheer khan status rankles a bit - although that's just the aamer hype in me speaking. but the cursory description of dravid gets me all worked up. barring gavaskar, who i never saw, i can't imagine such a delightful fusion of grit and class. surely he deserved a few more superlatives.

i kid. would like to see a similar list for pakistanis as well, and i doubt if it would be as heavily tilted towards the modern team as the indian version is.

[The Reverse Sweep]

Thanks for the comments Karachikhatmal. I reckon Aamer may prove a better bowler than Zaheer in time and could prove a worthy successor to Wasim. I should explain that the cursory descriptions of each player is simply because I originally wrote this post as part of my column for www.worldcricketwatch.com - hence it needed to be a short and sweet description. Dravid is as you say a wonderful player and one of my favourites. Just for you Ill post my Pakistan XI of the last 30 years in the next few days - sadly it is unlikely to include many current players. I grew up watching the fantastic Pakistan team of the 80s and 90s and even though they normally got the better of England, they were always fascinating to watch. Hopefully the situation in Pakistan cricket will improve as soon as possible.

[Karachikhatmal.blogspot.com]

thanks for the gracious response :) i am a bit of a dravid troll in all fairness, perhaps because of the recent hype to sachin following his 20 years and double ton. it is quite shocking though that cricket seems to have only produced two left-arm fast men in its history that can be amongst the best - davo and wasim. if aamer plays cricket, and avoids scandal (just about impossible on both counts) then he could really be up there.

i'll keep an eye out for that post. best of luck with everything :)

[greyblazer]

A good team but when it comes to left-arm fast men I think Bruce Reid would have been up there with the best but was injury prone.

[The Reverse Sweep]

True and I think I also forgot to mention the great Chaminda Vaas. How could I have done that!

[greyblazer]

Lol I too forgot Vaas. Being in the shadows of Murali doesn't help I guess.