All Time India Test XI Draft (Shravi)

[ZoraxDoom]

So, my pick?

 

[Leggie]

Yup. Let's hope we can get through this final round without any confusions.

 

[ZoraxDoom]

Syed Abid Ali

'Abid Ali had the feet of a sprinter, the energy of a marathon runner and the will of a decathlete.' That's how Cricinfo describes one of India's great yeomans. Abid Ali was an accurate and brisk fast bowler, who was a capable lower order batsman to and a brilliant fielder. As a bowler, he was forced into playing second fiddle to India's great Spin Quartet, taking the shine off the ball before the spinners got to operate, but was still good enough to 6/55 against Australia in Brisbane on his debut, and to average 28.55 over 212 FC matches. He also had 6 test match fifties and 13 FC hundreds, and as a fielder was one of the fantastic close in fielders (With Solkar, Engineer, Venkat and Wadekar to name a few) that gave the Spin Quartet it's extra bite.
Many say he was born about 20 years to early, as his accurate seam bowling (Economy of 2.85 over 29 test matches), busy lower order batting (Cricinfo claims he 'ran between the wickets as if on invisible skates') and outstanding fielding made him perfect for the One Day game.


Sunil Gavaskar
Vinoo Mankad
Dilip Vengsarkar
Mohinder Amarnath
Polly Umrigar
Lala Amarnath
Farokh Engineer (+)
Syed Abid Ali
Amar Singh
Srinivas Venkataraghavan (*)
Bishan Singh Bedi


And that's my lineup. Quite pleased with that. Amar Singh and Abid Ali my new ball bowlers, Amar able to swing and seam the ball all over and Abid Ali with disciplined medium pace with several variations. Both capable of bowling very long spells. Lala Amarnath comes on front change with devious inswingers and variations bowled off the wrong foot. This seam attack is backed up by three of the finest spinners produced by India - Bedi, Venkat and Mankad. And it helps that they'll have a close-in ring of Abid Ali, Venkat himself, Umrigar and Engineer to take the sharp catches, with Gavaskar at slip.

Then for the batting there is an excellent opening pair with Makad and Gavaskar, with the dashing Vengsarkar at three, the battling Mohinder Amarnath at 4, and talented Umrigar at 5. A pretty reliable top 5, any one of them capable of getting a big score. Their followed by two counter-attacking batsmen in Lala Amarnath (Who used to bat at 3 BTW, so I might send him there instead, push Vengsarkar down to 4 and drop Mohinder Amarnath to 6...) and Farokh Engineer. This is followed by a very useful lower order of Abid Ali, Amar Singh and Venkat (19 centuries and 83 fifties in FC cricket between them).

So yea, I like my side. Nice balance in the bowling attack, good batting depth, and good fielding. Seam bowling and the middle order maybe not as strong as they could be, but are still quite good.

 

[Cricketman]

Alright, cool. The first team's done. Shravi's pick and then mine, and we'll head out to the polls...

Cricketman added 2 Minutes and 50 Seconds later...

Who're you talking about here ? :confused:

And shravi it's only a fantasy draft lastish round...

VVS Laxman. Cricinfo - Statsguru - VVS Laxman - Test Batting - Cumulative career averages

                    Mat    I  NO  Runs HS1  HS2  HS3     Ave 100  50   0

unfiltered           105  174  25  6741 281  200* 178   45.24  14  39  11
filtered              20   32   1  1471 281  109  104   47.45   4   6   2

 

[ZoraxDoom]

Leggie still has a blank spot in his team.

 

[Dare]

man how did you guys manage to screw up the draft.

 

[Cricketman]

I think we're just going to DQ him, especially with the Yuvraj selection.

Unless he wants to keep going of course. He hasn't shown much interest at all.

 

[ZoraxDoom]

Yea, DQ Leggie. So it's just between CM, Shravi and Me. Even though there is no point, everyone knows I have this in the bag :cool:

 

[Leggie]

I'm alright thanks. I would've thought the Yuvraj selection made it pretty clear that thatt here was no point in me playing on properly.

 

[shravi]

Ghulam Ahmed was an off-spinner of the "highest class" and India's first. He was part of the first great Indian spin trio. He had great control of his line and length. He made the batsmen play and with just a little help from the wicket, could be close to unplayable. In the year of 1952, when India toured England, he took 80 wickets at 21.92.

1. Vijay Merchant
2. Kris Srikkanth
3. Rahul Dravid
4. Vijay Hazare
5. Sourav Ganguly
6. Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi (Nawab of)
7. Mahendra Singh Dhoni
8. Roger Binny
9. Javagal Srinath
10. BS Chandrasekhar
11. Ghulam Ahmed

Sachin Tendulkar (Cricketman)
Rahul Dravid (Shravi)
Sunil Gavaskar (ZD)
Anil Kumble (Leggie)
Kapil Dev (Cricketman)
Mohammed Azharuddin (Leggie)
Vinoo Mankad (ZD)
Vijay Hazare (shravi)
Bedi (ZD)
Virender Sehwag (Leggie)
BS Chandrasekhar (shravi)
GR Viswanath (Cricketman)
Javagal Srinath (shravi)
EAS Prasanna (Cricketman)
Zaheer Khan (Leggie)
Farokh Engineer (ZD)
Amar Singh (ZD)
Roger Binny (shravi)
Syed Kirmani (CM)
Venkatesh Prasad (Leggie)
Md. Nissar (CM)
Polly Umrigar (ZD)
Dilip Vengsarkar (ZD)
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (shravi)
Gautam Gambhir (Cricketman)
Ravi Shastri (Leggie)
VVS Laxman (Cricketman)
Subhash Gupte (Leggie)
Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi (shravi)
Mohinder Amarnath (ZD)
Sourav Ganguly (shravi)
Sanjay Manjrekar (Leggie)
Srinivas Venkataraghavan (ZD)
Vijay Manjrekar (Cricketman)
Lala Amarnath (ZD)
Kris Srikkanth (shravi)
Bapu Nadkarni (Cricketman)
Navjot Sidhu (Leggie)
Yuvraj Singh (Leggie)
Syed Abid Ali (Zorax)
Ghulam Ahmed (shravi)

That completes my team. I'm pretty damn confident about this team. I have the Indian Bradman opening the batting with one of India's most explosive openers in Kris Srikkanth. At #3, I have The Wall, India's best test match batsman, tied with Tendulkar and certainly India's best #3. At #4, I have the calm and composed Vijay Hazare. Dravid and Hazare are two of India's best batsmen under pressure. Sourav Ganguly adds a little more aggression to the order, combined with his grit and never say die attitude. Mansur Ali Khan averages 45+ batting at #6, which is significantly higher than his career average. Besides that, he truly is India's greatest ever captain and could make the most of very little. MS Dhoni has the potential to be India's best keeper-batsman and manages to keep the batting order strong as far as #7. Roger Binny is in as a bowling all rounder though he was no mug with the bat. Don't underestimate his bowling either. He had the 5th best strike rate of all time for India. In Javagal Srinath, I have one of India's premier all-time fast bowlers. He can be devestating on his day. BS Chandrasekhar is a match-winner, in fact, India's best overseas bowler. His unpredictable turn and bounce is undoubtedly an asset to any team.

 

[Cricketman]

Mustaq Ali

'Dashing, flamboyant, swashbuckling, and immensely popular wherever he played', Mustaq Ali is my next, and final selection into my All Time India XI. The more aggressive partner to Vijay Merchant, Mustaq Ali was one of India's most exciting and popular players during the 1930s. His contributions were always important, and he was the first Indian to ever score a century overseas. He was rampant in domestic cricket as well, scoring over 13,000 runs with 30 big hundreds.

1. Gautam Gambhir
2. Mustaq Ali
3. VVS Laxman
4. Sachin Tendulkar
5. Gundappa Viswanath
6. Vijay Manjrekar
7. Kapil Dev (C)
8. Syed Kirmani (+)
9. Bapu Nadkarni
10. EAS Prasanna
11. Mohommad Nissar

With the inclusion of Mustaq Ali, my team is complete.
Gautam Gambhir at the very top - young, aggressive, and a mature batsman partners up with the swashbuckling Mustaq to make one hell of an opening combination.
Enter the middle order - VVS Laxman at number 3, a position where he relishes and averages over 48. The legendary Sachin Tendulkar at number 4, the greatest batsman since The Don himself. Gundappa is slated in next, with his exquisite strokeplay and pristine timing of the cricket ball. At number 6, I have the calm and collected Vijay Manjrekar, who was a prolific run scorer for India and one of the most dependable batsman we have produced.
What a rock solid middle order.
Kapil 'Paaji' is in at number 7, with his big hits and aggressive batting to power through an innings. He also takes the new ball for my team, and with over 400 wickets and 5000 runs, he is an invaluable allrounder for any team. He's also the captain, and a fine one at that - he is the one who led India to the World dominance.
Syed Kirmani behind the stumps, the best pure keeper we have ever produced. Also a dogged and handy batsman to have under Kapil at 8. In Bapu Nadkarni I have a miserly off spinner, who chocked the batsman off for runs with a career economy of just 1.67. He was a great wicket taker too, with a bowling average of just 29. He also adds great depth to my batting, with a test match hundred and an average of over 40 in domestic cricket (Including a big 283* against a strong Delhi attack).

EAS Prasanna is Bapu's spin partner. Prasanna had immense accuracy and bought his wickets with subtle variations in spin, length, and bounce. He brings an attacking element into my spin attack.
Nissar shares the new ball with Kapil, and he is the fastest bowler India has ever produced. He was a bull of a man, and knocked over some of the greatest batsman in the world in his stint as a test match cricketer.