India's Dream Cricket Test Team

As the other sports forums seem to have taken old to some respect, well here is a cricket forum. NOTE: This forum will be heavily moderated and can be revoked at any time is discussions go out of hand.

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Re: India's Dream Cricket Test Team

Post by prasen9 »

But the good thing of all this was that it brought our "guest" bear out of hibernation :D Glad to "hear" your voice again.
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Re: India's Dream Cricket Test Team

Post by Varma »

Amen! :)

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Re: India's Dream Cricket Test Team

Post by gbelday »

Didn't catch up on all the posts yet but are we only going by batting averages? In ODI, the rate at which they score also matters. I wonder how many overs Shastri took to score those runs in ODIs. I am not a fan!
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Re: India's Dream Cricket Test Team

Post by prasen9 »

Gautam, yep, you did not catch up :-) We are talking tests only. Sin Hombre's suggestion of Shastri for abroad platooned with Siddhu for home tests makes sense to me given RJS' batting in Australia, Pakistan, and even WI.
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Re: India's Dream Cricket Test Team

Post by jayakris »

Varma wrote:
Atithee wrote:...he disputed an umpire¹s decision only once, recalling Bob Taylor in the Golden Jubilee match against England in 1979-80. It cost him the Test, one of only two where he led India, but to Vishy, it mattered more that the game should be played fair.
H Natarajan
I never knew about this part of Vishy's career. My hats off to the legend :notworthy: !
Thanks for sharing it, Atithee.
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Yeah, the son of a gun did that. I remember being mad like nobody's business when he did that. The guy had walked almost to the edge of the field when Vishwanath called him back in. I remember reading that he couldn't have done that had the guy walked another 2-3 more steps (not sure if that was indeed true). Mind you, this was the time when we really had not had any nasty characters in sports and we were sick of losing and being known as "nice guys". This was against England, that too. Those busters creating the Sudhir Naik socks incident was still fresh in my mind (not to mention the John Lever vaseline crap). And then of course those were days when we were still a second tier cricketing nation behind Eng, Aus and WI... Losing to England in that important test was not Okay, and Vishy showing magnanimity did not sit well with me. Still doesn't, as it was against the piddly island nation.

But Vishy was a good man, and a great batsman!
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Re: India's Dream Cricket Test Team

Post by Sin Hombre »

Atithee wrote:What's Sehwag's std deviation? I've never considered him an automatic selection. I'd rather have a Vijay than Sehwag in my test team. Now, how's that for a controversial selection?
Vijay is pretty bad in that regard. 22/41 innings away from home have been less than 20.

Gambhir would be a better candidate if that is a selection criteria. 14/39 innings away from home have been 50 or higher and only 16 less than 20 (10 of which were in the last 13).

In his first 26 innings away from home, Gambhir went past fifty 13 times (50%) and was dismissed under 20 just three times (14%). Those are phenomenally consistent numbers.
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Re: India's Dream Cricket Test Team

Post by Atithee »

Definitely. Gambhir of the early years would be someone I'd have over Sehwag. And over Vijay. An opening partnership of almost 100 runs or at least 30 overs is crucial for any team and for Indian team in particular. You want at least one opener to hit a 50 in every match. There's no guarantee but Gambhir is a deserving candidate.
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Re: India's Dream Cricket Test Team

Post by PKBasu »

jayakris wrote:
Varma wrote:
Atithee wrote:...he disputed an umpire¹s decision only once, recalling Bob Taylor in the Golden Jubilee match against England in 1979-80. It cost him the Test, one of only two where he led India, but to Vishy, it mattered more that the game should be played fair.
H Natarajan
I never knew about this part of Vishy's career. My hats off to the legend :notworthy: !
Thanks for sharing it, Atithee.
- Varma
Yeah, the son of a gun did that. I remember being mad like nobody's business when he did that. The guy had walked almost to the edge of the field when Vishwanath called him back in. I remember reading that he couldn't have done that had the guy walked another 2-3 more steps (not sure if that was indeed true). Mind you, this was the time when we really had not had any nasty characters in sports and we were sick of losing and being known as "nice guys". This was against England, that too. Those busters creating the Sudhir Naik socks incident was still fresh in my mind (not to mention the John Lever vaseline crap). And then of course those were days when we were still a second tier cricketing nation behind Eng, Aus and WI... Losing to England in that important test was not Okay, and Vishy showing magnanimity did not sit well with me. Still doesn't, as it was against the piddly island nation.

But Vishy was a good man, and a great batsman!
Unforgettable episode, and my sentiments exactly. It ensured that Vishy would never be a permanent captain of India (he was thought "too soft", and in a sad sort of way that was probably true). Lovable guy who played some glorious innings in his inimitable way. (This was in the Jubilee Test, which turned out to be a great one for Ian Botham).
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Re: India's Dream Cricket Test Team

Post by crickspoluv »

No team is complete without Dhoni.
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Re: India's Dream Cricket Test Team

Post by prasen9 »

Dhoni was pretty adequate to good as a keeper especially in his later years. His stumpings had become silken. If we really need a solid keeper, I would take Kirmani. But, on the balance, given that we value runs (and analytically that makes sense), Dhoni should be the wicket-keeper.
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Re: India's Dream Cricket Test Team

Post by prasen9 »

In another thread, I said that Kohli possibly makes the first team. However, I would hope his overseas record improves. It is quite good but can be better.

If we go purely by averages, qualifying of 20 completed innings, abroad India's top three middle-order bats would be Dravid, Tendulkar and Rahane. Our second team abroad will have Amarnath, Kohli, Sandeep Patil! Third team: Laxman, Ganguly, Umrigar.

Another away great Amarnath like Rahane was terrible at home. Okay, Rahane has not been terrible terrible at home and maybe this is small sample size.

The kings at home have been Pujara, Kohli, Azharuddin. This middle order actually would possibly have very marginally ahead of the away lineup of Dravid, Tendulkar, and Rahane at home. In the second team, by averages, one would choose Laxman, Tendulkar, Vengsarkar. Dravid was very good at home but slightly behind these other guys. Third team is Dravid, Vishwanath, V. Manjrekar.

Dhawan(!) and Gavaskar are the openers abroad. This happens because of Dhawan's boost in Sri Lanka, I believe. Second team abroad: Sehwag, Gambhir. Third team: Vijay, Prabhakar(!). At home believe it or not Siddhu has performed better than Gavaskar. So, at home it would be Sehwag and Sidhu. Our second team openers at home would be Gavaskar and Vijay (going by averages). Third team at home: Gambhir, Ramesh.
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Re: India's Dream Cricket Test Team

Post by prasen9 »

Kohli and Pujara are becoming test all-time first team greats on home ground! They are running better than our home ground gold standard in batting: Azharuddin and Vengsarkar. Kohli has a good record abroad except being very poor in England and decent but not great in West Indies. Maybe he will rectify those while keeping the high standards in RSA and Australia.

Rohit and KK Nair are also in all-time great territory for home grounds albeit with a very small sample size.

With Ashwin and Jadeja, two home-ground bullies, the likes of which we have never seen, we are better than even the Azharuddin-era teams wrt being great at home.
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Re: India's Dream Cricket Test Team

Post by Sin Hombre »

This team arguably is the best ever team on Asian conditions. We bat extremely long and the bowling has some very good pace options for these conditions.
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Re: India's Dream Cricket Test Team

Post by prasen9 »

There is a poll on Times of India about whether Kohli is the greatest batsman India has ever produced. With current evidence, it seems that I have not seen such highs across formats ODI, Test, T20Is, IPL etc. But let's wait and see if he can be consistent over time.
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Re: India's Dream Cricket Test Team

Post by Atithee »

Sunil Gavaskar remains the best batsman India has ever produced in my books. Impossible to compare across formats, equipment, competition, supporting cast, etc. but Sunil transcends Kohli. Before it comes up, I do not rate SRT in the same breath as either Sunil or Virat.
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