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Prasen, my pet peeve with kohli until only a few months (maybe a year) ago was that he did exactly opposite, I.e., no big daddy hundreds. Isn't that a relatively new thing for him? I thought his first 10-12 hundreds were all just barely. Vijay and pujara on the other hand went on to consolidate. Sorry, too lazy to lookup but I think you're counting only very recent kohli exploits.

P.S. I maybe thinking of ODIs too here. Maybe his test record is better.

Actually, in ODIs, while chasing, he has often played very well to take us to the end. More finishes than any other #3, I think. Wrt tests, you are correct, he used to play some lofted shots. This year he has eschewed them more or less. I hate lofted shots except when the other team has less than 3-4 people on the boundary.

Vijay does always get close to 150, which is why I guess, I was disappointed to see him batting like this. Something seems wrong with Vijay. He played a strange innings in the test before the last. Then, in the last test, he was playing superbly. Then, after his 100, he became very anti-Vijay. Maybe it is his back and he is not revealing everything.

Pujara never gives his wicket away, usually. But, he has to figure out why he has such a large gap between bat and pad and why he judges the line wrong to get so many lbws. Maybe he needs an eye checkup No, really!

That Cricinfo profile of G Viswanath is indeed very well written. However: GV had 14 centuries to 35 fifties. Comparing with other middle order worthies: Kohli has 15 hundreds to 14 fifties and Dravid 36 hundreds to 63 fifties. I appreciate the two great performances mentioned in the Cricinfo profile, but I don't remember them being consistent at all, or being of the "foundation laying" variety.

You got it spot on. Just when I would have high hopes that GRV would lead India to dominance given that he has crossed 50, he would get out. In the past, I have seen players hit out atrociously after reaching 50 thinking that the work is done. 50s and 100s should mean nothing. Every run counts.

VVS is an easy pick in the first xi because of his ability to bat with the tail

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine ... pe=batting

First xi - can drop Kohli to include one more bowler

Gavaskar
Sehwag
Dravid
Tendulkar
Kohli
VVS
Dhoni
Kapil
Ashwin
Zaheer
Chandra


Second xi

Going to make a controversial pick at opener in Shastri here

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine ... pe=batting


Gambhir
Shastri
Pujara for home / Amarnath for away (completely inverted records)
Hazare
Rahane
Ganguly
Kirmani
Pathan
Kumble
Srinath
Bedi


Not sure what changes to make to strengthen the second xi without making too many distinctions between home and away players.

If you just go by numbers (avg, qual 20 innings), here is the home XI batting lineup:

Sehwag, Sidhu, Pujara, Kohli, Hazare

(backup Azharuddin)

and if you just go by away numbers, her is the away XI batting lineup:

S. Gavaskar, Sehwag, Dravid, Tendulkar, M. Amarnath

(backup Rahane)

Interestingly, only Sehwag belongs to both. Also, intuitively, we seem to consider most of the away stalwarts as all-time greats. Amarnath loses out because of his weird inability to bat at home.

Navjot Siddhu has an extreme split. If you are platooning Pujara and Amarnath, maybe you should platoon Shastri/Sidhu.

Sidhu / Shastri certainly makes sense. Sidhu probably has an argument to be India's best ever player against spin.

Does Vinoo Mankad deserve a spot?

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine ... e=allround

Ugh. Shastri. How did his name sully this thread?

Via a 206 in Sydney. Someone who averages over 55 in Australia, 43 in Pak and around 35 in the fiery West Indies is a decent away guy. I had problems with Shastri in home ODIs only. Otherwise, he was fine. Straight bat defense does not work in ODIs on flat pitches.

In this thread, some years ago, PKB made a case (go back a few pages). Although intuitively, I think of Bedi as our best left-armer, Mankad's exploits are pretty decent. And, overall value is possibly better given his batting and fielding.

Sehwag's being in the top five for both home and away perhaps has an explanation. For his game, the pitch does not matter. Sharp eyes. Excellent hand-eye coordination. See ball, hit ball. Pitch be darned.

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?

You want Vishwanath in because of his strokeplay but not Sehwag? I must admit I had the most fun watching someone bat when I watched Sehwag. And, I felt the most disappointed when he gave his wicket away with some brain-dead shot. But, I came to accept the latter because despite that, VS gave us good production overall.

I didn't want Vish; I was just asking if he was in the various mixes of people. I don't even believe in a dream team concept that spans across eras.

There is nothing to believe or not believe. We all know it is apples versus oranges. We are just engaging in a fantasy pastime online ... as we do in a dream.

Fair enough.