India All Time XI

[Anil]

India XI

Sunil Gavaskar
Chetan Chauhan
Gundappa Vishwanath
Dilip Vengsarkar
Sachin Tendulkar
Syed Kirmani
Kapil Dev
Manoj Prabhakar
Bishan Bedi
Erappalli Prasanna
Bhagwat Chandrasekhar

India A XI

Ravi Shastri
Vinoo Mankad
Rahul Dravid
Mohinder Amarnath
Venkatsai Laxman
Mohammad Azharuddin
Nayan Mongia
Javagal Srinath
Venkatesh Prasad
Anil Kumble
Srinivas Venkatraghavan

 

[a massive zebra]

India

Sunil Gavaskar
Vijay Merchant
Rahul Dravid
Sachin Tendulkar
Vijay Hazare
Kapil Dev
Syed Kirmani
Mohammed Nissar
Anil Kumble
Erapalli Prasanna
Bishen Bedi

12th Man: Sabhash Gupte

INDIA 'A'

Vinoo Mankad
Farukh Engineer
Polly Umrigar
Gundappa Viswanath
Mohammed Azharuddin
VVS Laxman
Duleep Vengaskar
Amar Singh
Javagal Srinath
Harbhajan Singh
Bhagwat Chandreskhar

12th Man: Saurav Ganguly

 

[a massive zebra]

INDIA 'B'

Ravi Shastri
Navjot Sidhu
Vinod Kambli
Mohinder Amarnath
Vijay Manjrekar
Verinder Sehwag
Nayan Mongia
Manoj Prabhakar
Bapu Nadkarni
Srinivas Venkatraghavan
Zaheer Khan

 

[Richard]

This thread deserved more replies than it got.

Myself I'd lean towards:
Merchant
Gavaskar
Dravid
Tendulkar
Viswanath
Vengsarkar
Kapil Dev
Engineer
Amar Singh
Gupte
Nissar

 

[silentstriker]

1. Vijay Merchant
2. Sunil Gavaskar
3. Rahul Dravid
4. Sachin Tendulkar
5. Vijay Hazare
6. Polly Umrigar*
7. Kapil Dev
8. Syed Kirmani (+)
9. Anil Kumble
10. Amar Singh
11. Mohammad Nissar
    

12th Man: Bishan Singh Bedi or Bhagwat Chandrashekar or Gupte

At home, you'd play two spinners, and away you would think about Chandrashekhar or Gupte instead of Kumble.

I feel this is a very strong side (and one I keep changing all the time, to be honest). The top four pick themselves. Hazare and Merchant average in the high forties but had they more chances, I am very confident that their averages would be above fifty in Test cricket. Merchant I've no doubt about in that regard.

Polly Umrigar often gets overlooked, and I'd pick him as the captain, and Syed Kirmani is our best wicketkeeper, though Farokh can also come in if needed.

Kapil Dev is an automatic, and obviously we'll need some spinners. At home, you absolutely must play both Kumble and Bishan Bedi. If you have Bedi bowling in the fourth innings, you're going to get wickets, especially at home. The pace attack for non-spin surfaces would have to be Dev, Nissar and Singh, with one of the spinners (probably Chandrashekhar if the game is overseas) the lone spinner.

At home, this side would be very close to unbeatable, and would take twenty wickets almost all of the time. Away, there are a lot more questions, and though spin is our strength, I'd still want to go in with three pace bowlers. Especially as Mohammad Nissar and Amar Singh are both very underrated. I can also be convinced of a five man attack with two spinners and three fast bowlers in that situation. But at home, four are enough.

 

[Salamuddin]

This thread deserved more replies than it got.

Myself I'd lean towards:
Merchant
Gavaskar
Dravid
Tendulkar
Viswanath
Vengsarkar
Kapil Dev
Engineer
Amar Singh
Gupte
Nissar

I wouldn't have Vengsarkar anywhere near an all time Indian X1. Don't think he was that great a player tbh - was largely poor away from the subcontinent. Would even have guys like Laxman or Sehwag ahead of him.

 

[Swervy]

I wouldn't have Vengsarkar anywhere near an all time Indian X1. Don't think he was that great a player tbh - was largely poor away from the subcontinent. Would even have guys like Laxman or Sehwag ahead of him.

if this team were to play at Lords he would be first pick I reckon

 

[aussie]

1. Vijay Merchant
2. Sunil Gavaskar
3. Rahul Dravid
4. Sachin Tendulkar
5. Vijay Hazare
6. Polly Umrigar*
7. Kapil Dev
8. Syed Kirmani (+)
9. Anil Kumble
10. Amar Singh
11. Mohammad Nissar
    

12th Man: Bishan Singh Bedi or Bhagwat Chandrashekar or Gupte

At home, you'd play two spinners, and away you would think about Chandrashekhar or Gupte instead of Kumble.

I feel this is a very strong side (and one I keep changing all the time, to be honest). The top four pick themselves. Hazare and Merchant average in the high forties but had they more chances, I am very confident that their averages would be above fifty in Test cricket. Merchant I've no doubt about in that regard.

Polly Umrigar often gets overlooked, and I'd pick him as the captain, and Syed Kirmani is our best wicketkeeper, though Farokh can also come in if needed.

Kapil Dev is an automatic, and obviously we'll need some spinners. At home, you absolutely must play both Kumble and Bishan Bedi. If you have Bedi bowling in the fourth innings, you're going to get wickets, especially at home. The pace attack for non-spin surfaces would have to be Dev, Nissar and Singh, with one of the spinners (probably Chandrashekhar if the game is overseas) the lone spinner.

At home, this side would be very close to unbeatable, and would take twenty wickets almost all of the time. Away, there are a lot more questions, and though spin is our strength, I'd still want to go in with three pace bowlers. Especially as Mohammad Nissar and Amar Singh are both very underrated. I can also be convinced of a five man attack with two spinners and three fast bowlers in that situation. But at home, four are enough.

Solid reasoning although i think one could make a strong case for Mankad probably being their as an opener instead of Merchant he gives you the option the strenghten the bowling depth, especially away from India.

Edit: don't mean to querry your reasoning but why have you chosen Umrigar as captain?. Personally always felt Hazare was a unanimous choice as the preffered leader of an All-time Indian XI..

 

[Salamuddin]

if this team were to play at Lords he would be first pick I reckon

And if this team was picked to play against Pakistan, I would choose Sehwag anyday of the week

He had his moments I concede, but generally was fairly poor away from the slower, lower conditions.

I certainly don't think he is one of the best six batsmen that India have produced if you were to pick a side for general purposes.

 

[silentstriker]

Solid reasoning although i think one could make a strong case for Mankad probably being their as an opener instead of Merchant he gives you the option the strenghten the bowling depth, especially away from India.

Merchant is probably the best batsman India has produced. I wouldn't drop him easily.

 

[aussie]

Merchant is probably the best batsman India has produced. I wouldn't drop him easily.

Could be given his FC stats a how man old timers view him (i presume). But even you would have to admit in an All-time XI where we let our imaginations go & compare it to possible matchup with other sides. Merchant in comparison to other batsmen really wasn't tested on the international stage especially in an era where question marks of many batsmen remain for obvious reasons.

 

[LongHopCassidy]

Can't fathom how Gupte is the unquestioned greatest Indian spinner of them all. He had a strike rate of 70. That's enough to warrant exclusion or at least a second thought, imo.

 

[ret]

For tests

- Gavaskar
- Sehwag
- Dravid
- Tendulkar
- C K Naidu [C]
- Vinu Mankad
- Dhoni
- Kapil Dev
- Chandra
- Amar Singh
- Md Nissar

Was going to pick Ishant and Srinath as the pacers but on a thread silentstriker had convinced me that Nissar and Singh were express quick so am going for them .... wanted Pataudi as captain but all-round abilities of Mankad prevail .... and there is no way a champion like Naidu would be out of my all-time Indian 11

 

[ret]

For ODIs .... from those who have played them

- Tendulkar [C]
- Ganguly
- Sidhu
- Sehwag
- Dravid
- Dhoni
- Kapil
- Shastri
- Srinath
- Kumble
- Ishant

 

[silentstriker]

I'm happy you picked Nissar and Amar Singh, but...Ishant was in contention?

 

[ret]

I'm happy you picked Nissar and Amar Singh, but...Ishant was in contention?

haha yeh Ishant .... sadly, we don't have a huge list of pacers to chose from .... from what i have seen Kapil selects himself, Srinath is a close 2nd and then there are rest like Zak, Ishant and company .... so was considering Ishant on potential

 

[honestbharani]

Among the ones I have seen...



Gavaskar
Sehwag
Dravid
Tendulkar
Laxman
Kapil
Mongia (wk)
Kumble
Harbhajan
Srinath
Zaheer




Stronger than what I thought, tbh...


Maybe when playing overseas, have Shastri come in for Harbhajan and maybe Prabhakar in instead of one of the other seamers, for we might need the extra batting. But at home, that side should suffice. Kaps and Zak (in his latest avatar) are bowlers you can depend to hit a decent length all the time and Sri with his natural angle will always cause trouble, esp. if runs aren't coming from the other end.


Kumble and Harbhajan pick themselves and our batting line up there is as strong as any of the last 20 years.. Sunny to camp at the pitch while Sehwag blazes away... Rahul and Sachin to do their usual bit and Laxman to provide some magic at the tail end coupled with Kapil's hitting and Mongia's dour defence (esp. at home).. That would be a good side, for my money.

 

[Dissector]

Nissar and Singh played way too little test cricket IMO to be in contention.

My pick:
Gavaskar
Sehwag
Dravid
Tendulkar
Hazare
Kapil Dev
Vinoo Mankad
Kirmani
Kumble
Srinath
Prasanna

The biggest difficulties are the second opener, the no.5 and the third spinner (after Mankad and Kumble) but I am reasonably comfortable with the rest of the team.

 

[adharcric]

1. Vijay Merchant
2. Sunil Gavaskar
3. Rahul Dravid
4. Sachin Tendulkar
5. Vijay Hazare
6. Polly Umrigar*
7. Kapil Dev
8. Syed Kirmani (+)
9. Anil Kumble
10. Amar Singh
11. Mohammad Nissar
    

12th Man: Bishan Singh Bedi or Bhagwat Chandrashekar or Gupte

At home, you'd play two spinners, and away you would think about Chandrashekhar or Gupte instead of Kumble.

I feel this is a very strong side (and one I keep changing all the time, to be honest). The top four pick themselves. Hazare and Merchant average in the high forties but had they more chances, I am very confident that their averages would be above fifty in Test cricket. Merchant I've no doubt about in that regard.

Polly Umrigar often gets overlooked, and I'd pick him as the captain, and Syed Kirmani is our best wicketkeeper, though Farokh can also come in if needed.

Kapil Dev is an automatic, and obviously we'll need some spinners. At home, you absolutely must play both Kumble and Bishan Bedi. If you have Bedi bowling in the fourth innings, you're going to get wickets, especially at home. The pace attack for non-spin surfaces would have to be Dev, Nissar and Singh, with one of the spinners (probably Chandrashekhar if the game is overseas) the lone spinner.

At home, this side would be very close to unbeatable, and would take twenty wickets almost all of the time. Away, there are a lot more questions, and though spin is our strength, I'd still want to go in with three pace bowlers. Especially as Mohammad Nissar and Amar Singh are both very underrated. I can also be convinced of a five man attack with two spinners and three fast bowlers in that situation. But at home, four are enough.

Hmm, almost there. I'd bring in Mankad for Umrigar.

 

[Jonty Lathwal]

India:-

1.S.Gavaskar
2.V.Mankad
3.R.Dravid
4.S.Tendulkar
5.G.Vishwanath
6.V.Laxman
7.K.Dev
8.F.Engineer
9.A.Kumble
10.B.Bedi
11.J.Srinath