Would Stuart Broad make India's strongest test XI?

[centurymaker]

Looks like the ECB have someone reading this forum; they've stolen my idea and he's signed for Lancashire...

ECB are always good at this sort of thing

 

[Salamuddin]

Enough with this engineer love. It is time to acknowledge that Dhoni makes the first cut of any ATG Indian XI. 200+ victims, solid late order batting (primarily in Asia) and clear headed captaincy all combine to make him as obvious a selection as gavaskar, dravid, kapil and tendulkar.

and yeah. broad, as much as i abhor him, will make it ahead of srinath and zaheer.

There is absolutely no way that Broad can be rated higher than Zaheer.
The bloke averages 41 outside England - he needs to improve on that IMO before he can be rated better than Zak.

 

[morgieb]

Zaheer's record in general is horribly inconsistent. At times he was brilliant, but for a lot of his career he was distinctly mediocre.

England isn't that much better for the bowlers than India anyway.

 

[Viscount Tom]

I have made a lot of comments on YouTube in this regard too. It baffles me that a nation as rich in bench strength as England would still persist with Broad.

If you mention his attractive batting and the virtue of having that to complement a menacing attack of Anderson, Tremmers and Swann, I can understand.

But, as a bowler, come on! Are we kidding ourselves that this guy is potentially better than Ajmal Shahzad (pace and movement both ways), Tim Bresnan (wicket-taking swing bowler), Stuart Meaker (out-and-out pace), Jade Dernbach (reliable swing bowler) and even Steve Finn (bounce and genuine striking ability)?

First time Dirtbag's been described as reliable.

 

[Migara]

Kapil Dev, Javagal Srinath and Mohammad Nisar.

No, not over them, not even Amar Singh and Zaheer Khan.

 

[marc71178]

I would very much back Broad to be considerably better than any of those that you've named.

 

[smash84]

Kapil Dev, Javagal Srinath and Mohammad Nisar.

No, not over them, not even Amar Singh and Zaheer Khan.

Honestly, if you start including the likes of Mohammad Nisar and Amar Singh then you might as well want to argue that Barry Richards is the greatest batsman to have played cricket after Bradman.

At this point in time I would only rate Kapil and Srinath as the indian pacers above Broad. Zaheer was starting to become really good but that period began to co-incide with his shoaib akhtar-esque disappearances from the squad

 

[Salamuddin]

I would very much back Broad to be considerably better than any of those that you've named.

If that doesn't show your clear bias Robbins, I don't know what does

There is no bleeding way that Broad is considerably better than Zaheer Khan or Kapil Dev.
Not with a bowling average of 41 away from England.

 

[morgieb]

I would very much back Broad to be considerably better than any of those that you've named.

Definitely wouldn't pick Broad over Dev, even if you don't take their batting into account.

Srinath and Zaheer however were fairly inconsistent IIRC, and Nisar and Singh didn't play much IIRC.

 

[Daemon]

If you factor in his batting it's a no brainer, but I think I'd rather have Zaheer as a bowler in the side. He was seriously consistently good for those few years before injuries (and what seems like laziness) took their toll. Without him India would have never reached #1, however brief their stay there was.

 

[smash84]

If you factor in his batting it's a no brainer, but I think I'd rather have Zaheer as a bowler in the side. He was seriously consistently good for those few years before injuries (and what seems like laziness) took their toll. Without him India would have never reached #1, however brief their stay there was.

But you are risking not having Zaheer on the park if you pick him as a bowler.

 

[marc71178]

If that doesn't show your clear bias Robbins, I don't know what does

There is no bleeding way that Broad is considerably better than Zaheer Khan or Kapil Dev.
Not with a bowling average of 41 away from England.

Considering this is about a current team he is considerably better than an over-the-hill Zaheer or a 54 year old Kapil.

 

[smash84]

Considering this is about a current team he is considerably better than an over-the-hill Zaheer or a 54 year old Kapil.

 

[MW1304]

I believe his point is that this thread was debating whether Broad would make India's current best XI, not their all time best XI.

 

[Prince EWS]

I believe his point is that this thread was debating whether Broad would make India's current best XI, not their all time best XI.

The conversation changed ages ago though. There's no argument to the former anymore.

 

[MW1304]

Fair enough I haven't read back.

 

[GIMH]

The conversation changed ages ago though. There's no argument to the former anymore.

I'm waiting for Dhoni to confirm if Broad is fit to bowl before I comment.

 

[honestbharani]

Will Stuart Broad make the CSK side though?

 

[smash84]

He might get shot for 36 runs an over by the Kings XI Punjab

 

[Flem274*]

Considering where the Indian ATG side would be playing a significant chunk of their games, I'd take Zaheer over Broad every time.