Why does Pakistan traditionally produce better fast bowlers than India?

[Borges]

Richie Benaud should definitely be in the playing eleven. As a pure spin bowler.

 

[Borges]

And Ken Barrington, to replace any of the middle order bats other than Bradman.

 

[jimmy101]

Ponting for Asia? Itstl. He didn't exactly perform there

Just replace him with Smith IMO

Ponting would be a handy guy to have out there. Gotta give him cred for captaining Australia to victory on the 04 Indian tour, I almost even selected Damien Martyn purely from memories of that tour. Ponting could easily be swapped for any of the batsmen I left on the bench.

Richie Benaud should definitely be in the playing eleven. As a pure spin bowler.

No disagreements here. He'd be a better choice than Warne come to think of it.

 

[jimmy101]

The difference is simply Imran Khan tbh. Pakistan didn't really have an out and out quick. Both fazal and Khan Mohammad were medium pacers. Nobody quick really came along until Imran came along. And Imran then inspired a whole generation. Simple as that.

It always surprises me that Singh, Nissar & Lala Amarnath didn't inspire the post-war Indian generation.

 

[Bolo]

How many spinners (including Asians) have crushed it in several Asian countries without actually failing in one?

Ashwin has done well, but never played Pak/UAE. Everyone else I can think of failed in at least one country.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Ponting would be a handy guy to have out there. Gotta give him cred for captaining Australia to victory on the 04 Indian tour, I almost even selected Damien Martyn purely from memories of that tour. Ponting could easily be swapped for any of the batsmen I left on the bench.

I actually agree. Most of Ponting's tours to Asia were when he was younger and he didn't actually go there much post-2001. 2004 in Sri Lanka and 2006 in BD he was great, and at his best he's definitely a guy I'd select on the team. Just saying it's a bold choice when I doubt he even averages 35 in Asia over his career (just a guess)

Though he didn't actually captain Australia at all in 2004 until the last Test (which they lost), Gilchrist was captain for the first 3 because Ponting was injured. No doubt he had significant influence over the team though despite not playing.

 

[Bolo]

Giving leadership credit for taking over and losing after another captain had won the series is an odd choice. Likely made no difference, but still odd.

Averaged 42 in Asia. Went full on metal against Pak and bangers (limited games), and did pretty well in Lanka.

 

[Hicheal Michael]

How many spinners (including Asians) have crushed it in several Asian countries without actually failing in one?

Ashwin has done well, but never played Pak/UAE. Everyone else I can think of failed in at least one country.

Swann

India - 28 @ 28.96
UAE - 13 @ 25.07
Sri Lanka - 16 @ 22.18
Bangladesh - 16 @ 25.25

 

[jimmy101]

Forgot about that fact. Luckily I selected Gilly anyway so all bases are covered I suppose. I agree wholeheartedly with the inclusion of Benaud over Warne, and I guess Ken Barrington could step in for Punter, as suggested by Borges.

 

[Bolo]

Swann

India - 28 @ 28.96
UAE - 13 @ 25.07
Sri Lanka - 16 @ 22.18
Bangladesh - 16 @ 25.25

Good stuff. 29 in India sounds no better than solid, but for the era is actually pretty excellent.

 

[subshakerz]

Dale Steyn would be a definite for a touring XI to subcontinent. You need a specialist reverse swinger and he has won matches in all three, India, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan.

 

[Pap Finn Keighl]

Cute.

100% wrong (and this is coming from someone who doesn't particularly rate Imran's batting) but cute.

I meant overall.

Imran was more of a batsman towards the end.

Imran runs per innings 30
Kapildev runs per innings 28.5

Just 1.5 runs difference.

And we all know, Kapil's batting style.. Probably most attacking batsman in the history. Also Imran had different phases in career as a batsman. And the difference is just 1.5 runs.

For me, Kapil is 60% Viv
And Imran is 60% Dravid

 

[marc71178]

It doesn't matter if you mean overall or not, it doesn't make you any less wrong. Imran was a far superior batsman to Kapil

 

[stephen]

Bedi, Chandra & Prasanna are always on my radar.

On the flipside, here is a non-Asian specialist squad, to tour the subcontinent.

Matthew Hayden
Geoff Boycott
Donald Bradman
Ricky Ponting
Brian Lara
Garfield Sobers*
Adam Gilchrist+
Malcolm Marshall
Shane Warne
Bill O'Reilly
Glenn McGrath

There may very well be a better pairing than Boycs & Hados up top, but I can't think of too many other players who did as well as them in the SC without looking up any stats. Pretty happy with the balance of bowling lineup, with Sobers able to play a mutli-faceted role. The only players with a lack of experience in the SC are Braddles & Tiger, but I think they'd take to it like a duck in water. I'd also be curious to see how Graeme Pollock would fare in Asia, he makes the extended squad.

Extended squad: Steve Smith, Wally Hammond, Denis Compton, Allan Border, Graeme Pollock, Richie Benaud, Richard Hadlee, Dale Steyn, Fred Trueman, Hedley Verity

I'd take Smith over Ponting. Smith scored more tons in one tour of India than most batsmen score in a career in India.

 

[Pap Finn Keighl]

It doesn't matter if you mean overall or not, it doesn't make you any less wrong. Imran was a far superior batsman to Kapil

Hmm.. Far superior.. May be.. Kapil not Imran.

Imran
88 tests 126 innings
3807 runs, HS 136, 6 x 100, 18 x 50, 40plus SR

Kapil
First 88 tests 126 innings
3668 runs, HS 163 , 5 x100, 21 x 50, 80 plus SR

First 70 tests

Imran 101 innings
2770 runs, HS 135 N.O, 4 x 100, 11 x 50, 40 plus SR

Kapil 105 innings
2914 runs, HS 126 N.O, 3 X 100, 16 x 50, 80 plus SR

Nothing seperates them much except for Kapil's freaky strike rate and Imrans low strike rate.
For that alone, we can say Kapil is better and more capable batsman.. I wont say far superior.. But better.
Other facts
Kapil batted lower in the order.
Kapil has more ATG performances.
Kapil was more capable of performing with bat and ball simultaneously.
Kapil's stats are not skewed.

He could have batted in 65 strike rate (higher in the order.. may be) and average 40, he didn't care.. Ability was there.. So in that sense, he was a far superior batsman.

 

[Pap Finn Keighl]

In Wasim Akram's opinion, Kapil was a 7000 runs type batsman than 5000 type considering his ability. ESPN LEGENDS.

No one is going to say Imran could have scored 500 runs more for his ability. Just saying.

 

[nightprowler10]

Sehwag has a pretty good record in Oz though. He might be in the conversation.

Specialist Asian touring XI

Vijay Merchant
Sunil Gavaskar
Mohinder Amarnath
Sachin Tendulkar
Rahul Dravid
MAK Pataudi*
Imran Khan
Syed Kirmani+
Wasim Akram
Muttiah Muralitharan
Waqar Younis

A team equipped for matches in places like Aus, Eng, RSA & WI. Mohinder would be called upon as a 5th bowler for brief spells, bowling his medium pace. However, if the pitch displayed a hint of turn I'd be tempted to partner Murali up with a spin twin.

Extended squad: Virat Kohli, Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Abbas, Kapil Dev, Mushtaq Ahmed, Subhash Gupte, Mohammad Asif.

I'd just go with Fazal instead. At least you won't have to worry if he's on the take.

 

[nightprowler10]

70? Wow. I knew Australia wasn't a happy hunting ground for him, but that's a worse than I would have guessed. It's tough to think of who could operate as a better spin spearhead than Murali. If we're talking about hypothetical Tests played in Australia before the drop-in pitch era, I could see Murali operating at better than 70 with the likes of Wasim, Waqar and Imran in support. Unless, of course, the cape-less crusader, umpire Hair, is officiating the match.

Not a great sample size, but peak Saqlain could be in your extended team.

 

[nightprowler10]

He’s better than Shoaib as a bowler alone.

It's a tough one for me. I like Kapil as a person 10x more, but Shoaib at his peak was devastating and could turn the match on its head.

 

[Daemon]

O'Keefe for the specialist non-Asian spinner touring Asia