# 6 for 1986-2006 World Test XI

[adharcric]

Yet people regularly post that Kallis has an inflated batting average because the tracks he has played on have been far flatter than previous generations and therefore made batting easier. It cant be both.

The strong bowling around him also meant that he seldom got the new ball or to bowl at the tail. Usually he has had to bowl when others are not making inroads or with an older ball against settled middle order batsmen. The strong bowling line-up SA had reduced his potential overs and opportunities. Im not saying it makes the world of difference but it should be understood and considered.

The five bowler thing, I believe, is a matter of preference. I don't really see a definative right or wrong. I love stong batting line ups which is also why I have posted many times about England only playing 4 bowlers.

It certainly does go both ways. Having a great bowling units makes everyone better but also takes away opportunities on an individual basis. I think the clinching factor here is that the wicketkeeper is a world-class batsman and that necessitates a strong fifth-bowler as the batting luxury is in place. The fact that Imran isn't too far behind Kallis with the bat seals the deal. Kallis should definitely be getting plenty of consideration though.

 

[adharcric]

Unfortunate for Merchant to miss out but Vinoo was an excellent opener. The 'Mankad test' was one of the greatest performances imo. True, Merchant was better but Vinoo is a 40-something averaging opener. Not bad for a dude who's batted in every single batting position in the team and had no settled place.
However, his worldclass Slow left arm orthodox bowling really makes much more contribution to Indian bowling and thats why he is gonna be in my team.

I would have Merchant open and Mankad at six following Dravid, Tendulkar and Vishwanath. You simply cannot leave out a man who Bradman rated as the best Indian batsmen of his time and who had a higher FC average than the likes of Hobbs, Hammond and Headley (everyone but Bradman himself).

 

[silentstriker]

I would have Merchant open and Mankad at six following Dravid, Tendulkar and Vishwanath. You simply cannot leave out a man who Bradman rated as the best Indian batsmen of his time and who had a higher FC average than the likes of Hobbs, Hammond and Headley (everyone but Bradman himself).

4000+ runs on England tours. I would easily rate him on par with Gavaskar.

 

[adharcric]

4000+ runs on England tours. I would easily rate him on par with Gavaskar.

Sir Don once said about Gavaskar something along the lines of "this man has it in him to give India another hall-of-fame batsman of the class of Vijay Merchant". Still, Gavaskar did it on the international level against the greatest bowlers of all time, so I'll give it to him. It's close though.

 

[C_C]

Yet people regularly post that Kallis has an inflated batting average because the tracks he has played on have been far flatter than previous generations and therefore made batting easier. It cant be both.

Why not ?
make scores on big flat batting tracks and bowl only on the few greentops or against total minnows. Thats Kallis's modus operandi for years now.

 

[C_C]

I would have Merchant open and Mankad at six following Dravid, Tendulkar and Vishwanath. You simply cannot leave out a man who Bradman rated as the best Indian batsmen of his time and who had a higher FC average than the likes of Hobbs, Hammond and Headley (everyone but Bradman himself).

Well i prefer the Gavaskar-Mankad-Dravid-Tendy-Vishy/Azhar/Jimmy/Hazare-Kapil-Kiri-Srinath-Nissar-Gupte-Chandra format.
Batting might look a wee bit weak but India's biggest problem traditionally has been bowling and i think this batting lineup can hold its own against any bowling attack. The bowling is stronger than it looks on paper. Nissar was decent, Sri decent, Kapil worldclass and the 3 spinners complement each other and cover all kinds of surfaces - Gupte the traditional 'warne-esque' bowler, Chandra very adept at greentops with his fastish legspin and Gupte the SLA of the team.

 

[Complicated]

Shame Waugh misses out is there going to be a 12th man position?

 

[Alysum]

Where Is Botham?????

 

[adharcric]

Well i prefer the Gavaskar-Mankad-Dravid-Tendy-Vishy/Azhar/Jimmy/Hazare-Kapil-Kiri-Srinath-Nissar-Gupte-Chandra format.
Batting might look a wee bit weak but India's biggest problem traditionally has been bowling and i think this batting lineup can hold its own against any bowling attack. The bowling is stronger than it looks on paper. Nissar was decent, Sri decent, Kapil worldclass and the 3 spinners complement each other and cover all kinds of surfaces - Gupte the traditional 'warne-esque' bowler, Chandra very adept at greentops with his fastish legspin and Gupte the SLA of the team.

That looks alright, but I don't like the idea of playing 3 seamers in an all-time India XI. It just seems wrong, straight up. That's not how we've won games in the past and there's no reason we would do it that way against other all-time XIs. You need two seamers to use the new ball and thankfully we have a world-class all-rounder and another decent seamer to fill those roles. I don't know how good Nissar was, but would he really trouble top-class batsman? The batting looks very weak actually.

 

[Alysum]

this #6 poll is a total joke...

Hadlee is no #6 http://www.howstat.com/cricket/Statistics/Players/PlayerPositions.asp?PlayerID=0682

 

[aussie]

Well i prefer the Gavaskar-Mankad-Dravid-Tendy-Vishy/Azhar/Jimmy/Hazare-Kapil-Kiri-Srinath-Nissar-Gupte-Chandra format.
Batting might look a wee bit weak but India's biggest problem traditionally has been bowling and i think this batting lineup can hold its own against any bowling attack. The bowling is stronger than it looks on paper. Nissar was decent, Sri decent, Kapil worldclass and the 3 spinners complement each other and cover all kinds of surfaces - Gupte the traditional 'warne-esque' bowler, Chandra very adept at greentops with his fastish legspin and Gupte the SLA of the team.

hmm:

Gavaskar
Merchant
Dravid
Tendulkar
Hazare
Mankad
Engineer
Kapil
Amar Singh
Kumble
Prasanna

Backups: Kirmani, Umrigar, Srinath, Nissar, Azharuddin, Chandrasekhar, Bedi, Sehwag

Yea i guess India All-time test XI lokks fairly competitive it would rank it 6th overall being Windies/Australia/England/South Africa/Pakistan.

 

[luffy]

Shame Waugh misses out is there going to be a 12th man position?

12th man. Big deal imo

 

[bagapath]

too bad waugh is likely to miss out. but imran is a better choice for this team. with lara, sachin, ponting and gilchrist in the middle order, imran is enough to bolster the lower order. also, in post 1986 scenario he would be a superb third seamer to follow ambrose and mcgrath (although he would have been an automatic choice for the new ball in early 80s). and he can skipper this team better than anyone else.

 

[C_C]

Uhh on alltime stakes, i'd put India to compete with anybody apart from WI and AUS.
.

 

[grecian]

All I have to say is: MERCHANT.

Theres no need for that very rude ****ey rhyming slang

Anywhoo, I voted Waugh because I feel he was one of the more dominant figures in the period, he has to be in the side. Also earlier in his career could bowl a bit.

 

[Goughy]

Uhh on alltime stakes, i'd put India to compete with anybody apart from WI and AUS.
.

Of course you would

 

[C_C]

Of course you would

Bowling lineup weaker than (apart from WI and OZ) : Pak,RSA. England is debatable- i dont rate most pre-wwii players to be fit for an alltime team. Sl ? no, nz ? no.
Batting lineup weaker than (apart from WI and OZ ) : err..nobody either.

 

[silentstriker]

Of all the nations that have been playing cricket for more than a couple decades, I think it would go:


1) Aus
2) WI
3) Eng / PAK
5) RSA
6) India
7) NZ


Our batting can compete with anybody, and we wouldn't lose at home. But our record away from home would be pretty bad, we don't have anyone the quality of the other sides in terms of fast bowling. Our best fast bowler wouldn't crack the top 40 all time. We'd lose everytime our batting falls.

 

[nightprowler10]

1) Aus
2) WI
3) Eng / PAK
5) RSA
6) India
7) NZ

1) Aus
2) WI
3) Eng / PAK
5) RSA/India
6) NZ

That's more like it for me.

 

[silentstriker]

1) Aus
2) WI
3) Eng / PAK
5) RSA/India
6) NZ

That's more like it for me.

We'd out bat RSA, but they'd out bowl us. And Bowling > Batting, so I gave it to RSA. Plus, the batting isn't as far apart between the countries as you'd think, RSA have had their share of excellent batsman, many of them missed playing Test cricket due to the ban.