All time Asia Vs Rest of the World - Test

[archie mac]

the school of thinking that, like in England, believes in choosing the captain and then the team.

I have never understood that idea, I suppose you consider the captains ability to captain as a skill like a keeper/batsman. This idea only seemed to apply to Mark Taylor in Australia, and I think caused a lot of problems for the team, and also made it hard to drop other players from the side.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

No doubting they were all fine players SJS....but I highly doubt they would compete against.........

S.Gavaskar
R.Dravid
J.Miandad
S.Tendulkar
A.De Silva
Imran Khan (c)
K.Sangakara (w.k)
Kapil Dev
W Akram
M. Muralitharan
W. Younis

I think at the least Gupte or Fazal over Waqar Younis and Zaheer Abbas over Aravinda De Silva would would be fair enough. And Hanif Mohammad was definately a more accomplished test opener than Rahul Dravid.

 

[Zinzan]

I think at the least Gupte or Fazal over Waqar Younis and Zaheer Abbas over Aravinda De Silva would would be fair enough. And Hanif Mohammad was definately a more accomplished test opener than Rahul Dravid.

Well why didn't you have them in your all time XI then Faaip?? You only had Mohammad

 

[SJS]

I have never understood that idea, I suppose you consider the captains ability to captain as a skill like a keeper/batsman. This idea only seemed to apply to Mark Taylor in Australia, and I think caused a lot of problems for the team, and also made it hard to drop other players from the side.

A really good captain can make the difference between winning and losing. This has been demonstrated on many occasions. Brearley's example as well as Pataudi's when he came back from retirement only to lead (he told the selectors he will contribute Zilch with the bat) against lloyd's Windies.

There have been other instances mostly in England like Brian Close.

Of course the captain has to be really really good for that. And mostly they are not duds as cricketers though sometimes they may not have a place in the final eleven.

Pataudi was one of India's finest batsmen of his time. I have not taken ashok Mankad, another brilliant captain but an ordinary batsman.

 

[FaaipDeOiad]

Well why didn't you have them in your all time XI then Faaip?? You only had Mohammad

Because I had Kumble in there ahead of Gupte as a second spinning option, and Dravid in the middle order instead of Zaheer Abbas, and opened with Hanif. If it was a straight pick between Fazal and Waqar or Zaheer Abbas and Aravinda De Silva though, I'd go for the former.

 

[archie mac]

A really good captain can make the difference between winning and losing. This has been demonstrated on many occasions. Brearley's example as well as Pataudi's when he came back from retirement only to lead (he told the selectors he will contribute Zilch with the bat) against lloyd's Windies.

There have been other instances mostly in England like Brian Close.

Of course the captain has to be really really good for that. And mostly they are not duds as cricketers though sometimes they may not have a place in the final eleven.

Pataudi was one of India's finest batsmen of his time. I have not taken ashok Mankad, another brilliant captain but an ordinary batsman.

Do you think the role of the captain has been reduced by the presence and importance of the coach in modern Cricket?

 

[SJS]

If I had to make a side including test cricketers of all eras, I would have first shortlisted
OPENERS
- Gavaskar
- Merchant
- Hanif

MIDDLE ORDER
- Hazare
- Dravid
- Tendulkar
- Miandad
- Zaheer
- Vishwanath

KEEPERS
- Kirmani
- Bari

ALL ROUNDERS
- Kapil (RAMP)
- Mankad (LAS)
- Imran (RAF)
- CK Nayudu(RAOS)

NEW BALL BOWLERS
(other than Kapil and Imran)
- Fazal
- Wasim
- Waqar
- Nissar
- Amar Singh

SPINNERS
(other than Mankad and Nayudu)
- Prasanna
- Kumble
- Bedi
- Chandrashekhar
- Gupte

Then I would struggle to select an XI !!

Its tough. Very tough.

I might, just might chose

Gavaskar
Hanif
Zaheer
Tendulkar
Hazare
Mankad
Kapil
Imran (Captain)
Bari
Wasim
Gupte/Prasanna

On a seaming track I might bring in Fazal in place of one of the spinners.

I have given preference to those who have played more tests against those who played very few. This may not be fair or accurate but the data is more for those who played more.

Dravid and Vishwanath are unlucky not to find a place but the sub continent is so rich in middle order. On another day, I may have decided differently.

Bedi loses out because mankad is an all rounder. If i had to chose a pure spinner I would have gone for Bedi.

Kumble loses out to orthodox spinners.

 

[SJS]

Do you think the role of the captain has been reduced by the presence and importance of the coach in modern Cricket?

Thats possible. I think Brearley's handling of Botham both as a player and as an individual was vital. This could partly be done by a coach (the individual bit) but if done by the captain and done well, it is bound to bear more fruit since he has to handle him on the field also.

The captain has two major jobs in cricket. One off the field and ongoing on it which is of a leader, friend, counseller, etc etc to build team spirit, attitudes, fellow feeling etc. The on the field job is mainly while fielding. The handling of the bowling and the marshalling of the on field resources. His attitude towards crisis on the field and his ability to keep things under control.

The first bit is today done by the coach to a fair extent. The second bit has to be done by the captain. This requires having a skill, being a thinking cricketer, being sharp, being able to look ahead, assess whats going through the batsman's head and so on. This is not such a common trait and it is futile to expect that every senior cricketer will acquire it over time. This is why captains are not always the best players and vice versa. Nor are captains always the older players.

 

[Shoaib]

My Teams

Asia XI
Sunil Gavaskar
Hanif Muhammad
Rahul Dravid
Inzamam-Ul-Haq
Javed Miandad
Imran Khan (C)
Kumar Sangakkara (W)
Kapil Dev
Wasim Akram
Muttiah Muralitharan
Abdul Qadir

ROW XI
W Hammond
L Hutton
B Lara
D Bradman (C)
G Sobers
V Richards
A Gilchrist (W)
R Hadlee
J Laker
M Marshall
C Walsh

 

[Beleg]

Sub-continent:

1. Sunil Gavaskar
2. Hanif Mohammad
3. Javed Miandad
4. Sachin Tendulkar
5. Rahul Dravid - WK
6. Inzamam
7. Imran Khan - C
8. Wasim
9. Chandershekar
10. Muralitharan
11. Fazal Mahmood/Waqar/Bedi


Of these, only Gavaskar, Tendulkar, Khan, Wasim and Muralitharan are automatic choices. Others in the pool include Arvinda De Silva, Bedi, Vengaskar, Zaheer, Asif Iqbal, Majid Khan, Vinu Mankand (sp?), Subash Gupte, Anwar, Persanna, Qadir etc.

ROW:

1. Jack Hobbs
2. Brian Lara
3. Donald Bradman
4. Viv Richards
5. Gary Sobers
6. Greame Pollock
7. Keith Miller
8. Adam Gilchrist
9. Headley
10. Marshall
11. McGrath

ROW will probably end up winning but the difference isn't as gigantic as many are making it out to be.

 

[honestbharani]

Esp. if you leave out Bradman and the match was played in one of the sub continent tracks, I would actually back the sub continent side to win.

 

[SJS]

THOUSAND APOLOGIES FOR FORGETTING MURALI !!

He would be an automatic choice .... assuming we were playing with current rules and umpires

 

[aussie]

Asia

Haniff Mohammad
Sunil Gavaskar
Rahul Dravid
Sachin Tendulakar
Javed Miandad
Kumar Sangakkara +
Imran Khan *
Kapil Dev
Wasim Akram
Abdul Quadir
Muttiah Muralitharan

12 man: Anil Kumble or Waqar Younis

R.O.W

Gordon Greenidge
Len Hutton
Brian Lara
Don Bradman *
Viv Richards
Gary Sobers
Adam Gilchrist +
Richard Hadlee
Shane Warne
Malcolm Marshall
Dennis Lilee

12th man: Glenn McGrath

For this side unlucky exclusions Ambrose, G.Chappell, Treuman, G.Pollock but if this game were to play on a hard boucy deck or seaming conditions i'd back R.O.W to win but if it were to play in the sub-continent Asia could well & win with 3 all-time great spinners in their ranks......

 

[aussie]

just drifting off-topic i'll have a go at possibe all-time ODI sides:

Asia

Sanath Jayasuriya
Sachin Tendulkar
Kumar Sangakkara +
Aravinda DeSilva
Inzamam Ul-Haq
Javed Miandad
Imran Khan *
Kapil Dev
Wasim Akram
Waqar Younis
Muttiah Muralitharan

R.O.W

Adam Gilchrist +
Mark Waugh or Desmond Haynes
Ricky Ponting or Brian Lara
Viv Richards *
Jaques Kallis
Michael Bevan
Ian Botham
Richard Hadlee
Shaun Pollock
Shane Warne
Glenn McGrath

Picking R.O.W ODI side is a headache not sure who to open with nor whether Ponting or Lara should bat at #3, i'm not so sure how good Marshall, Lilee were in ODI's but from what i've seen of McGrath he is definately one of the best ODI's bowlers ever so he has to play

 

[DaBombayDuck]

My Teams

Asia XI
Sunil Gavaskar
Hanif Muhammad
Rahul Dravid
Inzamam-Ul-Haq
Javed Miandad
Imran Khan (C)
Kumar Sangakkara (W)
Kapil Dev
Wasim Akram
Muttiah Muralitharan
Abdul Qadir

ROW XI
W Hammond
L Hutton
B Lara
D Bradman (C)
G Sobers
V Richards
A Gilchrist (W)
R Hadlee
J Laker
M Marshall
C Walsh

Sachin Tendulkar and Duleepsinhji are/were better players than Inzamam.
And it is highly debatable wthere Qadir was better than Kumble, Chandrasekhar and Gupte.

 

[Pratters]

Bearing in mind that man for man the ROW side are miles ahead, I don't see how it could be anything but a one-sided game.

The recent ROW vs Australia matches showed you cannot predict the outcome of such games.

 

[marc71178]

But the difference in that game is that you could easily make cases for half a dozen Aussies being in the ROW side - not 2 or 3.

 

[Pratters]

It shows a stronger bench strength, options.

But when you have XI players on each side of proven quality any one of them can win in a given match.

 

[honestbharani]

But the difference in that game is that you could easily make cases for half a dozen Aussies being in the ROW side - not 2 or 3.

Bradman has never played in the subcontinent. We must assume he would have done well, because he has such a great record, but reality doesn't often go by theory.

 

[social]

Cannot believe that so many people have picked Zaheer in Asian team - unless the opposition had no pace at all or the match was played on the flattest of wickets, the guy following him might as well have accompanied him to the crease.