2nd XI has a better bowling attack:
I dunno about Babar at 5, he's not that suited to it, and it also means Sachin is the 6th bowler. I'd think about getting Shakib in for him.
Another option is Yuvraj or Aravinda at 5. Both were decent with the ball.
Yuvraj was not really a big upgrade on Sachin until the very end of his career but at least it'd make it seven options instead of six. I don't think he's really a big upgrade over Shakib as a bat either to make up for the bowling gap, but he would suit the lower middle order role better I guess. Aravinda a better bowler than Yuvraj but probably worse than Shakib at batting 5-6.
I resent the clear implication that Ramesh was useless. Request you to sub in Vikram Rathore instead, please.
Samaraweera made 5K Test runs @ 50 too, he's a ridiculous inclusion in that list, but having someone who clearly doesn't belong but looked **** in Australia to give TJB a platform to troll was probably the point of him making the post anyway.
How do you remember all these random guys except may be a couple who were decent in tests?
He's not better than the other bats IMO.
We are talking about an ATG Asian XI that has batting until no.8 with Wasim already locked in. You need to pick your five best bowlers in tests especially then.
Leave aside the fact that Ashwin takes 6 wickets a test at home at an excellent SR for a spinner, his level of skill and intelligence on home wickets in setting up batsmen is second to only Murali. Jadeja is very accurate in putting it in the right areas but a half point average difference doesn't mean he is a better home bowler.
Will he certainly though? Weren't Waqar's first 5 years more destructive that Bumrah's have been?
Jayasuria over Rohit and Yuvi over Babar doesn't make sense to me.
Agree in the main, but what's your justification for Hanif over Sehwag? Isn't there an argument that Hanif and Gavaskar together might be too samey & a little too slow scoring?
Shakib is my 12th man and I would play him in the SC instead of Imran or Kapil. You already then have five high quality bowlers and Sachin only needs an extra over or two.
Gavaskar could score pretty quickly when required. He has quite a few very rapid innings against good attacks when he opened himself up. Obviously he wasnt Sehwag but he wasn't a Boycott either.
I still think Zaheer was better but I'll probably rate Babar higher by the time he retires. I'd move Kohli to 5 if I was going to play both, I don't think it suits Babar to come in that low.
Yeah, I know he was capable of it.
I just think he was better. More runs is ultimately going to matter a lot more than funky differentiation from the other opener IMO, and yeah as OS said Gavaskar was actually a pretty attacking opener for his time anyway (in Tests at least - inb4 36*)