I think Gavaskar is a sure pick. Opening partnerships are largely irrelvant, because we never got to see how they would've done with other openers from other teams.
I see no reason why Gavaskar/Greenidge combo wouldnt have done better than Greenidge/Haynes combo, given that Gavaskar was a superior batsman to them than any.
IMO, he isnt Bradman- no one is, but he certainly can rank with anyone of them- Tendulkar, Lara, Sobers, Viv etc.
IMO, he is the best opener in history of cricket, fuddy duddy amatuer cricket of Hobbs-Sutcliffe included.
He had the most success fo anyone facing up to the WI four prong and was one of the best players ever of spin as well. And unknown to many, he could be dasher amonst the best of them. Often he was the kingpin of IND batting and getting gavaskar meant running amok through the batsmen following, which is why he took the dour and obdurate way to keep his wicket intact. But he has run-a-ball century against Marshall-holding-Garner/Roberts, a 100 ball 90 or so along with it to boot. To my knowledge, no one- not even Viv in domestic cricket- has a quicker century/90 than Gavaskar against these bowlers.
Add his incredible form in the 2nd innings of the team and the best 4th innings prowess of all IMO, he is a certainty in my books.
When Gavaskar was there, IND were capable of chasing down almost any target and they've come close to beating humongous targets in the 4th innings.
As per Gilly and Flower...yes, Gilly plays more aggressively but he has the option to. He is surrounded by 50+ average batsmen who will do the majority of the work by the time Gilly comes and all that is left for Gilly to do is flog the dying horse.
Flower on the other hand, had zero support. NONE. The next-best was briefly houghton but he retired much too early in flower's career and then it was his brother grant flower/campbell- 30-35 average mediocre alsorans.
Add a fair sprinkling of hopeless batsmen averaging 20-30 and you got Flower's scenario.
Despite that, he's done well against almost all attacks- IMO he was just as good as Gilly against pace but considerably more composed against spin.
I would pick Gilly in my test lineup too, because he is a snug fit for #7 and bats well with the tail but man-2-man, there is nothing that seperates Gilly and Flower IMO.....
but in an alltime XI, Gavaskar alongside Sobers and Bradman, is one of the certainties. Gavaskar has faced far superior attacks than Hobbs has in far more variety of conditions and in a far more intense crucible.... comparing him to Hobbs is a joke really.... Hobbs is nowhere close IMO.
Its almost as silly as comparing Bill Tillden and Pete Sampras.
