A jury of eight former Indian captains has come up with a Dream Team to mark the 75th anniversary of Indian cricket. And—shocker of shockers!—there is no place for the world’s most dependable batsman Rahul Dravid, India’s highest wicket-taker, Anil Kumble, or indeed India’s finest matchwinner, B.S. Chandrashekhar. Happily, there is a place for Javagal Srinath.
The dream team reads thus:
Sunil Gavaskar (captain)
Vinoo Mankad
Vijay Hazare (vice-captain)
Sachin Tendulkar
Mohammed Azharuddin
G.R. Vishwanath
Kapil Dev
Syed Kirmani (wicketkeeper)
Javagal Srinath
E.A.S. Prasanna
Subash Gupte12th Main: Vijay Manjrekar
Reserves: Mohammed Nissar, B S Chandrashekhar, Rahul Dravid
***
The original shortlist was drawn up by G.R. Vishwanath, Dilip Vengsarkar, S. Venkataraghavan, K. Srikkanth, Ajit Wadekar, Nari Contractor, Syed Kirmani and Abbas Ali Baig. Their shortlists were then screened and vetted by E.A.S. Prasanna, veteran cricket writer Rajan Bala and editors of Press Trust of India.
***
Is this the best team ever? Or have the eight wise men been what Mohinder Amarnath once called the selectors: a bunch of jokers? Does it make sense to keep out Dravid (average: 57.46) and Kumble (552 Test wickets)? And Chandra? Will this team fare well against any team except Don Bradman‘s 1948 Invincibles, as claimed by Rajan Bala? Is Gavaskar our finest leader of these 75 years? Who would you pencil in or strike out?
Also read: The most famous Mysorean in the world?
churumuri 
The list of missing icons is rather lengthy…… Legendary Ranjith Singh, Duilp Singh, C.K. Nayudu, B.S. Bedi, Senior & Junior Pataudi…
Certainly Gavaskar cannot be the captain in any case !
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Azharuddin in and Dravid out? Strange…..very strange. But 4 Karnataka players out of 11 is good :)
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I think they looked at every batting/ bowling position and saw who could best fit there. They looked less at statistics but more at reputation and popular perception. In Dravid’s case it is not that he is any lesser than anyone but at the positions he usually bats in they had GRV, Hazare and Azhar to contend with and seeing that this is a list made by past captains they would tend to go with players they played with.
In Kumble’s case too it is known that he spun the ball lesser than the famed quartet even though he is far ahead in terms of wickets, so maybe that’s why they left him out. For that matter, Bedi & Chandra too have more wickets than EAS.
I don’t say this is the best list but when you make a list that way, depending on one’s own playing experience and biases certain key players can get omitted.
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i have not seen the quartet. but aura & nostalgia apart, i doubt if they were really so good that be considered better bowlers than kumbLe.
they might have been better spinners, yes, but bowlers?
ditto dravid, what is GRVs record, what is Dravid’s record?, under various conditions? GRV more style than Dravid, might even have had greater range too, but a better bat i doubt?
technique, skill & other assorted nonsense is all fine.
temperment illde, sense of team ilde irorella waste.
ee gavaskara, azharuddinoo, tendulkara, gongulee ella waste.
a kaipha, a daDD munDedu ‘inathu, a lakshmaNa, yoore vaasi.
lakshmaNa + Dravid kintha yoorall yaraadru innings aaDiyaara?
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Gavaskar the self as Captain is absolutely NO NO…… so first select the captain then we can discuss the team.
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Azhar in the 11 and not Dravid….Hello?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?
It’s a lil tough to choose between Chandra and Kumble. But damn, one of them HAD to be in the 11.
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Also, Bedi not being in the list and Prasanna in….anything to do with Prasanna being one of the ‘selectors’??? Well, whatever….
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jadeja not in the list …he could have ensured that we could have won every single match. Isnt there a better way to celebrate 75 years of Indian cricket than to publish all the personal agenda of the panel.
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B.S. CHANDRASHEKAR—– along with kapil dev ,he is the greatest cricketer india has produced.
famous MES GROUND, NEAR TELEPHONE EXCHANGE , JAYANAGAR ,BENGALURU — WHERE THOUSANDS OF KIDS REALIZE HAPPINESS OF BEING A KID , HAS BEEN NAMED AS ” B S CHANDRASHEKAR KREEDANGANA “. —– no bigger honour than this.
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Vishy?? He might have been great to watch but how dependable was he?
Gimme a break. Looks like this XI is a nice cosy old boys club. And looks like this XI would need a seriously doctored Kotla mudhole to bowl out even a modest batting lineup. Forget the invincibles, this team selected by the old fogies may not even match up to the current Indian sqaud. I’m well and truly exasperated with the level of Karnataka chauvinism of the ppl who visit this blog. Next G3S would call for Roger Binny to be drafted in, along with Sirakuppi and Sujith Somasundar. What weed are you guys on??
The greatest XI should read something like this:
S. Gavaskar
V. Mankad
R. Dravid
S.Tendulkar
MAK Pataudi (c)
VVS Laxman
Kapil Dev
F. Engineer
A Kumble
J Srinath
Md Nissar
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I don’t know why some bunch of unemployed Jokers drew this kind of list ! At any given day I love to include Saourav Ganguly as India’s best captain and Rahul dravid in the place of either selfish Mr.Tendulkar or Mr. Match fixer Md.Azaruddin. Nervous Srinath got place in the team………..My god………..and No Anil Kumble.
Anil Kumble was the best indian cricketer ever in any given day who won us more matches than the gentlemen in the list there.
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all time best xi ??!! NO COMMENTS, over to MR MOHINDER AMARNATH ,
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If this is for a test XI, it is almost perfect. Remove Azhar for Dravid and have Merchant open with Gavaskar. i.e. leave Vishy out.
Vijay Samuel Hazare is my first choice, on Fridays, Saturdays and twice on Sundays. Arguably, India’s greatest bat ever. He made his debut at the age of 31. Career got short due to WWII. He retired at age 38, having played only 30 tests. He played against bowlers of England and the legendary 1948 Aussie team, four of whom have made it into the all-time XIs of those countries ( Lindwall, Bedser, Trueman, Laker). He once came in when India was 0-4 and made 56 runs in terrible conditions. He averaged ~48 while playing against these guys. He didn’t have the third rate teams (on flat tracks) to build up averages like Azhar and others did.
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Md Nissar was good, but Amar Singh was better.
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Kushalnagar Kalinga,
Guilty as charged. I am indeed very parochial (not a chauvinist though) to all things Kannada and Karnataka. Since I have spent the majority of my life in Karnataka, and Mysooru at that, my India is confined to those places. I have nothing to apolgize on that front.
Having said that, I wouldn’t be selecting Binny and Sujith Somasunder if my life depended on this hypothetical team winning anything. Thankfully I don’t take this as seriously as you seem to. Now go get some of that weed and chill out.
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Azhar over Dravid is a no brainer. Azhar, imo is easily the best batsman(after Tendulkar ofcourse) since Gavaskar to play for India. Even if he is not, Dravid can only be marginally better. Further, Azhar is an infinitely better fielder than Dravid and an infinitely better player of spin. And unlike Dravid, Azhar was a master at rotating the strike.
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If Sunny Gavaskar is the captain, the team will look only for draws with SMG remaining notouts with century after century..If you are looking for a winning team get Pataudi or better still Dada to lead the side.We want a leader who can get best out of everybody in the team and look for winning ways.Not the opposite!!
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d.s.:
“Azhar in the 11 and not Dravid….Hello?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?”
do you remember this song? who would maintain the required contact with the bookies if dravid is in the team?
– s.b.
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SB:
My bad, I agree Azhar needs to be in….wherever….and for whatever he does.
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Except for Kapil (and maybe Srinath) – all the others either needed physical exercises to get their butts in shape or needed their skinny asses to be fed some protein shakes. Wonder how they would fare against the current Aussie team…
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Azhar in that’s good, but if Dravid in that sucks.
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Openers: Gavaskar and Sehwag
One down: Rahul Dravid
Two down: Sachin Tendulkar
No. 5: Batsman GR Viswanath
No 6: All rounder – Vinoo Mankad
No 7: Keeper Kiran More
No. 8: All rounder Kapil Dev
No 9: Bowler Anil Kumble
No 10 – Bowler Javagal Srinath
No 11 – Bowler Bishen Singh Bedi
No 12 – Eknath Solkar
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Sorry guys: Captain will be Kapil Derv and Vice Captain will be Vinoo Mankad.
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Hello,
I am a tremendous cricket lover. I have seen the list of best ever cricket team of India, selected by eight member selectors.
My choice of 16 members team is :
1. Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi (Captain)
2. Sunil Gavaskar
3. Vinoo Mankad
4. Vijay Hazare
5. Sachin Tendulkar
6. G.R. Viswnath
7. Dilip Vengsarkar
8. Mohammad Azharuddin
9. Farooq Engineer (W.K)
10. Syed Kirmani (W.K)
11. Kapil Dev
12. Mohammad Nisar
13. Javagal Srinath
14. Subhash Gupte
15. E.A.S. Prasanna
16. B.S. Chandrasekhar
Reserve : Vijay Manjrekar, Rahul Dravid, Bishen Bedi, Eknath Solkar
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Which team I have selected, it is for only Test Cricket not for One Day Cricket, mind it.
I have choiced 2 Wicket-keepers here, considering Test Cricket in a tour
which takes nearly 2 months time to complete. So, there must be
needed two Wicket-keepers. Here I have selected Farooq Engineer as
the first Wicket-keeper who was not only a very good Wicket-keeper but
also a very attractive Batsman and who also opened with Bat in Test cricket for India.
I think Dilip Vengsarkar and Rahul Dravid both are very good middle order
Batsman of India, both have good career behind them. But I have here choiced Dilip Vengsarkar above Rahul, considering his courage and technique to face the furuous Pacers of the World as once he faced Pacers like Michael Holding, Andy Roberts, Malcom Marshall, Joel Garner of West Indies and Richard Hadely of New Zealand and Imran Khan, Sarfraj Nawaz of Pakistan, John Snow, Bob Willis of England and Dennis Lillee, Jeff Thomson of Australia like our Gavaskar and Viswanath who have the
experience of facing those one time great pace bowlers.
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I have selected Eknath Solkar in Reserve because of his ability
to field at very close of the batsman/wicket. He was the best close-in-fielder of World Cricket, no one will dare to field at so close of the batsman. He was not only ours but world’s amazing fielder.
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I have choiced B.S. Chandrasekhar for his ability of bulldozing
with his bowling through the Batting line of any team of the World.
Though he was unpredictable/uncertain bowler that when he will
get the wickets, but on slightly rough track / spinning track he was very very dangerous bowler, though he was spinner but his bowling was like
a medium pacer. No batsman could predict him/his bowling.
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MY TEAM
1. Gavaskar
2. Sehwag
3. Hazare
4. Tendulkar
5. Dravid
6. Dhoni
7. Kapil Dev
8. Kumble
9. Srinath
10.Prasanna
11.Chandra
12. Azharuddin
The one and only Sehwag can set up the match with a fiery first innings score.Gavaskar,Hazare and Dravid to stonewall and save a match. Tendulkar in the middle to balance. We can beat world elevens only with spin and hence only 2 pace bowlers. The classical off spin of Prasanna,
the fastish and accurate leg spin of Kumble and the freakish leg spin
of Chandra can attack and win us the match. In fact, Kumble and Chandra double up as the third seamer! This will be one of the worst international fielding teams but no choice.This team will sure defeat Bradman’s 1948 invincibles which was deficient in spin. If I remember, they had only Ring, MCcool, Ian Johnson as spinners
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The captain’s choices were reasonably good except for the omission of Dravid and a specialist opener (for which my choice would be Merchant or Sehwag). I would replace Vishwanath and perhaps Azhar with these two. The choice of Kirmani is debatable as he was inconsistent, though at his best he was indeed the best Indian keeper. Engineer or Joshi are possible alternatives. Gavaskar was a defensive captain because Kapil was India’s only test-class (leave alone world-class) bowler for much of the time Gavaskar was captain. But, I might make Hazare of Kapil the captain ahead of Gavaskar. There wasn’t much to choose between Prasanna and Gupte, on the one hand, and Chandra and Kumble, on the other. But, you can only have 3 spinners & Prasanna & Gupte would be my choices.
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this team does not have India’s All time Best Captain Sourav Ganguly.,
sehwag and sourav ganguly must be in the team
Moreover, Sunil gavaskar cannot be a captain.,
either Mohd Azharuddin or Sourav Ganguly
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i think best test XI of india is….
s.gavaskar
v.sehwag
r.dravid
s.tendulkar
g.r.vishwanath
s.ganguly(c)
m.s.dhoni(w.k)
k.dev(v.c)
b.s.chandrashekar
z.khan
j.srinath
12thman..A.kumble
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best ODI XI of india….
s.ganguly
v.sehwag
r.dravid
s.tendulkar
yuvraj singh
m.azharuddin
m.s.dhoni
k.dev
i.kPATHAN
z.khan
h.singh
12th…m amarnath
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best ODI XI of india….
s.ganguly(c)
v.sehwag
r.dravid
s.tendulkar
yuvraj singh
m.azharuddin
m.s.dhoni(w.k)
k.dev(v.c)
i.kPATHAN
z.khan
h.singh
12th…m amarnath
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gavaskar
sehwag
dravid
tandulkar
dhooni
v.munkad
kapil dev
habhajan
anil kumble
sri nath
zaheer khan
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We need only one player Ravi Shastri..once he starts batting..everybody will go home :)
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My favorite Test Team will be
GAVASKAR
SEHWAG
DRAVID
TENDULKAR
VISWANATH
DHONI (W.K.)
KAPIL DEV (CAPTAIN)
KUMBLE
PRASANNA
SRINATH
Md. NISSAR
It is prepared as balanced team and have the ability to win in any situation and condition. The weakest point of the team is wicket keeper- batsman position and for that Dhoni is more reliable than others. There is two pacers and spinners each with kapil as alrounder. There will be no question about the technique of Gavaskar, Dravid, Tendulkar and Viswanath. And Sehwag is unique with his own style with more consistent in test. also have two triple. kapil is the best alrounder of India. Kumble is the best ever performer in spin department. And Prasanna with his classical spin and variation that can trouble any world class batsman.
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India’s best test XI:
1)GAVASKAR
2)SEHWAG
3)DRAVID
4)TENDULKAR
5)AZHAR
6)DHONI
7)KAPIL
8)KUMBLE
9)SRINATH
10)BEDI
11)PRASSANA
12th Man:VISHWANATH
India’s best ODI XI:
1)SEHWAG
2)GANGULY
3)
4)TENDULKAR
5)YUVRAJ
6)DHONI
7)KAPIL
8)HARBHAJAN
9)ZAHEER
10)SRINATH
11)KUMBLE
12TH MAN:JADEJA
kept the 3rd position vacant as i cudn’t decide between azhar/dravid n vengsarkar.
harbhajan,kumble,zaheer were selected as they are good fielders and quiet handy with the bat as well…
srinath is an automatic choice….
jadeja is the 12th man for his fielding skills.
the test team is the best..it can beat any team of any era…bradman’s team,llods team,steve waugh/pointings team etc
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