Cricket-Match-Special ... A forum for discussion

A team is being selected at the moment ... https://www.facebook.com/IndianCricketT ... ED&fref=nf

it's very sad how little the people voting seem to know about the history of Indian cricket - apart from Gavaskar and Kapil they don't seem to have heard of anyone pre-Sachin!

The famous spin quartet didn't even get close, nor Mankad. Dhoni ahead of Engineer I;m not sure about. Also, I don't think they even know who Amar Singh and Mohammed Nissar are.

The team will end up being Gavaskar, Sehwag, Dravid, Sachin, VVS, Kapil, Dhoni, Ashwin, Kumble, Srinath, Zak ... which might not be too wrong, but some of the comments and the complete lack of consideration of Amar Singh, Nissar, Mankad, Engineer, Bedi ect irks me.

No Kohli?

Arthur Crabtree wrote:No Kohli?

nope - missed out to VVS I think. Kohli will probably get there but hasn't done enough in tests yet - at least the voters recognised that!

I would have gone Bedi ahead of Kumble, and at home I'd go with Mankad ahead of Zak or Srinath. Based on testimonies, stats and hsitory I'd pick Amar Singh ahead of Zak and Srinath as well so my side is ...

RD's Home XI - Gavaskar, Sehwag, Dravid, Sachin, VVS, Engineer, Ashwin, Mankad, Kapil, Amar Singh, Bedi

Away from home in seamers conditions I'd have Mohd Nissar as well and probably bring back Zak (Srinath is close but Zak gives left arm option), and would have Chandrasekhar as the sole spinner because he was superb outside India so my side is ...

RD's Away XI - Gavaskar, Sehwag, Dravid, Sachin, VVS, Engineer, Kapil, Amar Singh, Zak, Nissar, Chandrasekhar

although Vinoo Mankad and Srinath would be close.

Of course the likes of Ashwin and Kohli may force their way into the reckoning in the coming years

Can't see Bedi passing the calliper test.

Arthur Crabtree wrote:Can't see Bedi passing the calliper test.

I must be getting old, I don't think I understand

It's a test of Andy Flower's where before and after a tour the players would be photographed in their pants, and instruments produced to pinch fat at various parts of the body to make sure the players were meeting physical goals.

Tell me Red...

How can you make an informed judgement on the merit of Dhoni vs Engineer, when Engineer retired over 40 years ago. I might be wrong, but you dont strike me as a 60 year old, so I would have to assume that you havent seen the latter play. Nothing worse than judging the merit of a player on reputation or paper stats.

In 40 years time I am going to have to read about Steven Gerrard being one of the greatest players ever, solely on the basis that the media of the time were 90% ex-Liverpool players, and not at all because he was anything near a world class player.

Reps and stats lie. Alan Knott never dropped a catch apparently, but there are more than a few videos of him dropping absolute clangers on youtube. Every person over 60 will tell you he was the best, but the likelyhood of him being even better than Jonny Bairstow is remote considering the ridiculously huge advances in athletisim and fielding quality I myself have witnessed in my relatively short cricket watching career.

I saw Alan Knott for quite a few years, and he was by far a better keeper than Bairstow (I'd rate only Geraint behind JB). I saw Engineer too, but picked Dhoni.

Arthur Crabtree wrote:I saw Alan Knott for quite a few years, and he was by far a better keeper than Bairstow (I'd rate only Geraint behind JB). I saw Engineer too, but picked Dhoni.

Your older than I thought then

The top four almost picks itself, as does the all-rounder, Dev.

From the remaining six, most of the players from the last 15-20 years will be vying for a place, I suppose.

I started watching in 1976, Knott retired in 1981. But it does demonstrate the unreliability of stats, that the person I named as the worst keeper, has the most wickets per game for England.

Surely the India team of the noughties was their best ever team. And its record away from home was good (better by far than the team in the teens). So the bulk of the selections could be expected to come from that era.

Kapil Dev was a fine bowler for most of his career but slowed down and became a bit of a medium paced all rounder towards the end. I wonder if that is the memory some have of him. And in the India cricket I saw, he was a breakthrough, a world class pace bowler, from an era when previously they would open from one end with a batter bowling, like Gavaskar and rely almost entirely on spin.

The Dev I remember was that medium-fast swing bowler. Similar to Beefy.

Botham slowed up as well, though a bit sooner than KD.

Yes Beefy went down to Colingwood pace, though he could swing it still.