India's 500th Test - My All-time Test XI

The first Test against New Zealand at Kanpur will be India’s 500th. It has been a long and adventurous journey for team India, who are responsible to make cricket a popular and professional sports in the subcontinent and popularize cricket in this part of the world. Especially, the six-foot tall doctor, Mehellasha Parvi, whose round-arm action and pace made him a prominent figure in the 1890s.  

Keeping in mind about the historic day, I pay my rich tribute to CK Nayudu, Vinoo Mankand, Lala Amarnath, Mohammad Nissar, Vijay Hazare, Pankaj Roy, Mustaque Ali and above all, the Parsee community who were instrumental in popularizing cricket in this part of the world. Especially, the six-foot tall doctor, Mehellasha Parvi, whose round-arm action and pace made him a prominent figure in the 1890s.

Without the above mentioned people, Indian cricket and cricket in the subcontinent would not have advanced that much.  

As  a cricket fan, I have many memories about the India cricket team since 1986. I was six years old in 1986 and I came to know about India during that eventful match at Sharjah when Javed Miandad hit that last ball for a six and turned the whole subcontinent upside down. I knew nothing about cricket back then, but all I could remember, the radio commentators to repeat the names of Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Dilip Vengsarkar, Chetan Sharma and Mohammad Azharuddin. Of course, the radio commentators repeated the names of Javed Miandad and Imran Khan billion times I guess.

In my school and college life, the Indian team was all about achieving individual landmarks rather than a major force in world cricket like West Indies, Pakistan, Australia or South Africa. A defeat against Pakistan was a regular event while they display away from home was always not up to the mark.In the 90s,  people talked more about Sachin Tendulkar than the performance of the team as a whole.

In the early part of 2000, Sourav Ganguly, a cricketer from Kolkata, became the captain and gradually, things started to change. India had not only registered staggering victories, but their record away from home started to improve. Dada’s men played with an aggressive intent, an ingredient which the other captains failed to instill among his men.

In cricket, captaincy is very important. You need a strong and intelligent captain to marshall your team and Ganguly as a captain and player pass on all accounts. For me, an all-time Indian Test XI is incomplete without Dada. If I have to make an all-time Indian Test XI, then, Dada will be my captain and one cannot deny his credibilities as a Test batsman as well. In white shirts, he played some brilliant knocks which still remained etched in memory.  

 Yes, one might make Kapil Dev or Sunil Gavaskar as the captain, but if anyone notice, as a captain, both of them failed to live up to the expectations. Yes, there was Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi and Mohammad Azharuddin, but I have my doubts about Azhar while, MAK Pataudi just might not make it, as in my opinion, Ganguly’s impact was more than him.

Dada was the architect of new India. 

In my team, Sunil Gavaskar will be an automatic choice as the opener and Vinoo Mankand will be his partner instead of Virender Sehwag.

Stats are not in favour of Vinoo. The modern generation hardly knows about his courage and compactness as a batsman and bowler. He was not only an outstanding allrounder, but a symbol of boldness and technical solidity as well when it came to handling the ferocious pacers on testing conditions. 

The Indian hierarchy didn’t select  Vinoo for the first Test against England at Leeds in 1952 and the result was a shambolic one. Fred Trueman put the Indian batting line up into shame. The Indian think tank decided to recall Vinoo and before the start of the second Test at Lord’s, Vinoo invited Bengal cricketer P B Dutta for a beer in a restaurant. Vinoo boldly told him, “Dekh lena, Kaal saala Trueman ke baache ko hum bohut marega. Hum Lindwall, Nissar ko khela hain. Hum ko kaun fast bolwer darain ga”?

At Lords’ Vinoo came down the track and attacked Trueman, who was fast and furious at that time. Vinoo scored 72 and 184 and those knocks are a part of Indian cricket’s folklore.  His bat did the talkings many times when many of his partners failed to deliver. His technique and temperament were solid and with the ball, Vinoo’s left-arm orthodox was nagging and tough to score. Before Kapil arrived, Vinoo was the best allrounder for India.

Excluding Sehwag was a hard choice. But I want a five-man bowling attack where, a fifth bowler will be available to aid the ideal support to the four front line bowlers and I think, Vinoo is the perfect man to provide such. You cannot deny Vinoo’s abilities as an allround cricketer.

The middle-order will include: Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman.

Do I need to explain about the Fab Four?  

My wicketkeeper would be MS Dhoni and the bowlers will be: Kapil Dev, Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath and Zaheer Khan.

Kumble is India’s best spinner and proved a point all over the world, while, I don’t need to describe how good Kapil was. Meanwhile, Srinath and Zaheer had been one of the pioneer pace bowlers since Kapil departed. India might be blessed with legendary batsmen and spinners, but sadly, champion pace bowlers hardly emerged. Yes, there were the likes of Amar Singh and Mohammad Nissar, but both of them had not played enough Test matches to prove a point.

The selection of MS Dhoni over Syed Kirmani, like Vinoo over Sehwag, might not satisfy many, but hey, this is my own team and in my opinion, Dhoni had been a fantastic wicketkeeper-batsman in Test cricket for India. Do I need to explain Dhoni’s capabilities? I don’t think so.

So my all-time Indian Test XI is: Sunil Gavaskar, Vinoo Mankand, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly (C), VVS Laxman, Kapil Dev, MS Dhoni (WK), Anil Kumble, Zaheer Khan and Javagal Srinath.

That’s the way I see it. I didn’t pick the players on the basis of stats, but judged from what I have seen since 1986 and read from the books.

The opinions about this team will differ, but at the end of the day, this is my team and I know, it’s the best.

Thank You

Faisal Caesar