Ah! People do really dig deep to pay tribute to someone after his/her death. Here is what might be said (later, of course) for each of these persons:
Osama Bin Laden:
[Sachin Tendulkar breaks down while paying his tribute]
People from different walks of life are saying:
“A great soul ……. he had united the whole world against himself”
“It’s a great loss to the humanity ……… wars teach you so much, and help sell so many video games” (more…)
Umashankar Tripathi used to be a man until the British cut his compound name into two pieces. Now Uma S Tripathi is clearly a woman, going by the name that is. A proud woman nevertheless – because s/he has a middle name now. Ever since we had discovered a correlation between fair skin and middle names, Indians, en masse, butchered their names. The skin complexion did not change, though. Worse, by this process of name-cutting, people like Umashankar, Vishnupriya and Ramanimohan apparently changed their gender!
Even when the temptation of changing onet’s gender is not there, it’s difficult to resist a middle name. Manmohan Singh always wanted to have a middle name, and he got one now, by being Man Mohan Singh. This did not change his gender, but put an emphasis on his gender. How many people on earth have a first name of Man or Woman? (more…)
It’s by sheer luck that I came across this broadcast on Fox ‘News’. The good peaple on Fox are continuing the noble work of bringing the truth to us, and I doubt if such a bold story could be broadcast by any other channel (A local CBS channel, 19 Action News, had the guts to break the news of a UFO sighted in Cleveland. Some so-called rational people, though, had rubbished that as a large plastic bag in a strong wind!).
Please watch the video carefully. Watch it when it is available for free. You may soon have to pay a fee to watch it. The videographer has already gotten it registered in his name so that no one else can claim ownership of this extraordinary video evidence of ghosts. To me, this video is a certain proof of ghosts. Fox ‘News’ consulted a few experts, who looked like top-notch scientists, and they are dumbfounded by it. Fox ‘News’ says, (more…)
I will begin with My Team A and Team B (how could I select just ONE team!) and then explain the selection. However, this would be selecting in the ‘traditional’ way – taking the best possible player in each position irrespective of which other players are picked in the team. So, it will be a collection of great players, but might be a great team. But that is true whenever we select an ‘all-time’ team.
I would like to select an all-rounder heavy team like:
1. Gavaskar – Sobers called him the best batsman he has seen
2. Hutton (or Hobbs, or Sutcliffe) – Numbers speak for them
3. Bradman – Well, he is The Don
4. Tendulkar (or Richards, or Headley)
5. Kallis – One-change bowler who scored 44 test centuries!!
6. Sobers – The best cricketer ever
7. Imran
8. Gilchrist – Another automatic selection like Bradman/ Sobers
9. Hadlee (or Akram), replaced by Murali/ Warne on spinning tracks
10. Warne (or Murali) – Numbers! Victims!
11. Marshall – Arguably the best fast bowler ever
However, the following would be more traditional teams:
| TEAM-A | TEAM-B | |
| OPENERS | Sunil Gavaskar | Jack Hobbs |
| Len Hutton | Virender Sehwag | |
| MIDDLE ORDER | Don Bradman | George Headley |
| Sachin Tendulkar | Brian Lara | |
| Vivian Richards | Walter Hammond | |
| BATTING ALL-ROUNDER | Garfield Sobers | Jacques Kallis |
| WICKET KEEPER | Adam Gilchrist | Alan Knott |
| BOWLING ALL-ROUNDER | Imran Khan | Keith Miller |
| PACERS | Malcolm Marshall | Wasim Akram |
| Sydney Barnes | Glen McGrath | |
| SPINNER | Muttaiah Muralitharan | Shane Warne |
| 12TH MAN | Richard Hadlee | Dennis Lillee |
In short, the answer might be: the ones who are most difficult to leave out.
The most widely accepted approach seems to be picking players based on their entire career, preferably a long one – not just a handful of games. But I do see a few exceptions to that. Barry Richards has been picked by many former cricketers as being one of the greatest in spite of playing just four international matches. He dominated in those games – but I would hesitate to declare him an all-time great based on just that tiny sample. Had Azharuddin played just three test matches (he scored a century in each of the first three he played), would we consider him an all-time great? Do people consider Vinod Kambli, in spite of all the potential he had shown and in spite of scoring back-to-back double tons, as one of the stalwarts? On the bowling side, would Bob Massie or Narendra Hirwani be considered greats?
But going by statistics and the accounts from other players, I think there wouldn’t be much debate about the selection of Don Bradman, and Garfield Sobers.
CricInfo has published a World XI for Test cricket. It’s fun to play selector for hypothetical teams. This was going on for some time on CricInfo and Pakistanis must have voted for Miandad while New Zealanders must have voted for Martin Crowe as the second best middle-order batsman ever.
I have used the pool of cricketers created by CricInfo. It is easier that way. But I do not necessarily agree to their 5-batsmen 4-bowlers 1-allrounder approach. I would rather have four main bowlers and two to three change bowlers. This is particularly helpful on flat pitches.
Comparing players from different era is difficult in any game – all the more so in cricket! Not only did the rules change over time, a plethora of other things have changed as well – making it extremely complicated to compare the statistics. But there are certain things that most people agree on.
First, batting on uncovered pitches is more difficult than on covered ones. That gives an edge to the batsmen from the older generation.
But then, with the expansion of cricket came more variety in bowling, and that made batting more difficult.
However, with more protection for the batsmen – both physical, and through rules – batting has become easier now.
And then, with better grounds equipment, pitches are more predictable now. The grounds have become shorter. The outfields are now quicker.
But fielding has become way better now!
Ok, so we get it – it’s never apples to apples, but we don’t have any other better way to judge players than by statistics and by the accounts of other players from the era.
Ok, without further ado, here is what my team composition will be:
Keeping an opener who can dominate the ball from the very beginning is a viable option here because we should have a solid middle order.Graeme Smith, Virender Sehwag, Mathew Hayden, Conrad Hunte, and Gordon Grinidge fall into this category. However, this is not an absolute necessity, and I will not have a so-called attacking opener in my ‘A’ team.
Graeme Smith (91 tests 7457 runs @ 49.7 22×100 29×50) and Sehwag (87 tests 7694 runs @ 53.4 22×100 27×50) are my choices. Of the two, Sehwag has been chosen in their all-time XI by a host of his contemporary cricketers. .
Barry Richards played in too few international matches to be considered in an all-time XI. Sehwag and Smith are clearly the best attacking openers, going by statistics and by what contemporary players have to say. Gordon Grinidge, Conrad Hunte etc have far worse staistics than these two – but they are considered greats by other cricketers.
Hutton (79 tests 6971 runs @ 56.7 19×100 33×50) or Hobbs (61 tests 5410 runs @ 56.9 15×100 28×50) would be one fantastic choice here. Either of them can come in based purely on batting average. However, Gavaskar (125 tests 10122 runs @ 51.12 34×100 45×50) would replace one of the two, though. These three are among the best five opening batsmen of all time.
Why would I pick Gavaskar ahead of Hobbs or Hutton? The primary reason is that Gavaskar has played in the era of arguably the best fast bowling, and he exceled. To be the best, you need to beat the best. What can be more impressive than scoring 13 centuries against the mighty West Indies that had four of the greatest fast bowlers of all time?
Three middle-order batsmen should follow that can dominate the bowling and/or build a defence, as the situation may demand. Bradman (52 tests 6996 runs @ 99.94 29×100 13×50) is an automatic choice. The five others would be Tendulkar (177 tests 14692 runs @ 56.94 51×100 59×50), Lara (131 tests 11953 runs @ 52.88 34×100 48×50), Richards (121 tests 8540 runs @ 50.23 24×100 45×50), Headley (22 tests 2190 runs @ 60.83 10×100 5×50) and Hammond (85 tests 7249 runs @ 58.45 22×100 24×50). (I guess any of these guys, save Bradman, can be replaced by any of Border, Ponting, Steve Waugh, Dravid, The 3W’s, RG Pollock, Greg Chappell and Sangakkara!). Going by statistics, these are the best middle order batsmen of all time. Some of these players even have a decent bowling record, too.
Border, Steve Waugh, and Ponting are widely regarded by their contemporaries as being pro’s pro, and the mentally toughest. RG Pollock and Greg Chappell have wonderful records during the era when pace bowling was at its finest!
Tendulkar vs Lara is probably as entertaining a debate as any in cricket. Most contemporary cricketers agree that Tendulkar was the more complete package, while Lara would be the choice for a big run chase. Now, since Bradman is an automatic choice, it’s down to choosing two from Viv Richards, Sachin Tendulkar, and Brian Lara. Even though a lefty would bring some variety in the batting line-up, I would leave Lara out in this case.
Sobers is an automatic choice. The other one should be Kallis. These are the two best batting all-rounders of all time. I consider Kallis to be less of a true all-rounder than Kapil, Imran or Botham. However, he was a far superior batsman to any of the other three than he was inferior in bowling to those guys. So, as a batting all-rounder, Kallis is an automatic second choice. Kapil and Botham were the two most genuine all-rounders (can win with either bat or ball or both) before they had their career-affecting surgeries (to the knee and back, respectively).
Imran Khan and Keith Miller. If Imran Khan is not discredited for his ball tampering, he is one of the two best all-rounders in cricket history, the other one being Gary Sobers. Keith Miller had very Imranesque records. Both Kapil Dev and Ian Botham were outstanding all-rounders, specially during the early days of their careers, but would lose out to Imran and Miller in terms of statistics over the whole internationsal career. Shaun Pollock was another great bowling all-rounder to be considered here. Richard Hadlee was an outstanding all-rounder, and was considered by many as the most intelligent bowler they have faced.
I am tempted to include Kallis alongside Sobers as another all-rounder here. But that will make the pace attack thin.
A quality wicket-keeper, both for fast bowling and spin, who is at least a useful batsman. Alan Knott and Adam Gilchrist are the two best here. However, I would replace Knott with Sangakkara! Knott is considered one of the finest wicket-keepers to have played the game. However, Sangakkara’s batting would give him the edge. He was a fine wicket-keeper as well.
This is the most crowded field of them all. The game has produced an abundance of greats in this category.
My top four could be Marshall, Barnes, McGrath and Hadlee. It could have been Trueman, Lillee, Akram and Garner as well. Or Waqar Younis, Alan Dadidson, Alan Donald and Ambrose/Walsh. Even Dale Steyn could easily be picked based on his phenomenal strike rate. But I kept the search simple. At least 150 wickets taken, a strike rate of at most 60, a bowling average of at most 24, and all these conditions are true for over-all career as well as in only away-games (other than for Barnes) against fairly strong oppositions.
Fast bowlers hunted in pairs (or packs!) – and I had initially thought of picking a pair (Ambrose-Walsh, Waqar-Wasim, Marshall-Garner, …..). But then, Barnes had statistics that is impossible to ignore. He was moody, and could be a captain’s nightmare – but still managed to have a spectacular bowling record
Marshall is arguably the best fast bowler across all conditions. There have been more intimidating bowlers, and there have been bowlers unplayable in certain conditions – but none more complete a fast bowler than Marshall.
Going by the account of the contemporary cricketers, it would be difficult to leave Akram out. More so because he brings variety by being a lefty! Then again, Lillee is widely considered as the best ever! Ambrose is considered the most unplayable by his contemporaries. And then, how would you leave out Garner, Holding, Roberts, or Trueman!
Warne and Muralitharan. This is purely based on statistics and consistency of their performance. Bill O’Riely, Kumble, Jim Laker, the Indian Spin Quatret, Subhas Gupte, Underwood, Mankad, Grimmett etc could be considered, too. But Warne and Muralitharan remain the two best spinners of all time. I would give a slight edge to Murali. He has the better statistics – and he has more success across the conditions, and was a tad bit superior match-winner. Warne’s batting was much better – but I don’t think that would be required for team with these batsmen at the top (with Imran batting at #8, and Marshall at #9 ).
My composition and Richie Benaud’s composition have very similar structures even though I had no idea that Benaud picked an all-time eleven in 2004.
| My Best XI | My World XI | CricInfo XI A | CricInfo XI B | Richie Benaud’s XI | Bradman’s XI |
| Len Hutton | Jack Hobbs | Jack Hobbs | Sunil Gavaskar | Jack Hobbs | Arthur Morris |
| Sunil Gavaskar | Virender Sehwag | Len Hutton | Barry Richards | Sunil Gavaskar | Barry Richards |
| Don Bradman (vc) | George Headley | Don Bradman | George Headley | Don Bradman | Don Bradman |
| Sachin Tendulkar | Brian Lara | Sachin Tendulkar | Brian Lara | Viv Richards | Sachin Tendulkar |
| Viv Richards | Wally Hammond (vc) | Viv Richards | Wally Hammond | Sachin Tendulkar | Gary Sobers |
| Gary Sobers | Jacques Kallis | Gary Sobers | Imran Khan | Garry Sobers | Don Tallon |
| Imran Khan (cp) | Adam Gilchrist (wk) | Adam Gilchrist | Alan Knott | Imran Khan | Ray Lindwall |
| Sangakkara (wk) | Keith Miller | Malcolm Marshall | Bill O’Reilly | Adam Gilchrist | Dennis Lillee |
| Malcolm Marshall | Wasim Akram | Shane Warne | Fred Trueman | Shane Warne | Alec Bedser |
| Muttiah Muralitharan | Shane Warne (cp) | Wasim Akram | Muttiah Muralitharan | Dennis Lillee | Bill O’Reilly |
| Sydney Barnes | Glenn McGrath | Dennis Lillee | Sydney Barnes | Sydney Barnes | Clarrie Grimmett |
You should better disagree with this ‘selection’ if you have ever watched any form of cricket. Please post your own Best World XI as a comment here.
The Wisden list published in 2001 tried to quantify and rank single individual performances as well as overall career performances for all cricketers who have played test matches. The merit and acceptability of this list is suspect, but we may use this as another pool of great cricketers. Only, Wisden is a little biased towards British and Australian cricketers. The top (“most influencial”) ten test batsmen, according to the list that takes the entire careers into account, are (in order): Bradman, Tendulkar, Dravid, Sobers, Border, Hobbs, Barrington, Gavaskar, GS Chappell and Lara. The top ten bowlers are Muralitharan, Hadlee, Barnes, Warne, Grimmett, McGrath, Lillee, Marshall, Imran Khan and Walsh. Other than for Barrington, all the names are there in my pool.
It’s all hypothetical. No point in arguing with the format of the game or the venues. All cricketing rules as of the end of 2009 will be deemed valid. Third umpire will be in place. Five unsuccessful review requests per innings per team will be allowed. The two teams will play a ten-game series of five-day test matches at the following venues over a year.
[An ‘All’-Time Indian Test XI may have a different combination than the above, though. Since India has not produced a match-winning fast bowler yet, the team may have to be a little all-rounder heavy, i.e., having a few players who are good bowlers and decent batsmen. Here is the combination:
Two opening batsmen from among Gavaskar, Sehwag, Gambhir and Vijay Merchant
Three middle-order batsmen from among Tendulkar, Dravid, M Amarnath, Laxman, Ganguly, Vijay Hazare, Virat Kohli.
One wicket-keeper from Dhoni and Kirmani
Five from the three categories below, depending on the pitch and some other conditions
Two/three all-rounders from Mankad, KapilDev and Phadkar
One/two pacer(s) from Zaheer Khan, Srinath, Amar Singh, Nissar, Bumrah
Two/one spinner(s) from Kumble, Gupte, Bedi, Chandra, Prasanna, Ashwin and Harbhajan
Mankad, KapilDev and Phadkar are very good batsmen capable of scoring centuries. Harbhajan, Zaheer, Srinath, Amar Singh and Kumble are also decent batsmen. On the other hand, M Amarnath, Vijay Hazare and Ganguly are decent medium pacers and Sehwag and Tendulkar can spin the ball
A very valid point to remember here:
An Indian team with eight of the players listed above (Gambhir, Sehwag, Tendulkar, Dravid, Dhoni, Laxman, Zaheer and Harbhajan) has been white-washed by England in England and by Australia in Australia in 2010-2011!
How about this as the best Indian test XI: Gavaskar, Sehwag, Dravid, Tendulkar, Kohli, Mankad, Dhoni, Kapildev, Amar Singh, Kumble, Ashwin? Bats deep – everyone is capable of scoring some runs. Has two good medium pacers and three excellent spinners. Dhoni would be the captain, and Kapildev would be vice captain.
Another combination could be Gavaskar, Mankad, Dravid, Tendulkar, Kohli, Dhoni, Kapildev, Amar Singh, Kumble, Ashwin, Bumrah/Zaheer – this allows more bowling options, three pacers and three spinners.]
(After posting 376 blog posts across 7 blogs, reading 5191 comments and replying to 1234 of them, and threatening to delete some of the posts or even blogs, the eternal question suddenly dawned on me: What’s the meaning of life blogging? Why do we blog?
I searched everywhere and I left no stones books unturned – from the Bible/Quran/ZendAvesta/Torah to A Collection of Pearls from Sathya Sai Baba. Finally, and rather surprisingly, I found some answers on a forum of a social networking website. But, nothing is impossible in a world where 200 million Muslims, instead of facing Makka, face the sunbathing babes on the beaches of Peru and offer prayers! Anyway, here are the top ten reasons for blogging as mentioned by the members of that forum, in their own words and grammar) (more…)
It is said that a Hindu pilgrim may attain moksha after earning 1000 punya-points (just called ‘punya’) through pilgrimage. Surprisingly, not many in the current generation know about how many punya one may earn at which pilgrim spot. Here we tried to present the various ways of getting punya as have been approved by the Shankaracharyas. We have also mentioned a few tips & tricks about how to score a few extra points.
There are three categories of pilgrim places – local, regional and global. According to Lalchandji’s Punya Guide, this categorization reflects the maximum standard punya attainable from a particular pilgrim place in a period of twelve consecutive months. Here is a brief summary: (more…)
This is pure jealousy! I saw some blogging awards proudly displayed on the sidebars of some blogs, and now I want to brag about the blogging awards I have won received. Well, not about all the blogging awards I have received – ‘coz that will take a lot of space, but just the most important ones as mentioned below. I am now seriously thinking about creating a new page here for properly displaying all those awards. (more…)
. Informed . Opinions . 