Indian XI
Harish Chandramouli
jo...@jhall.demon.co.uk wrote:
JH> In this forum, I'm probably pushing my luck in attempting to come up
JH> with a team to take them on, but how about:
And you'd be right :-) No offence intended John, but your opening with
Mohinder brings back memories of suggestions by one or two people (that I
know) of late, that Azharuddin should open the innings in the one day game
:-)
JH> Gavaskar
JH> Mohinder Amarnath
[...]
--
Seriously though, imho Amarnath would easily displace Viswanath in the
first xi. And I still can't believe that Amar Singh's name hasn't even
been _mentioned_. Easily India's best swing bowler (foot in mouth :-)
before Kapil Dev, and a talented and aggressive batsman, he does seem to
be rather underrated on this forum...
My XI then: Gavaskar (who does he think he's kidding ?), Merchant,
Hazare, Amarnath, Umrigar, Mankad, Kapil(c), Kirmani(w-k), Amarsingh,
Prasanna and Nissar. 12th man: Chandrasekhar.
Cheers,
Harish [who likes to think that Amar was at least as talented a cricketer
as Kapil Dev, if not more].
--
--------------------------------------------
| Harish Chandramouli, UT at Austin. |
| CI E+AW--SI+++P---N+LZ#wi+++pmppU--FB++1++|
--------------------------------------------
Sadiq Yusuf
In article <4mc04i$2e...@plucky.cs.utexas.edu>,
Harish Chandramouli <ch...@cs.utexas.edu> wrote:
>jo...@jhall.demon.co.uk wrote:
>
>JH> In this forum, I'm probably pushing my luck in attempting to come up
>JH> with a team to take them on, but how about:
>
>And you'd be right :-) No offence intended John, but your opening with
>Mohinder brings back memories of suggestions by one or two people (that I
>know) of late, that Azharuddin should open the innings in the one day game
>:-)
>
>JH> Gavaskar
>JH> Mohinder Amarnath
>[...]
>
>--
>Seriously though, imho Amarnath would easily displace Viswanath in the
>first xi. And I still can't believe that Amar Singh's name hasn't even
>been _mentioned_. Easily India's best swing bowler (foot in mouth :-)
>before Kapil Dev, and a talented and aggressive batsman, he does seem to
>be rather underrated on this forum...
>
>My XI then: Gavaskar (who does he think he's kidding ?), Merchant,
>Hazare, Amarnath, Umrigar, Mankad, Kapil(c), Kirmani(w-k), Amarsingh,
>Prasanna and Nissar. 12th man: Chandrasekhar.
>
>Cheers,
>Harish [who likes to think that Amar was at least as talented a cricketer
> as Kapil Dev, if not more].
>
Hum. Disagree. Maybe Amarnath can replace Vishy - I dont know.
However, I think SRT could well replace both :-) And yes, I agree with
you that SMG has to open the batting - who is he kidding. And open with
Merchant - who may be (along with Hazare) the best other two bats in the
side.
Also, I disagree with your pick of Amar Singh :-) I think you
have to pick either Amar Singh *or* Nissar - definitely not both,
certainly not at the expense of Chandra (who might have been the best
bowler to ever play for India).
I think my team would be Gavaskar, Merchant, Hazare, Tendulkar,
Umrigar (c), Mankad, Kapil, Kirmani (wk), Prasanna, Nissar and Chandra.
I'd give the captaincy to Umrigar because Kapil was a very poor captain,
really (and I didnt see Umrigar, but have heard he was decent :-) This
team would have 2 fast bowlers, 3 spinners (left-arm orthodox in Mankad,
leg in Chandra and off in Prasanna). And both Umrigar and Hazare could
bowl very useful medium-pace indeed - very very good stock bowlers,
though not strike bowlers.
(Iam sure there will be a couple of objections to SRT - but I
really think he's done close to enough to be picked even now. And, of
course, maybe even a year or so from now, there will be no thought of
disagreement from anyone :-)
Sadiq [ who likes this team ] Yusuf
>
>--
> --------------------------------------------
>| Harish Chandramouli, UT at Austin. |
>| CI E+AW--SI+++P---N+LZ#wi+++pmppU--FB++1++|
> --------------------------------------------
--
Sadiq Yusuf
si...@iastate.edu
Harish Chandramouli
From si...@iastate.edu Fri May 3 23:15:40 CDT 1996
>My XI then: Gavaskar (who does he think he's kidding ?), Merchant,
>Hazare, Amarnath, Umrigar, Mankad, Kapil(c), Kirmani(w-k), Amarsingh,
>Prasanna and Nissar. 12th man: Chandrasekhar.
>
>Cheers,
>Harish [who likes to think that Amar was at least as talented a cricketer
> as Kapil Dev, if not more].
>
SY> Hum. Disagree. Maybe Amarnath can replace Vishy - I dont know.
SY> However, I think SRT could well replace both :-) And yes, I agree with
Probably, yes. For one feels that he has the technique and temperament
of Gavaskar PLUS the aggression and sheer audacity of Mohinder. Which does
make for a rather irresistible combination really :-) But the reason why
I didn't take him into account (as a current player i.e) was that if I
had then Kumble would have probably had to have come into the equation as
well. And his presence would most definitely have only served to confuse
things even further :-) (although at present, and till he succeeds
outside the subcontinent with *regularity*,I suppose one _would_ have to
pick Prasanna/Chandra over him).
SY> Also, I disagree with your pick of Amar Singh :-) I think you
SY> have to pick either Amar Singh *or* Nissar - definitely not both,
Why ? By all accounts, (although mainly Mihir Bose's) he was a _terrific_
swing bowler. And quoting from memory here, in the very first test that
India played, although Amar had a statistically unimpressive performance
(we must not forget just how pathetic the Indian fielding was back then.
In fact I don't think it would be too much of an exaggeration to perhaps
say that catches were dropped more often than they were taken :-), a
batsman of no less stature than Wally Hammond remarked on how "Amar came
off the pitch like the crack of doom" (Hammond was in fact bowled by
Amarsingh for 35). Interestingly enough, coming in at #10 in the same
test Amar hit a whirlwind 51 (in 40 minutes) as well (he was to bat as
high as #4 in subsequent tests, from time to time)! The comment which
really amazed me however was Sir Pelham Warner's, (in 1936 after he saw
Amar take 6 for 35 at Lords) when he remarked on how Amar at his best was
a swing bowler in the same category as Sid Barnes! And that to me, is
probably praise alone enough to warrant the former a place in an Indian
alltimeXi :-)
Anyway, all this nostalgia leads one nowhere I suppose. And yet, but
for the fact that he and CK never saw eye to eye,(which resulted in
the former never quite performing to his potential more than half the time)
we'd have seen what the _real_ Amar Singh was capable of. Certainly a batting
average of 22.46 and a bowling average of 30.46 did his talent no justice
imo.
SY> certainly not at the expense of Chandra (who might have been the best
SY> bowler to ever play for India).
Fine. Drop Prasanna then :-) See if I care :-)
SY> I think my team would be Gavaskar, Merchant, Hazare, Tendulkar,
SY> Umrigar (c), Mankad, Kapil, Kirmani (wk), Prasanna, Nissar and Chandra.
SY> I'd give the captaincy to Umrigar because Kapil was a very poor captain,
SY> really (and I didnt see Umrigar, but have heard he was decent :-) This
Kapil may have not been a very good captain, but at least he had an attacking
bone (or two) in his body, and was willing to take risks from time to time.
(and that quality always endeared me to his type of cricket, more than
anything else) Which is more than I can say for the likes Gavaskar,Hazare
or perhaps anyone else in the side. Haven't read much about Umrigar's
captaincy though. Perhaps someone who was lucky enough to see him back
then would care to share their views with us on this one.
SY> team would have 2 fast bowlers, 3 spinners (left-arm orthodox in Mankad,
SY> leg in Chandra and off in Prasanna). And both Umrigar and Hazare could
SY> bowl very useful medium-pace indeed - very very good stock bowlers,
SY> though not strike bowlers.
Heh. Hazare had what, 20 test victims in 30 tests @61 ? That doesn't
sound like either stock OR strike to me quite frankly :-) (Although
admittedly, he does have a terrific fc record with the ball. I was quite
stunned when I saw that he averaged something like 19 (?) in all fc
cricket!). And I'd rather see an attack that opens with Nissar
and Amar, with Kapil as back up than the one you mention above. Hmm. 3
Indian pacemen actually worth their salt... what a dream :-)
SY> (Iam sure there will be a couple of objections to SRT - but I
SY> really think he's done close to enough to be picked even now. And, of
SY> course, maybe even a year or so from now, there will be no thought of
SY> disagreement from anyone :-)
No disagreement from me even now. Unless of course you pick him
to open the batting (sheesh) as well :-)
SY> Sadiq [ who likes this team ] Yusuf
Cheers,
Harish [who wonders why anyone would select a team if they didn't like
it in the first place ? :-)]
Neeran M. Karnik
ch...@cs.utexas.edu (Harish Chandramouli) writes:
>And you'd be right :-) No offence intended John, but your opening with
>Mohinder brings back memories of suggestions by one or two people (that I
>know) of late, that Azharuddin should open the innings in the one day game
A few years ago, Azhar himself seriously considered opening in ODs!
>Seriously though, imho Amarnath would easily displace Viswanath in the
Eh? I think that's _highly_ debatable. In what respect was Amarnath
clearly better than Vishwanath? Most certainly not in strokeplay,
that's for sure. Handling fast bowling abroad? Possibly, but only
for a part of his overall career.
>first xi. And I still can't believe that Amar Singh's name hasn't even
>been _mentioned_. Easily India's best swing bowler (foot in mouth :-)
>before Kapil Dev, and a talented and aggressive batsman, he does seem to
>be rather underrated on this forum...
Indeed. Sadly, he never had much opportunity on the world stage, and
it's somewhat understandable therefore, that he goes unmentioned in
such threads.
>My XI then: Gavaskar (who does he think he's kidding ?), Merchant,
>Hazare, Amarnath, Umrigar, Mankad, Kapil(c), Kirmani(w-k), Amarsingh,
>Prasanna and Nissar. 12th man: Chandrasekhar.
Oh no no no, Chandra can never be 12th man (not just because his
fielding was atrocious :-) Surely India hasn't produced a more
dangerous bowler (of any type) in its history? Your team has three
pace bowlers (Nissar/Amar/Kapil) plus three parttime seamers
(Hazare/Umrigar/Amarnath), plus Indian opening bowler Gavaskar :-)
That's far too many seamers - Chandra must come in, replacing one of
the pacers. BTW, I'd probably go for Kirmani as wk too, but Engineer
does run him close.
>| Harish Chandramouli, UT at Austin. |
>| CI E+AW--SI+++P---N+LZ#wi+++pmppU--FB++1++|
Somewhat outdated criccode follows :-)
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~+
| Neeran M. Karnik | #1 fan of Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar on r.s.c. :-> |
| Dept. of CompSci.| ------------------------------------------------ |
| U of Minnesota |CI/UE-A++W++SI+++++P+N-L+Z#wi+++++pow+#pU-F+B++l++|
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