Is this the best Indian test team ever?

Well?

I say yes. They have all the bases covered- Top quality batting, top quality fast bowling, top quality spin bowling, good fielding these days, confidence, an excellent captain, and great team spirit.

Thoughts?

I liked Joompon Bandhwagun's team of the 1940's

is this trev's last proclamation of premature greatness ever?

no

It's the best india have had in my lifetime, but won't be for much longer given the age of some of the batsmen.

Unless those that follow are equally as good.

JKLever wrote:Unless those that follow are equally as good.

we wish. one more generation of srt, dravid, vvs and gangs. sigh...

The One wrote:is this trev's last proclamation of premature greatness ever?

no

Is this the last time TO ever puts words into someone else's mouth?

No.

Without going into any great business, I think this is the best team we've ever had. A mix of some great to very good bats, gritty competitors, and a more rounded bowling attack than I have seen before.

There were better bowlers who played together before (the spin trio), better bats (Gavaskar), equally talented bats (Vishy, Azhar), a world class all rounder (Kapil). But never IMO have we seen such an effective mix.

JKLever wrote:It's the best india have had in my lifetime, but won't be for much longer given the age of some of the batsmen.

Unless those that follow are equally as good.

SRT, Dravid, VVS, and Ganguly will be hard to replace, but if you look around the world, Australia hasn't got another Ponting or Hayden in the wings, South Africa doesn't have another Kallis, and England doesn't have another batsman anywhere near the calibre of KP. India's batting will dip, but so will a few other teams in a couple of years.

the only difference this team has from past teams is the quality of fast bowling and a character like Sehwag at the top of the order.

And the first time BCCI have had a damn lucky captain in form of Dhoni .. he is the luckiest dude around.

Rest everything is same.

im not sure that the indian batting will dip. dravids been off form for 2 yrs, ganguly was always a mid-low 40s player.

i expect yuvraj to be as good as, if not better than, ganguly. gambhir has stepped up taking the pressure off #3 a little.

laxman and tendulkar will be hard to replace but both have a couple of years left in them yet. rohit sharma and maybe others will come good by that time.

producing classy batsmen has never been a problem for india.

critics proclaim the wadekars 1971 team as the best indian test side of all-time, largely down to the twin wins in WI and eng.

i actually rate the 2004 side ahead of the current one. the batting was at its absolute peak, kumble and harbhajan were better bowlers and only the pace bowling was worse off. dhonis the better keeper but parthiv was as effective a batsman and ganguly as good a captain, if not better.

sehwag
chopra
dravid
tendulkar
ganguly
laxman
parthiv
irfan pathan
kumble
harbhajan
zaheer / balaji

Henry wrote:Well?

I say yes. They have all the bases covered- Top quality batting, top quality fast bowling, top quality spin bowling, good fielding these days, confidence, an excellent captain, and great team spirit.

Thoughts?

Trev,

Top quality batting? Dravid has been almost non existant since lat three years, an ever unreliable and impatient Yuvraj has replaced Ganguly and VVS isn't consistant either.

Top quality spin bowling? Bhajji is overrated and Mishra has just started. Bhajji failure away from home is well known and Mishra is yet to play a test away from home.

Top quality fast bowling? Where are the third and fourth seamers?

>> Top quality fast bowling? Where are the third and fourth seamers?

Sreesanth and Munaf Patel.

You seem to underestimate these two consistently on some pretext or another. Then there are the likes of VRV/Pankaj backing them up.

Chandan wrote:

Henry wrote:Well?

I say yes. They have all the bases covered- Top quality batting, top quality fast bowling, top quality spin bowling, good fielding these days, confidence, an excellent captain, and great team spirit.

Thoughts?

Trev,

Top quality batting? Dravid has been almost non existant since lat three years, an ever unreliable and impatient Yuvraj has replaced Ganguly and VVS isn't consistant either.

Top quality spin bowling? Bhajji is overrated and Mishra has just started. Bhajji failure away from home is well known and Mishra is yet to play a test away from home.

Top quality fast bowling? Where are the third and fourth seamers?

But Chandan, you haven't answered my question- Has there ever been a better Indian test team than this one?

compared to the 2004 team this team has better pacers and a slightly better keeper but not as good batting or spinners

this team's true tests will be away from home. until then i shall reserve judgement

SLIGHTLY better keeper???? Dhoni is miles better than Parthiv.

maybe i should have said keeper-batsman. the gap narrows with that

parthiv of course cost us two possible series wins against australia

Henry wrote:

Chandan wrote:

Henry wrote:Well?

I say yes. They have all the bases covered- Top quality batting, top quality fast bowling, top quality spin bowling, good fielding these days, confidence, an excellent captain, and great team spirit.

Thoughts?

Trev,

Top quality batting? Dravid has been almost non existant since lat three years, an ever unreliable and impatient Yuvraj has replaced Ganguly and VVS isn't consistant either.

Top quality spin bowling? Bhajji is overrated and Mishra has just started. Bhajji failure away from home is well known and Mishra is yet to play a test away from home.

Top quality fast bowling? Where are the third and fourth seamers?

But Chandan, you haven't answered my question- Has there ever been a better Indian test team than this one?

If you take the team that went to SA in 2006 : everything you mentioned was there in the team. Yet we lost the series. I think we are weaker from that team as Bhajji is nowhere near Kumble on tracks away from home and the stealy resolve of Ganguly is missing as well.

Yes, this is the best Indian team.

it'd be interesting to see how mishra or chawla shape up away from home. neither kumble nor harbhajan were / are that effective and have let the batsmen down several times.

Ash wrote:it'd be interesting to see how mishra or chawla shape up away from home. neither kumble nor harbhajan were / are that effective and have let the batsmen down several times.

Yet I'd say that Kumble has been our best spinner, even abroad, by a mile.

Chandan wrote:

Yet I'd say that Kumble has been our best spinner, even abroad, by a mile.

surely one of Prasanna, Chandra or Bedi must have been better than Kumble(abroad).

PlanetPakistan wrote:

Chandan wrote:

Yet I'd say that Kumble has been our best spinner, even abroad, by a mile.

Any one of Prasanna, Chandra or Bedi ... better than Kumble (abroad).

correct

There are some very short memories here

What about Vengsarkar?

What about the first Nawab?

gupte was our best spinner abroad, on averages.

http://stats.cricinfo.com/statsguru/engine/stats/index.html?bowling_pacespin=2;class=1;filter=advanced;home_or_away=2;orderby=wickets;team=6;template=results;type=bowling