is india's the best batting line up in the world?

i think so. vijay, rohit sharma show there is plenty of strength in depth too. only SA challenge imo (esp in ODI)

test line up:

sehwag
gambhir
dravid
tendulkar
laxman
yuvraj
dhoni

ODI line up:

sehwag
tendulkar
gambhir
yuvraj
dhoni
raina
yusuf / dravid (higher up)

T20 line up:

sehwag
gambhir
raina
yuvraj
dhoni
rohit
yusuf

what would SA's first choice batting line up in each format be?

I think they're now easily the world's best batting lineup. I think it goes-

India
South Africa
Australia
Sri Lanka
England
Pakistan
West Indies
New Zealand
Bangladesh

Pretty much mirrors the ICC test rankings.

South Africa's first choice batting lineup is. Tests-

Smith
Prince
Amla
Kallis
De Villiers
Duminy
Boucher

ODI's-

Smith
Amla
Kallis
De Villiers
Duminy
Boucher
A.Morkel

i would put SL above aus. the top 4 is pretty sick.

SA have in de villiers and duminy, more long term potential than india. even smith is still young. india need rohit, raina to stand up in the same way gambhir has.

By far the best.

Henry wrote:I think they're now easily the world's best batting lineup. I think it goes-

India
South Africa
Australia
Sri Lanka
England
Pakistan
West Indies
New Zealand
Bangladesh

Pretty much mirrors the ICC test rankings.

South Africa's first choice batting lineup is. Tests-

Smith
Prince
Amla
Kallis
De Villiers
Duminy
Boucher

ODI's-

Smith
Amla
Kallis
De Villiers
Duminy
Boucher
A.Morkel

unfortuantely WI> PAK

Ash wrote:i would put SL above aus. the top 4 is pretty sick.

SA have in de villiers and duminy, more long term potential than india. even smith is still young. india need rohit, raina to stand up in the same way gambhir has.

Apart from Sanga and to a certain extent Mahela, Sri Lanka's batsmen have very poor records outside the Sub Continent.

PlanetPakistan wrote:

Henry wrote:I think they're now easily the world's best batting lineup. I think it goes-

India
South Africa
Australia
Sri Lanka
England
Pakistan
West Indies
New Zealand
Bangladesh

Pretty much mirrors the ICC test rankings.

South Africa's first choice batting lineup is. Tests-

Smith
Prince
Amla
Kallis
De Villiers
Duminy
Boucher

ODI's-

Smith
Amla
Kallis
De Villiers
Duminy
Boucher
A.Morkel

unfortuantely WI> PAK

a fuul strength Pakistan lineup with Younis, Yousuf, and young Umar Akmal is superior to the Windies, imo.

Bearing in mind that India is the number 1 test playing country according to the rankings, it would be surprising if their batting was not somewhere near the top of the tree.

It's pretty decent, I s'pose...

India still need to think about the future. If Dravid, Tendulkar, and Laxman all go at once, it will be a huge dent in their batting capabilities. It's looking more and more like Laxman will be the first one to go, although who knows. He'll probably click in his next test innings and score a run a ball 300. Still, Vijay looks ready, and Laxman must be getting a bit nervous.

Henry wrote:

Ash wrote:i would put SL above aus. the top 4 is pretty sick.

SA have in de villiers and duminy, more long term potential than india. even smith is still young. india need rohit, raina to stand up in the same way gambhir has.

Apart from Sanga and to a certain extent Mahela, Sri Lanka's batsmen have very poor records outside the Sub Continent.

dont forget dilshan - these 3 are at the peak or near the peak of their game at the moment. and samaraweera has a, much maligned, 50+ average. aussie batsmen are mostly past their best imo. SL > AUS

interesting point you make about the batting rankings coinciding with the overall rankings. used to be like that but for pace attacks. sad indictment for the current quality of pace bowling.

vijay does look ready and id be very surprised if rohit doesnt make it. tendulkar has 2-3 left in him i reckon. what happened to tiwary?

I reckon the pecking order for Indian replacement test batsmen goes-

Vijay
Badrinath (for some reason)
Pujara
Rohit
Kohli
Pandey

Tiwary seems to have completely fallen off the radar. Pujara deserves to be above Rohit for the sheer volume of runs he has scored in the last 2 years. Manish Pandey has leapt up the queue, and he looks a class act. I reckon he'll be playing for India in some form of the game within the next 12 months. I've always been impressed with the Delhi opener Shikhar Dhawan whenever i've seen him bat. I'm not sure he's rated by the people that matter, though. I don't think Raina has a hope in hell of becoming a test batsman. He has sadly become completely lost to the shorter forms of the game and is now nothing more than a front foot slogger.

agree on raina. badrinath has struggled whenever he's come up against a quality touring attack. hes not young anymore either. vijay, rohit, pujara look to be the best bets. of course it impossible to replace class of that magnitude, you're talking 2 of the 3 best batsmen the country has produced.

Henry wrote:India still need to think about the future. If Dravid, Tendulkar, and Laxman all go at once, it will be a huge dent in their batting capabilities. It's looking more and more like Laxman will be the first one to go, although who knows. He'll probably click in his next test innings and score a run a ball 300. Still, Vijay looks ready, and Laxman must be getting a bit nervous.

Thats my main worry too. I would have liked it if options were tried instead of the loser Yuvraj to build the pool. Once the trio go, we will struggle to even win a home test, let alone draw a few and win a few away. Vijay needs to be tested overseas and should be played regularly now even if not as an opener. Laxman has not done anything wrong so far. He still bats lower down the order with the tail and still gets in half centuries regularly in limited time he gets at the crease. I think he may not be shafted early because it is a paradox situation. The BCCI has no worthy replacements. They need to try a few but can't get the likes of Laxman and Dravid to retire unless they decide to. It's a catch 22 situation we don't have solutions.....

While India has great batting lineup, as things stand they still can't be called the best as they do struggle in certain conditions collectively. the series defeats in SA and SL come to mind.....

One sub-continehental run orgy a summer does not make...or something like that.

In all conditions Australia has the best line-up. Ok only Ponting & Clarke are outstanding at the mo but the rest are dependable enough and the general Aussie batting mentality is very resilient. The thing is you can take at least half-a dozen other Aussie batsman not in the team and you'll find they're up to international standard. You can't say that of any other team.

this Indian team can bat on any surface. Atleast as well as the australian unit.

If not I will buy a drink or whatever you want.
i am that confident.

is india's the best batting line up in the world?

In a word - No.
Only in their own back yard perhaps, against pop-gun attacks, on tracks tailor made for heaping on the runs!
I'd suggest that their bowling attack (as is currently) is perhaps their real asset.

Aus and moreso the Saffers are streets ahead in the 'batting line-up' stakes.

Merlin wrote:is india's the best batting line up in the world?

In a word - No.
Only in their own back yard perhaps, against pop-gun attacks, on tracks tailor made for heaping on the runs!
I'd suggest that their bowling attack (as is currently) is perhaps their real asset.

Aus and moreso the Saffers are streets ahead in the 'batting line-up' stakes.

Yet India has still won tests in Aus, SL and SA, run Aus really tight in their own backyard and won series in WI, Pak, Eng and NZ.

Not what one would call 'Only in their own back yard perhaps, against pop-gun attacks, on tracks tailor made for heaping on the runs!'

Add the fact that we haven't lost any rubbers at home on 5 years. On the other hand SA lost at home to Aus and Aus lost to SA at home and to both Eng and India away as well. So please have a little broad mind and look at things in light of certain recent facts. I am not saying we have the best line up. I pointed out the chinks that apppear now and then in my post before. But the truth is we still have a very good line up that still scores plenty all around the world in different conditions and agaisnt different bowling attacks too. That is a fair assessment, if any.....

One sub-continehental run orgy a summer does not make

Yep, all these bats have done in their years long career is to score runs in subcon only. And scoring runs in subcon (India) is as easy as you may sound it to be. Ask Ponting or even Lara.

With the exception of Gambhir, who is yet to play an overseas test save SL and NZ, atleast 4 of India's batsmen in its current batting lineup have scored runs and tons in each test playing nation.

yes, his assesment belongs to another age.

and thus the rather unsurprising broadstroke without relevant statistics. Under Kumble and Dhoni the Indian test team has won everywhere.

Now if someone talks of pitches, then those pitches haven't been invented yet.

sour grapes.

And if someone calls India's current 'attack' as its real asset, he is far more delusional than I thought he already is.

Viks - the question WAS ... the best line-up ... and I answered accordingly....
and with an open mind.

On foreign soil, and given the conditions, with India's batting, you always sense that once you break through 1 and 2 ... the pressure on the rest mounts rapidly, thus allowing bowling attacks to nibble away ... with inevitable results.
This, I agree, doesn't happen as much on their home turf.

With Aus and the Saffers, you need patience and a lot of luck to wear down their batsmen ... each one down to 8 or 9, perfectly capable of hanging around whilst rebuilding the innings.

That's my personal take on the question posed...

Batman wrote:[Yet India has still won tests in Aus, SL and SA, ...

Yeah, you are 1/14 in SA