India's 500th Test celebration: mid-day picks the Greatest XI

India are set to play their 500th Test against New Zealand in Kanpur from September 22 To celebrate the occasion we have decided to play selector and pick Indias Greatest Test XI The team sees the formidable opening pair of Sunil Gavaskar and Virender Sehwag with their completely opposite ways of approaching the gameThen comes The Wall at No 3 and Indias God of Cricket at No 4 The No 5 slot goes to a genius allrounder who opened for India but could fit in anywhere Vinoo MankadA Very Very Special cricketer is at No 6 Indias greatest allrounder Kapil Dev is at No 7 We have kept Kapil as skipper because of his aggression and ability to lead from the frontThe depth of the team can be seen in the fact that a destructive batsman like MS Dhoni is at No 8Then come the bowlers Anil Kumble at 9 Bishan Bedi at 10 and India first pacer Mohammad Nissar bringing up the rear at No 11The squad may not be to every ones liking and stoke controversy since it doesnt have the likes of MAK Pataudi Sourav Ganguly Mohammad Azharuddin Dilip Vengsarkar Vijay Hazare Polly Umrigar Erapalli Prasanna Bhagwat Chandrasekhar and Gundappa Vishwanath Ultimately controversy and the selection of an imaginary cricket team go hand in hand No matter which cricketer is picked to be part of the final XI the ones omitted make more news and legions of fans stand up to protest their omission So we would like to apologise in advance for not being able to fit in all the greats in our Playing XISunil GavaskarTests 125 Runs 10122 Hundreds 34 Ave 5112 HS 236 no The original Little Master Sunil Gavaskar was the first cricketer to reach the landmark of 10000 Test runs and Indias batting rock for more than a decadeandahalf The great umpire Dickie Bird had called Gavaskar one of the two best opening bats He was named Indias Cricketer of the 20th Century and when he retired in 1987 his 34 hundreds were the most in Test history Gavaskar averaged 50 at home but even greater is his away record an average of 52 Virender SehwagTests 104 Runs 8586 Hundreds 23 Ave 4934 HS 319Wisden the highly respected cricket publication had named Virender Sehwag as the Leading Cricketer in the World for 2008 and Mahendra Singh Dhoni captain of its first ever Dream Test XIAdjectives fall short in describing the lsquoNawab of Najafgarhrsquo Stats to donrsquot do full justice to his talent But here are two Sehwag has two Test triple hundreds and a 293 to his name His strikerate of 8223 in 104 Tests is the fastest of anyone with more than 2000 runs Test cricketrsquos overall greatest runscorer Sachin Tendulkar at No4 in his side Tendulkar who retired at 40 having played a staggering 200 Tests scored 15921 runs in his remarkable career with 51 hundreds was an automatic selection Rahul Dravid Tests 164 Runs 13288 Hundreds 36 Ave 5231 HS 270Rahul Dravid is not called lsquoThe Wallrsquo for nothing He is after all one of the toughest men to dismiss in the history of the game One of the lsquoFab Fourrsquo of Indiarsquo Test history Dravid is one of the best No3 in the game He scored more than 13000 runs in his career including 36 centuries He though was one of the most underrated cricketers having had to share the limelight with Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar Sachin Tendulkar Tests 200 Runs 15921 Hundreds 51 Ave 5378 HS 248noOne of the greatest cricketers of all time Sachin Tendulkar was lsquoGod of Cricketrsquo for India throughout his 24year career Form his Test debut as a 16 year old lsquoThe Little Masterrsquo left all opposition bowlers demoralized When he quit the game in November 2013 at the age of 40 and in his 200th Test match he bowed out as Test crickets most prolific ever runscorer Vinoo MankadTests 44 Wickets 162 5wi 8 Ave 3232 BBI 852 Runs 2109 Hundreds 5 Ave 3147 HS 231A leftarm spinner and opening batsman Vinoo Mankad was one of the greatest allrounders India has ever produced He will always be in the history books for his record 413run opening stand with Pankaj Roy against New Zealand in 1956 which remains an Indian record for any wicket VVS Laxman Tests 134 Runs 8781 Hundreds 17 Ave 4597 HS 281Another one of the lsquoFab Four VVS Laxman was exemplary in pressure situation especially against the dreaded Australians The wristy Indian lived up to his moniker of Very Very Special His epic 281 in Kolkata in 2001 is perhaps the greatest Test innings of them all He paired up with Dravid again in 2003 for another classic stand this time in Adelaide to engineer a first Indian win in Australia for 22 years Kapil Dev CaptainTests 131 Wickets 434 5wi 23 Ave 2964 BBI 983 Runs 5248 Hundreds 8 Ave 3105 HS 163 Kapil Dev was named Indias Cricketer of the 20th Century Doesnrsquot that say it all We have been looking to find his replacement ever since he retired but have failed so far lsquoThe Haryana Hurricanersquo carried the hopes and dreams of a nation on his shoulders throughout his 16year Test careerMS Dhoni wicketkeeperTests 90 Runs 4876 Hundreds 6 Ave 3809 HS 224 C 256 S 38MS Dhoni is by far the best wicketkeeperbatsman India has produced The current India limitedovers skipper sneaks into the side on the basis of his batting ability after all he is regarded as one of the most destructive batsmen of the modern eraAnil Kumble Tests 132 Wickets 619 5wi 35 Ave 2965 BBI 1074 The current coach of the India team was the first Indian spinner to break the 300wicket mark and the second Test player to ever take all ten wickets in an innings achieving the feat against Pakistan in 1999 His commitment to the game and team is best exemplified by the 14 overs he bowled in Antigua in 2002 vs West Indies with a broken jaw It doesnrsquot hurt that he was also handy with the bat and even has century against his name ndash vs England in 2007 Bishan Singh Bedi Tests 67 Wickets 266 5wi 14 Ave 2871 BBI 798 The orthodox left arm offspin of BS Bedi was beguiling He makes it to the XI based on the fact that he has a superior Test average to the likes of Kumble Harbhajan and Prasanna and instead of Bhagwat Chandrashekhar since he lends variety Most impressive of all is the fact that some of his greatest achievements were in away matches a bane for most Indian spinners His only 10wicket haul came at the bouncy WACA Ground in Perth Mohammad NissarTests 6 Wickets 25 5wi 3 Ave 2828 BBI 590Mohammad Nissar makes it for his sheer pace He is considered the fastest preindependence Indian pace bowler and was arguably one of the fastest bowlers in the world during his timeIndian batsman CK Nayudu claimed in writings that during his first spell Nissar was faster than Englishman Harold Larwood who terrorized Australia in 1932 in the infamous Bodyline seriesNissar along with Amar Singh formed an Indian fast bowling duo that was considered one of the best in the world during the 1930sNissars career kickstarted right in his first match as he in the first ball of his second over dismissed Herbert Sutcliffe for 3 knocking over Sutcliffes stumps Then with the fifth ball of the very same over he bowled the other opener Percy Holmes And how can we ignore the man who took the first Test wicket for India 12th Man Eknath SolkarTests 27 Wickets 18 Ave 5944 BBI 328 Runs 1068 Hundreds 1 Ave 2542 HS 102 Eknath Solkar was an allround cricketer who played 27 Tests and was called lsquoPoor manrsquos Sobersrsquo for his ability to bat ndash he had a Test century to his name and talent to bowl fast as well as slow Solkar was renowned for his excellent close fielding His catches helped India to victory against England at The Oval in 1971 the teams first Test win in England Eknaths teammate at Sussex Tony Greig once said He was the best forward short leg Ive ever seen His 53 catches in only 27 matches is the best ratio for catches per testmatch among nonwicketkeepers with 20 or more Tests