India-Australia all-time combined XI

11/29/2018

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Another India-Australia Test series is upon us and one will wish the series is remembered for some good cricket. While that is subjective now, it also gave me an opportunity to dig out the statistics and form an all-time combined XI, which is enough to instill fear of gods on any World XI even.

One of the most difficult parts of undertaking the challenge of picking an all-time XI of India and Australia is the fact that you often rely on little historical facts and mere numbers to prove a point. While the numbers paint a picture of a batsman’s capability, it doesn’t tell anything about the context with which it was achieved. It was the primary reason why I decided to pick the players for this XI from the post second World War, a time both India and Australia were simultaneously active in world cricket and their impact were properly documented. While Sir Don Bradman was active in international cricket until 1948, three years to second World War, I ignored him because he never played against India - a factor I was careful throughout my pickings.

Openers

When it comes to Australian cricket, only their openers can even make a fine XI alone. A country that had the likes of Arthur Morris, Bill Lawry, Victor Trumper, and Bobby Simpson, it was very difficult to exclude anyone of them. But then again, such has been the might of Justin Langer and Matthew Hayden, that no discussion on Australian cricket is possible without the duo.

Nobody valued their wicket more than Langer did, but Hayden, after overcoming early jittery years in the international cricket, went on to become one of the all-time legends of the game thanks to his ability to score with control. Any sportsman is defined by how he makes a comeback after a huge slump in their career - cue Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic, to name a few - and Hayden’s legacy is set on that count. After an extended slump in 2004-05, he made a comeback in the Ashes 2006-07 and followed that up with three hundreds in successive matches, becoming the third player next to Don Bradman and Ken Barrington to score four in a row twice, and passed 1000 runs in a calendar year for the fifth time. From all count, he was a terrific opener and indeed a player of high durability, which makes me pick the Queenslander as the first man in the XI.

Who to pick as my second opener is a question bouncing in my head for far too long. Many may side with Bill Lawry or Bob Simpson as their pick, but the other half could also argue with either Sunil Gavaskar or Virender Sehwag in their side. According to many, Gavaskar is the greatest Test opener ever, scoring runs in the places that mattered - West Indies, Australia and England - but the Delhite, on the other hand, redefined the meaning of opening in Test cricket with his swashbuckling display. However, the presence of Hayden is sufficient to do the job that Sehwag used to do and one might need a Langer-like solidity at the top. So, I am going with Gavaskar, a batsman of enormous capability, the first man to score 10,000 runs and a magician in the pre-helmet days. His dexterity off both front and back feet and his excellent judgement of length and line made him one of the finest in the business, making him an automatic pick in the combined XI.

My Pick - Sunil Gavaskar and Matthew Hayden

Middle-order

Given this is an XI picked from the players of post-1950s, I have to exclude Sir Don Bradman from it, who otherwise would have made it to the team without any semblance of doubt. 6996 runs and 29 centuries from just 52 matches speaks about his astonishing consistency and with the achievements to his apart from that, Ricky Ponting, to many, is the greatest Aussie batsman since Bradman. With a Test tally of 13,378 runs from 168 matches at an average of 51.85, Ponting is the highest run-scorer in Australia’s Test history. However, during most of his career, he has had an able rival in the form of Rahul Dravid, regarded as cricket’s classical sculptor and a Test match batsman extraordinaire. To counter a point in favour of Ponting, Dravid has scored 13,288 runs at an average of 52.31. I will go with the Indian then, especially because Dravid had some excellent moments against the Aussies - starting from Eden win to Adelaide double century, but Ponting's record in India is so terrible that one would be hard-pressed to find one good innings.

My Pick for No. 3 - Rahul Dravid

Australia has been home to Stan McCabe, Neil Harvey, Greg Chappell, Alan Border, and many batsmen who not only wowed their contemporaries, but also made them a stunning resemblance of dependability. Carrying out the No. 4 job - the hardest task in Test cricket - was not a cake walk, and they did with elan for a considerable period of time. However, nothing could triumph the colossal achievements of Sachin Tendulkar, the format’s best-ever and most fluent batsman. Tendulkar achieved so much of success on the back of his strong will-power and redefined everything related to batsmanship. While Chappell’s pristine class had a touch of brilliance to it and his wristy strokeplay gave him an aura in Australian cricket, which was very hard to match, but, over Tendulkar? Sorry Sir, that is saying a bit too much. The achievements are so big to not include Tendulkar to start talking about any XI related to India.

My Pick for No. 4 - Sachin Tendulkar

For anyone, VVS Laxman is the classic example of artistry, a player who can match shot by shot with Sachin Tendulkar and sometimes even better. In the context of this article, it should also be noted that he had a terrific record against Australia, scoring 2434 runs in 24 matches at 50. Another Indian in the form of Vijay Hazare also comes to the mind who had an average of 47.65 in the 30 Tests he played in his career. While one among the duo can any day make a cut to the all-time India XI, but for the combined XI, let’s weight the other side of the argument.

Allan Border. A name straight away comes to the head not just because of his fantastic captaincy, but for his fine batting display as well. At a time when world cricket had so many excellent fast bowlers, Border played several backs-to-the-walls innings, and finished with, at the time of his retirement, the highest aggregate in Test cricket. Steve Waugh became a great batsman and a great captain - and even a genuine contender for the No.5 spot that we are talking about - but he was a product of Border school of mental disintegration and his bloody-mindedness came from Border, who during the diluted time of Kerry Packer series led the team in the World Cup of 1987 to glory. He went on to win the Ashes two years later, ending as the most prolific Aussie skipper, until that time. He was the parameter with which every Australian captain has been judged and the sheer brilliance of that makes me pick the New South Wales man as the No.5 and the skipper of the team.

My Pick for No.5 - Allan Border (C)

All-rounder

Monty Noble and Alan Davidson played all their cricket before the World War, which means they are out of the contention and that brought me to two of the finest all-rounders - Kapil Dev and Keith Miller. A nation often ridiculed for their lack of pace amongst the fast bowlers, Kapil was a godsend who changed the appalling preconceptions with the genuine burst of pace-bowling that ended up with 434 Test wickets. His batting was handy, but his bowling offered India an attacking option with the new ball that they had sorely lacked till then. He was nothing short of a statesman when he led India to the 1983 World Cup win, changing the country’s priorities on its head.

While he would walk into the all-time best India XI, his position is challenged by Keith Miller, In a Test career spanning from 1946 to 1956, he scored 2958 runs at an average of 36.97 and picked 170 wickets at an average of 22.97, but his importance was beyond the mere statistics. Miller batted with an arrogance and bowled fast from a long run-up and occasionally, would shorten his run-up too, which helped him in a great deal. His numbers are impressive, which forced me to use the flip of a coin and I am going with Kapil Dev. Don’t interrogate me for this!

My Pick for the only all-rounder - Kapil Dev

Wicket-keeper

Please do me a favour. Check the stats for yourself. There will be a daylight in between Adam Gilchrist and any wicket-keeper you want to pick. To make it simpler, Gilchrist scored 5570 runs at an average of 47.60 with 17 centuries to his name. Does anyone in world cricket come close to this while batting at No.7? Check that but I am picking him in my team anyway.

My Pick for only wicket-keeper - Adam Gilchrist

Spinner

While in the 1930s, Australia could call either of Bill O'Reilly or Clarrie Grimmett to form one of the most potent slow-bowling combinations in history, there was a big drought in between. India, during that time, fielded as many as four fine spin bowlers in the form of Erapalli Prasanna and Srinivas Venkataraghavan (both off spinners), Bhagwat Chandrasekhar (a leg spinner), and Bishen Singh Bedi (a left-arm spinner), Australia didn’t have many, apart from Richie Benaud. However, when Shane Warne bowled that delivery at Old Trafford to dismiss Mike Gatting, leg-spin became fashionable once again and for most of his career, Warne held India tightly, albeit only in Australia. For the sheer number of wickets that he had taken, there is no reason to hold him back and the leg-spinner walks into my team straightaway.

To partner Warne, I chose an off-spinner and that means Anil Kumble won’t be a part of it. So I have to pick one among Prasanna and Harbhajan Singh in the side. While Harbhajan was always effective against Aussies in India, his record in Australia is disastrous, which means we have to weigh Prasanna’s side more. Pretty much like Kuldeep Yadav outfocuses the batsmen even before the ball was released, Prasanna could make any great batsman suffer with his flight in the air. He was a bowler with an attacking mindset, but at the same time, he was too patient and would wait for the batsmen to induce a mistake. His bowling average of 30.38 was just good enough to elevate him to the combined XI, instead of other off-spinners.

My Pick: Shane Warne and Erapalli Prasanna

Pacers

Apart from Kapil Dev, there is a single pacer in India who could claim to be in this team and it is a fact, not an opinion. However, Australia had a plenty of them and how can you start talking about the Aussie pacers without taking McGrath’s name. Until recently, when James Anderson replaced him at the top, McGrath was the top wicket-taker in his craft in the world and that speaks volume of his ability.

Much before, McGrath became what he was, Dennis Lillee, Craig McDermott, Rodney Hogg, Ray Lindwall, and Jeff Thomson made the world sit down and take notice of them. However, Lilee was the heart of Australia's attack for more than a decade and in a career which saw him picking 355 wickets from just 70 matches, he never showed signs of complacency and often made breakthroughs when success seemed unlikely. Many would come and many would go, but Australia cricket will forever remember him as a bowler who gave his all each and every time he had the ball in his hand.

My Pick - Glenn McGrath and Dennis Lilee