Your country's current best test side

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Yeah, I was the one that agreed with you...

Ya I know, I was just clearing up a point which had been implied, but not directly stated.

 

[Jono]

Well, I was born in India and I live in India and I am an Indian, so here goes mine for India -

India -

V Sehwag
G Gambhir
R Dravid(c)
S Tendulkar
V Laxman
Y Singh
M Dhoni(w)
I Pathan
A Kumble
H Singh
Z Khan

Yep that's my best Indian XI as well. 12th man Mohammad Kaif.

 

[Beleg]

Pakistan:

1. Butt
2. Farhat
3. Yousuf
4. Inzamam
5. Younis
6. Afridi
7. Akmal
8. Naveed
9. Akhtar
10. Mohd. Asif/Sami/Umer Gul/Mushtaq Ahmed
11. Kaneria

The side's a bit lacking in batting depth but that cannot be helped if you want to play three pacers.


ODI's:

1. Butt
2. Akmal
3. Yousuf
4. Younis
5. Inzamam
6. Malik
7. Razzaq
8. Afridi
9. Arafat
10. Naveed
11. Akhtar

Super-sub: Kaneria

 

[adharcric]

Pakistan:

1. Butt
2. Farhat
3. Yousuf
4. Inzamam
5. Younis
6. Afridi
7. Akmal
8. Naveed
9. Akhtar
10. Mohd. Asif/Sami/Umer Gul/Mushtaq Ahmed
11. Kaneria

The side's a bit lacking in batting depth but that cannot be helped if you want to play three pacers.


ODI's:

1. Butt
2. Akmal
3. Yousuf
4. Younis
5. Inzamam
6. Malik
7. Razzaq
8. Afridi
9. Arafat
10. Naveed
11. Akhtar

Super-sub: Kaneria

agree with the test side, with sami being the 3rd seamer. agree with the one-day side as well, but don't know much about arafat and why he should be in the team.

 

[Jono]

Beleg you reckon Kaneria's limited overs bowling can improve? I hope it does as I'd like to see him do well in both forms, but from what I've seen he needs a fair bit of improvement. I remember during the VB Series when Pakistan were here in Australia, many people including various commentators were questioning Kaneria being left out of the ODI team (pre super-sub rule). I too was one of those, but he didn't impress me much in his one (or was it two) game against England recently.

 

[Beleg]

Arafat is purported to be the future all-rounder for Pakistan.

 

[Beleg]

Jono,

To be honest, I don't think he is ready for ODI cricket at the moment. His batting is pretty worthless, he is arguably the worst fielder in the Pakistani side and playing an attacking leg-spinner in ODI's is always a calculated risk which can backfire at any given moment.

I have him as a super-sub mainly because of the absence of another competent all-rounder from the national scene. In his current capacity, if Pakistan are lucky enough to win the toss and the wicket is offering some assistance, he can be deployed pretty effectively. Otherwise, with four pacers and two spinners already in the line-up, you don't really need him.

 

[TIF]

I would pick in Danish Kaneria(or Arshad Khan) in the ODIs as well for Pakistan. Pakistan, does need a regular spinner in the ODI team. Almost all teams who have decent spinners, do go in with a regular spinner in their ODI teams.

Pakistan, still depends on Shoaib Malik(an all-rounder) to bowl spin in the ODIs with Shahid Afridi bowling his off-spinners, but he bowls spin at over 110-120 kph, which is quicker than usual spinners, so that makes Shahid Afridi, look more like a medium pacer. I remember the ICC Champion Trophy match against Kenya in 2004, where Afridi, bowled at over 130 kph.

I would pick Danish Kaneria(or Arshad Khan) in the XI and have Shoaib Malik as a super-sub.

 

[Prince EWS]

Malik as the supersub would be rediculous. Hes a better ODI batsman than Younis Khan, and a better ODI batsman and bowler than Abdul Razzaq.

I'd go with this side for ODIs:
1. Salman Butt
2. Kamran Akmal
3. Younis Khan
4. Mohammad Yousuf
5. Inzamam Ul Haq
6. Shoaib Malik
7. Abdul Razzaq
8. Shahid Afridi
9. Rana Naved
10. Shoaib Akhtar
11. Mohammad Sami
SS: Arshad Khan / Yasir Hameed / Mohammad Asif

 

[Arjun]

Here's a risky but versatile (and powerful) combination for the Indian Test XI

• Sehwag
• Gambhir
• VVS Laxman (C)
• Tendulkar
• Dravid (C)
• Dhoni (WK)
• Munaf Patel (RFM?)
• Irfan (LMF)
• Harbhajan(OB)
• Kumble (LBG)
• VR Singh (RFM?)
• RESERVE: Powar (OB)
• RESERVE: Sreesanth (RFM)
• RESERVE: Yuvraj
• RESERVE: Jaffer

For ODI's, RP Singh (LFM) replaces Kumble, Kaif and Raina replace Laxman and Jaffer, while JP Yadav or Joginder Sharma may replace Munaf.

 

[Tomm NCCC]

Trescothick
Strauss
Vaughan
Bell
Pietersen
Flintoff
Read
Giles
Harmison
Hoggard
S Jones

Others
Plunkett
G Jones
Solanki
Collingwood
Blackwell

 

[Sanz]

V Sehwag
Parthiv Patel (Only as Batsman)
Rahul Dravid
Sachin Tendulkar
VVS Laxman
Yuvraj Singh
MS Dhoni
Irfan Pathan
Anil Kumble
Harbhajan Singh
Zaheer Khan

 

[aussie]

But even then, he gave up heaps of chances and was dropped early. He never has looked solid.

ah yes the KEY point.

 

[Natman20]

And what exactly does the fact that Franklin stands no chance of ever being good enough for ODIs have to do with the test side? Franklin is a test standard bowler who's place should not be challenged by the likes of Martin, Mills and Tuffey by any stretch of the imagination.

Oops forgot it was "test side" o well. Still would have Tuffey over Franklin

 

[adharcric]

Here's a risky but versatile (and powerful) combination for the Indian Test XI

• Sehwag
• Gambhir
• VVS Laxman (C)
• Tendulkar
• Dravid (C)
• Dhoni (WK)
• Munaf Patel (RFM?)
• Irfan (LMF)
• Harbhajan(OB)
• Kumble (LBG)
• VR Singh (RFM?)
• RESERVE: Powar (OB)
• RESERVE: Sreesanth (RFM)
• RESERVE: Yuvraj
• RESERVE: Jaffer

For ODI's, RP Singh (LFM) replaces Kumble, Kaif and Raina replace Laxman and Jaffer, while JP Yadav or Joginder Sharma may replace Munaf.

Agreed for the most part, but the experienced guys like Balaji, Nehra and Zaheer also need to be tried out under the Chappell fitness regime to be fair. At the same time, the new options like Munaf, VRV, Sreesanth, RP Singh and Gagandeep need to be tried out. Piyush Chawla and Ramesh Powar should be top contenders for the ODI 2nd spinner's spot. Actually, we can keep going and going about potential players for India, so I'll leave it at that and maybe start a new thread about India prospects.

 

[Woody_cloudofsm]

West Indies

C Gayle
D Ganga(on recent performance alone)
R Sarwan
B Lara
S Chanderpaul
D Bravo
D Ramdin
D Powell
F Edwards
P Collins
C Collymore

Wavell Hinds is a young clive loyd with all the potential in the world his lack of footwork and temprament is why he averages only 33 at test level then again that was greg blewett and mike athertons test average aswell and both guyz played great innings for their countries during what were 2 pretty illstrious test careers. however i feel if hinds is gunna leave the game with his mark on it he needs to increase his average to 40 by the end of his test career. Ganga is a wonderful player who is also a wonderful failer he has underperformed at test level so much apart from that sereis against Australia in 04 he is a nice looking player and if hinds or young devon smith dun come good then they must go back to daren ganga. Ive played 2nd grade cricket in sydney and ive faced bowlers way better than darren powell unless you have the ability to consistintly take the ball towards the slips of the right hander u are going to struggle at international level to succees darren powell does not posses those abilities. Every world class side over the years has had a spinner weather an attacking spinner or a stock bowler will do to add a bit of variety to teh attack. If you look at great and good west indies sides over the years tehy always had some spinner to perform a duty firstly lance gibbs what a wonderful bowler he was and then roger harper who was a handy stock bowler great feilder and scored first class doublw hundreds. it is for this reason the west indies need to look to pick nikita miller or to call back dave mohammed or my favourite choice would be Gareth Breese who has done well in english county cricket. WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS???

 

[Woody_cloudofsm]

Well, I was born in India and I live in India and I am an Indian, so here goes mine for India -

India -

V Sehwag
G Gambhir
R Dravid(c)
S Tendulkar
V Laxman
Y Singh
M Dhoni(w)
I Pathan
A Kumble
H Singh
Z Khan

where is some faith in our greatest ever skipper id have saurav instead of yuvraj laxman at 3 and tendulkar at 4 dravid at 5

 

[tooextracool]

Only 2 paceman ?

considering the next option is bracken can you blame him?

 

[adharcric]

where is some faith in our greatest ever skipper id have saurav instead of yuvraj laxman at 3 and tendulkar at 4 dravid at 5

considering he won't be the skipper, that is absolutely meaningless. if you want to talk about his batting record or current batting form, go ahead.

 

[adharcric]

considering the next option is bracken can you blame him?

come on, bracken isnt all that bad ... although i'd admit australia should look for a better 3rd frontline seamer