Yeah but the more I think about it the more unfair it seems... It's as if home performances don't hold any weight whatsoever. Imagine if batsmen started having the same mentality " Oh I'm not going to perform today... These Indian roads... Pshhh, I'll just throw my wicket away. Obviously the only runs that matter have to be made away from home. I want to be remembered an ATG, bring on the greentops"
It's just wrong. Good performances overseas should be given importance, yes, but if you can't play on your own home turf, it's as big a deficiency as being a Sehwag. Which is why, as wonderful as Amarnath was, ATG India XI? not for me
Great, You have made lots of points
No.1: Regarding variety of bowling attacks, well on the one hand we have Marshall, Holding, Lilee, Garner, Roberts, Imran, Hadlee, Botham, Thompson, Croft, on the other Wasim, Waqar, Donald, Mcgrath, Ambrose, Walsh, Pollock, Bishop, Lee, Shoaib may be Gillespie as well (may be few others I am forgetting), well, for me the first lot seems to be more stronger, you might have a different take on that...and there are lots others to consider, like equipments, quality of bats, limitless bouncers, conditions of the outfield...yes, agreed that a spinner of caliber of Warne or Murali was missing...
No. 2: Regarding minor opponents: This is an argument that I have seen many times in cricket chat, frankly, there is nothing wrong in scoring big against these sides when you have the opportunity. Having said that it can't be denied that Tendulkar's away average would come down to 51.53 from 54.75 if you just leave aside those 7 tests he played in Bangladesh. And the same probably would happen to many others as well. Again, it's no fault of theirs, I just brought the point to mention that Gavaskar or Mohinder faced more tougher conditions, and their runs came under more challenging circumstances, for example, out of the 39 away tests that Mohinder played, 28 of them he played in either Pakistan or Australia or West Indies, and the time was the 70's and 80's. and he averaged 57, 55 and 54 in these 3 countries respectively . In the early 80's in West Indies in 5 test series his scores were 29, 40, 58, 117, 13, 91, 80, 54 and 116 (598 runs/ avg 66.44). And the bowlers were? Marshall, Garner, Holding, Roberts...The series before that in Pakistan, about which wikipedia says, "This series saw Imran Khan at his lethal best, supported by the canny Sarfraz Nawaz. In match after match India crumbled against the fiery pace of Pakistan, losing the first three tests 3-0 and barely managing a draw in the next two matches (one match abandoned due to rain and another due to pitch invasion). Imran Khan who took 40 wickets in the series was jointly awarded "Man of the Series" with Mohinder Amarnath. The catastrophic series for India hastened the end of the career of master batsman Gundappa Viswanath. Mohinder Amarnath was the sole saving grace for the Indian batting line-up for the series as a whole". In that series his scores were 109*, 05, 03, 22, 78, 61, 64, 120, 19 and 103* (584 runs/ avg 73.00)
just to chill up the proceedings little bit, let me add Rahul Dravid in this, the man has a great overseas record, but his average in Australia is 41 and in South Africa 29 (the best 2 bowling sides of his time), for me Mohinder's away performance should definitely be rated higher than his .
No. 3: Regarding Mohinder being in the best team: It's your team mate, you can pick whoever you want, but what you seem to suggest in your argument is that since Mohinder was not much good in home soil, you would not take him in your side, will you take someone who is superb at home but very ordinary outside? many Indian batsmen who fluently get selected in these best sides, seem to be of that category. I had said previously because I had been through a selected second all time best Indian squad posted in cricket chat which did not have Mohinder, but had Vengsarkar, Azharuddin and Laxman, for me, that's really unjust. I have no doubt that a good player must have performances all over, be it home or away, frankly, Mohinder never had a fair chance in India, he was always dropped for whatever reasons, but he came back several time, rather he forced a comeback...and he came back by performing havoc in Indian Domestic Cricket (which is played in India)...but ok, let's not go there, let's accept that whatever he got at home was enough, and his average of 30 odd at home clearly suggest that he wasn't good at home soil. Then the question is whom will you take in your 1st or 2nd all time best side? Guess one answer is have both the options open, keep Mohinder when you are playing away, and keep Azhar or Vengsarkar for home. That would probably be the best way of going about it (since neither Vengsarkar/ Azharuddin nor Mohinder had a solid all around record).But if I have to keep one (say, I have no option), I will keep Mohinder ahead of Azhar or Vengsarkar because someone who averages 30 at home and 52 away is a better batsman than someone who averages 56 at home and 32 away.
