All Time India XI game

[harsh.ag]

Shami
Roger Binny

Rahane
Vijay Manjrekar

 

[Daemon]

Shami
..Ishant

Rahane
Pataudi

 

[OverratedSanity]

Shami
Sreesanth (lol)

Rahane
Pataudi

 

[jimmy101]

Poor India. Even you guys are loling at what's left of the pace battery. When did spin bowling become such a massive cultural phenomenon in India anyway? I would have thought after Singh and Nissar in the 30s a raft of hungry young quickies would have followed thereafter.

Binny
Sardesai
Azharuddin
Pataudi

 

[OverratedSanity]

Poor India. Even you guys are loling at what's left of the pace battery. When did spin bowling become such a massive cultural phenomenon in India anyway? I would have thought after Singh and Nissar in the 30s a raft of hungry young quickies would have followed thereafter.

The partition ****ed up our fast bowling resources.

Imagine if it'd never happened... Gavaskar, Miandad, Kapil, Imran and Qadir on one team, and in the next gen, Sachin, Dravid, Inzi, VVS, Wasim, Waqar, Kumble.

 

[jimmy101]

The partition ****ed up our fast bowling resources.

Imagine if it'd never happened... Gavaskar, Miandad, Kapil, Imran and Qadir on one team, and in the next gen, Sachin, Dravid, Inzi, VVS, Wasim, Waqar, Kumble.

Would have been amazing. But why exactly did partition screw up India's fast bowling potential? Spin bowling has just been so ingrained in India's cricketing culture for so long. A lot of my Indian friends tell me that part of it lies in the fact that Indian streets are so crowded, and so a big run up isn't always possible. So spin is favoured.

 

[srbhkshk]

Would have been amazing. But why exactly did partition screw up India's fast bowling potential? Spin bowling has just been so ingrained in India's cricketing culture for so long. A lot of my Indian friends tell me that part of it lies in the fact that Indian streets are so crowded, and so a big run up isn't always possible. So spin is favoured.

Nah, we are just lazy ****s who can't be bothered.

On a serious note, the lack of pacers after 60ish can be traced back to Tiger Pataudi who basically decided that since India only had good spinners that's what he was gonna play, the period after Amar and Nissar and before that remains a mystery to me though. Sounds like a good topic to do some reading in.

 

[Daemon]

inb4 diet

 

[OverratedSanity]

Pakistan didn't produce many great quicks before Imran either. That's the biggest difference.

 

[ankitj]

Pakistan didn't produce many great quicks before Imran either. That's the biggest difference.

Fazal Mehmood. If he was Indian, he would be our best ever pacer.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Fazal Mehmood. If he was Indian, he would be our best ever pacer.

Right, but he wasn't a pace bowler, more of a medium pacer. Khan Mohammad was faster but he wasn't a star like Fazal was for some reason.

Also, Pakistan weren't producing genuine pace bowlers of the highest quality during the time Imran began his career either. It was only when he became a household name as a great that the likes of Wasim and Waqar started popping up trying to emulate him.

Kapil was great but he : (i) wasn't quite as good as imran and (ii) most of his iconic moments for Indians came with the bat (175 vs Zim, 4 sixes to avoid follow on).

 

[srbhkshk]

Partly I suppose it's also that Mumbai used to (and probably still has) have a disproportionate influence on Indian Cricket and their heroes are all batsman.

 

[srbhkshk]

Mohammad Shami
Praveen Kumar

Ajinkya Rahane
Rusi Modi

 

[harsh.ag]

The curious case of Madhav Apte:

The case of Madhav Apte is among the most baffling in Indian cricket. A very correct opening batsman with an array of strokes, he started off with a century on debut in the Ranji Trophy for Bombay against Saurashtra in 1951-52. Recognising his talent early, the selectors gave him his big break in his second season of first-class cricket when he was picked for two Tests against Pakistan in 1952-53. With scores of 30, 10 not out and 42, he was an automatic choice for the tour of West Indies that followed. Over there he exceeded expectations. He opened the batting in all five Tests, and had scores of 64, 52, 64, 9, 0, 163 not out, 30, 30, 15 and 33. With a tally of 460 runs (51.11) he finished second to Polly Umrigar in the Test figures and ahead of Hazare, Mankad, Roy and Manjrekar. His century was a marathon innings that helped India to draw the match after they were in danger of defeat. He came back from the tour with his reputation enhanced many times over but to his dismay and to the astonishment of cricket fans in the country, he was dropped like a hot potato. But for one token appearance against the SJOC team in 1953-54 he never played an official Test again.

 

[harsh.ag]

Madhav Apte | Cricket Players and Officials | ESPNcricinfo

 

[J_C]

Shami
Karsan Ghavri

Vijay Manjrekar
Rahane

 

[vcs]

The partition ****ed up our fast bowling resources.

Imagine if it'd never happened... Gavaskar, Miandad, Kapil, Imran and Qadir on one team, and in the next gen, Sachin, Dravid, Inzi, VVS, Wasim, Waqar, Kumble.

I imagine Azhar would have still got in as a batsman. The team's match-fixing potential would also have been immense, with him, Wasim, and presumably Salim Malik making it as well in the early '90s.

 

[kingkallis]

Mohammad Shami
Ishant Sharam

Mohammad Azharuddin
Ajinkya Rahane

 

[Teuton]

Shami
Ishant
V Manjrekar
Rahane

 

[Daemon]

Poor India. Even you guys are loling at what's left of the pace battery. When did spin bowling become such a massive cultural phenomenon in India anyway? I would have thought after Singh and Nissar in the 30s a raft of hungry young quickies would have followed thereafter.

Binny
Sardesai
Azharuddin
Pataudi

Mohammad Shami
Ishant Sharam

Mohammad Azharuddin
Ajinkya Rahane

Azhar has been picked