Best Asian Test Team of All Time

[harsh.ag]

Sunny, Sanga, Younis and Miandad were not playing that game.

Forgot that memo saying we now require hard evidence when building fantasy sides.

 

[ankitj]

Dravid scored that epic 180 odd in that test against Australia at Eden Garden from #6. Dravid averages more from #6 than Miandad though both of them played only a handful of innings from #6. I guess you pick the best middle order players regardless of consideration for who had a better record at which position. Else Laxman's case becomes compelling at #6.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Dravid began his career at 6 too in his debut series in England.

 

[Daemon]

Photoshopped. This series never happened #fakenews

 

[srbhkshk]

Forgot that memo saying we now require hard evidence when building fantasy sides.

Not sure why all the crankiness, was just suggesting something i thought good, but whatever.

 

[harsh.ag]

Sad state of affairs on CW when nobody responded to that with

India vs SL, Galle 2008

Btw, Desmond Haynes carried his bat three times. Wouldn't have guessed that.

 

[Daemon]

Sad state of affairs on CW when nobody responded to that with

India vs SL, Galle 2008

Btw, Desmond Haynes carried his bat three times. Wouldn't have guessed that.

****s me that Sehwag's name went over to the left column twice

 

[Himannv]

****s me that Sehwag's name went over to the left column twice

Photoshopped obviously.

 

[Austerlitz]

Gavaskar
Sehwag
Dravid
Tendulkar
Miandad
Sangakkara
Imran
Akram
Waqar
Kumble
Murali

 

[Migara]

Sangakkara's batting record as keeper is no where close to his overall career record and he wasn't an ATG keeper, so I would also drop either Rahul Dravid or Javed Mianded for Syed Kirmani and move Sanga to 3. I don't think Engineer was at the same level as Kirmani or Bari as a keeper and Kirmani is comfortably the better batsman of the latter two. Also, the most effective lineup may vary depending on the location in which the match is played. Firstly, in Asia an attack with at least two spinners is often more effective than an attack dominated by pace, so Ashwin or Bedi might come in for Fazal in home conditions.Secondly, while Vijay Merchant was a much more technically and mentally solid player than Sehwag and would certainly stand a better chance of success outside Asia, Sehwag absolutely decimated some of the best attacks in the world at home and could turn a match on its head in no time, so he probably merits a place in Asia. Finally, if one was to bring in Kirmani for a batsman, that would admittedly weaken the batting, so it might be worth strengthening the batting by replacing Fazal with Kapil Dev, who arguably is a broadly similar calibre of bowler but a much more dangerous matchwinning batsmen.

Prasanna Jayawardane is a definite possibility if keeping abilities are the issue

 

[Migara]

First XI
Gavaskar
Shewag
Sangakkara
Tendulkar
Younis Khan
MS Dhoni+
Shakib
Imran*
Wasim
Waqar
Murali

I am thinking Waqar vs Asif debate. Asif during his brief stint was as good as any Pakistani fast bowler I have ever seen.

Second XI

Hanif Mohammed
Anwar
Dravid
Miandad*
Laxman
Samaraweera
Kapil
Ashwin / Vaas
Kirmani+
Kumble
Akthar

 

[CricAddict]

Slightly different question. Without mixing up names from different teams, is the current Indian team the best Asian test team of all time? Pakistan in early 90s and India in 2000s are 2 other teams I can think of. SL were good under Arjuna but think not upto the level of these teams.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Slightly different question. Without mixing up names from different teams, is the current Indian team the best Asian test team of all time? Pakistan in early 90s and India in 2000s are 2 other teams I can think of. SL were good under Arjuna but think not upto the level of these teams.

Pakistan of 80s>>>> 90s. That 90s team is the prime example of a team which is great on paper but thoroughly average in reality.

 

[CricAddict]

Pakistan of 80s>>>> 90s. That 90s team is the prime example of a team which is great on paper but thoroughly average in reality.

90s was my childhood and I hated that Pakistan team as they continuously beat India. And the word that went around was that they can never be defeated on a Friday. Saeed, Sohail, Ijaz, Inzamam, Youhana (now Yousuf), Malik and Moin is a fairly strong batting line-up. And that bowling line up is ATG. Wasim, Waqar, Saqlain and Mushy. Akhtar for couple of years. And one more very good fast bowler whose name somehow I couldn't remember now. Yeah, quite great on paper.

Would like to know your thoughts on why the 80s team was better than this team.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Imran's team went toe to toe with the windies and had consistently excellent performances for almost the entire decade. Second best team of that era.

The 90s team on the other hand usually underdelivered on their promise. They got smashed by SA and Australia virtually every time they played, lost a home series to Zimbabwe and not one but two home series to Sri Lanka. They just didn't gel together well and didn't have a leader like Imran to bring the pieces together properly. Most of the romanticism for that team comes from the fact that they had two atg quicks at their peak and they were great to watch, but the actual results just weren't there.

On paper:elite. In practice: disappointing. It's why so many if the ATG XI team discussions here may be completely pointless... You never know how an XI will play, regardless of the names.

Now if you're talking about ODIs, it's a different story.

 

[Migara]

Slightly different question. Without mixing up names from different teams, is the current Indian team the best Asian test team of all time? Pakistan in early 90s and India in 2000s are 2 other teams I can think of. SL were good under Arjuna but think not upto the level of these teams.

Pakistan in mid to late eighties was the best I think. Any one not to get beaten from that WI jaggernaut should be bloody good.

 

[weldone]

Yeah, the only way Gavaskar could be clearly superior to Hayden is via nationalistic bias.

Rookie sarcasm filters won't catch that.

 

[CricAddict]

90s was my childhood and I hated that Pakistan team as they continuously beat India. And the word that went around was that they can never be defeated on a Friday. Saeed, Sohail, Ijaz, Inzamam, Youhana (now Yousuf), Malik and Moin is a fairly strong batting line-up. And that bowling line up is ATG. Wasim, Waqar, Saqlain and Mushy. Akhtar for couple of years. And one more very good fast bowler whose name somehow I couldn't remember now. Yeah, quite great on paper.

Would like to know your thoughts on why the 80s team was better than this team.

Recollected the name now as I read the thread again. It is Aaqib Javed.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Recollected the name now as I read the thread again. It is Aaqib Javed.

Aaqib loved to kill India in ODIs iirc

 

[Migara]

Aaqib is very underrated. There was another SAF bowler, Craig Matthews. Similar mode (Aaqib may be touch more attacking given his reverse swing), very very tight, dries out runs, does all donkey work. Love those kinds of bowlers.