Which team is stronger?

[PlayerComparisons]

Team A:

Hayden
Ponting
Smith
Chappell
Border
Waugh
Gilchrist
Warne
Cummins
Lillee
McGrath

Team B:

Gavaskar
Dravid
Tendulkar
Root
Miandad
Botham
Knott
Imran
Wasim
Waqar
Bumrah

 

[DrWolverine]

Top order(1-3) : Team B

Middle order(4-7)Team A

Bowlers : Team B

If we are taking peak versions, Team B will win

For me the bowlers in Team B make a difference

 

[Johan]

What am I missing here? Team A has McGrath and Warne who are the best bowlers here.

 

[DrWolverine]

Warne is pretty much a non factor when the opposition team has 4 batting legends from India & Pakistan.

For the rest of bowlers, the conditions matter.
Lillee is unproven outside of Aus/Eng/NZ.
Cummins has a poor record in Ind/SL/Ban.

McGrath is the only factor here and even he hasn’t single handedly won matches in Asian pitches - One 5-Fer in 19 Tests in Asia indicates that.

 

[Johan]

Warne got Dravid consistently and his numbers against Pakistan are great, it's only Sachin who can dominate him there and no one else is a guaranteed success against Warne.

Root, Miandad, Botham, Knott, Dravid are all as vulnerable to Warne as others, and given Dravid's record against Warne, I don't think Warne would struggle much as long as the pacers target Sachin. Also, at no point does the OP say these teams are even playing a test match, he just asks which team is stronger, nothing about a test match whatsoever, let alone a test match in India. Team A is clearly the stronger bowling overall, McGrath>Warne>Imran>Bumrah, Cummins and Lillee are equal bowlers to Waqar and Wasim if not a little better. Team A is a stronger unit.

Winning in massively-favouring home conditions is not evidence of being a superior side, there's a high probability that Kohli's India can beat Ponting's Australia in home conditions at their peak, doesn't mean they are a better side because of that.

 

[DrWolverine]

Team B has bowlers who had great series in a more diverse group of countries than Team B and their strengths compliments weaknesses of others.

Imran : Eng. Aus. Ind. Pak. SL. WI.
Akram : Eng. Aus. Pak. SL. WI.
Bumrah : SA. Eng. Aus. Ind. SL. WI.
Waqar : NZ. Pak. SL. WI.

Team B bowling is better in my opinion

 

[subshakerz]

Team A stronger on paper.

 

[Johan]

Anyone can do that

Warne: Eng. Aus. NZ. SA. SL. UAE/Pak.
McGrath: Aus. Eng. SA. NZ. Ind.
Cummins: Eng. Pak. Aus. SA.
Lillee: Aus. Eng. WI (WSC).

Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne are the best bowlers here, with Imran coming behind in my opinion, and everyone else is distinctly behind Imran. Lillee is slightly better than Akram in my opinion, Cummins and Waqar are relative.

 

[Coronis]

Team A.

 

[subshakerz]

Anyone can do that

Warne: Eng. Aus. NZ. SA. SL. UAE/Pak.
McGrath: Aus. Eng. SA. NZ. Ind.
Cummins: Eng. Pak. Aus. SA.
Lillee: Aus. Eng. WI (WSC).

Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne are the best bowlers here, with Imran coming behind in my opinion, and everyone else is distinctly behind Imran. Lillee is slightly better than Akram in my opinion, Cummins and Waqar are relative.

I consider this a form of analysis by checklist.

Basic fact is that Imran (for me) is a top 5 pacer and by more proven than Warne across match conditions and locations without his obvious limitations

But the rest of the attack for Team A is superior.

 

[subshakerz]

The teams are close enough but given that Team A is all Aussies they will work better together.

 

[Johan]

I consider this a form of analysis by checklist..

Wolverine posted it not me so.

 

[subshakerz]

Wolverine posted it not me so.

Sure, sorry about that.

Just out of curiosity do you consider Warne better than Ambrose?

 

[Johan]

Just out of curiosity do you consider Warne better than Ambrose?

No strong feels either way on the spinners vs Ambrose/Steyn/Imran tbh

 

[Coronis]

No strong feels either way on the spinners vs Ambrose/Steyn/Imran tbh

 

[subshakerz]

No strong feels either way on the spinners vs Ambrose/Steyn/Imran tbh

You used to be quite critical of spinners before as a bowling category.

 

[capt_Luffy]

No idea why Team B has no spinners really.

 

[DrWolverine]

Is Team B a mix of India, Pakistan & England?

 

[PlayerComparisons]

Is Team B a mix of India, Pakistan & England?

Yes

 

[Coronis]

No idea why Team B has no spinners really.

Looks like its 70’s onwards, and lets be real, none of India, Pakistan or England have had a decent spinner in that time.