All Time Subcontinent Test XI Draft - np10's pick

[Dare]

Vijay Manjrekar
Reading into his profile Manjrekar was a good player of fast bowling and was a good batsman to have coming in when the team was in a bit of trouble early. He averaged 68.85 batting at #3 and that's where he slots in for me.



1 Saeed Anwar
2 Marvan Atapattu
3 Vijay Manjrekar
4 Javed Miandad
5
6 Hanif Mohammad +
7
8 Zaheer Khan
9 Mohammad Asif
10 Khan Mohammad
11 Muttiah Muralitharan

 

[shravi]

Sid plans to win this draft buy paying us in vCash.

 

[SciD]

Sid plans to win this draft buy paying us in vCash.

King Agger for 1Million

 

[SciD]

 

[shravi]

It's been 24 hours. Dr. Pepper misses out. Cricketman's turn.

 

[Dare]

Cricketman going to take his usual 23:59 hours to make selection

 

[Cricketman]

Iqbal Qasim

The best left arm spinner to play for Pakistan. His deliveries were flat in trajectory, bowled with pinpoint accuracy to trouble batsman from all over the world. He was extremely miserly, rarely going at over 2 an over, but didn't sacrifice his wicket-taking ability as he snapped up over 170 test scalps in his career.

Along with Bedi and Mankad, Qasim forms a formidable spin trio in my XI, capable of bamboozling any and all batsman from the world over.

1. Vijay Merchant
2. Vinoo Mankad
3. Shoaib Malik
4. GR Viswanath
5. Aravinda De Silva
6. Asif Iqbal
7. Kapil Dev
8.
9. Wasim Akram
10. Iqbal Qasim
11. BS Bedi

 

[SciD]

That is a good pick.

 

[King Cricket]

I pick Umar Gul. I know it's a not the best of picks, but I just didn't have another choice. All the other Pakistani fast bowlers have been picked, with the latest to go being Md Asif, the man who was supposed to be my pick here instead of Gul. So yeah, choosing Gul was the only option left for me.

1. Sanath Jayasuriya
2.
3. Polly Umrigar
4. VVS Laxman
5. Inzamam Ul Haq
6. Thilan Samaraweera
7. Mushtaq Mohammad
8. Anil Kumble
9. Roger Binny
10. Umar Gul
11. Mohammad Nissar

 

[shravi]

Cricketman's team, while undoubtedly boasting of great names, is now a little one dimensional with three left arm spinners.

Tauseef Ahmed's full talent was never realized with Qasim and and Qadir around him, but that is for no fault of his own. His FC average of 22 strongly suggests that if persisted with and not undermined, he could have gone onto greatly improve upon his already very impressive average of 31 in a strong bowling attack. He was a "skilled and cunning off spinner" who took 7 wickets on debut as a wild card entry, so to speak. He formed a deadly partnership with Iqbal Qasim very early on in his career. I am sure that he will be able to strike just as deadly a partnership with Erapalli Prasanna. My bowling attack is now complete and is formidable, to say the least with Imran Khan, Chaminda Vaas, Fazal Mahmood, Erapalli Prasanna and now, Tauseef Ahmed.

Gautam Gambhir
Shoaib Mohammad
Dilip Vengsarkar
Vijay Hazare
Mahela Jayawardene
6.
* Imran Khan
Chaminda Vaas
EAS Prasanna
Fazal Mahmood
Tauseef Ahmed


BTW, sid, on the first page, Dare picked Vijay Manjrekar, not Vijay Merchant.

 

[SciD]

Hopefully my player will survive that long queue till my pick.

 

[nightprowler10]

Some nice picks late. Makes me wonder if I could've picked differently and not have two mediocre picks at the end, but then I look at my line up and think 'nah'.

For my next pick I'll be choosing Arjuna Ranatunga. His numbers may not be as impressive as the rest of my batting lineup but he was very resilient against the best opposition of his era and a good captain to boot.

NP11

1. Sunil Gavaskar
2. Virender Sehwag
3. Zaheer Abbas
4. Mohammad Yousuf
5. Arjuna Ranatunga
6. Farrokh Engineer
7.
8. Amar Singh
9. Saqlain Mushtaq
10. Waqar Younis
11. BS Chandrashekar

 

[shravi]

He started his career as a swashbuckling batsman who didn't even have the word 'defense' in his dictionary. All he knew was how to attack. His keeping was okay, but not good enough when compared with international standards. Since then, he has improved by leaps and bounds. He has transformed his temperament and curbed his aggression so that his style is better suited for both ODI and test cricket. He hasn't seen as much success as he would have liked to in Test cricket, however, that average is steadily on the rise. That's to say- don't be fooled by his current test and First Class average. In fact, in the last 3 years, his average has been 41 and in the last 12 months, it's been at 54. He may not be the best pure keeper India has had but I'm certain he's well on his way towards becoming India's number one keeper-batsman. I also wanted to strengthen my batting or else I would have gone for the other Indian contender.

Gautam Gambhir
Shoaib Mohammad
Dilip Vengsarkar
Vijay Hazare
Mahela Jayawardene
MS Dhoni
* Imran Khan
Chaminda Vaas
EAS Prasanna
Fazal Mahmood
Tauseef Ahmed

That completes my team. I have a very strong opening combo. Gambhir is undoubtedly going to go down as one of India's greatest openers and is already well on his way to getting there. While Gambhir is able to shift from an attacking to defensive mode very easily, at the other end I have the very gritty Shoaib Mohammad whose job is to fend off the new ball bowlers and build a carefully constructed innings. At number 3, I have one of India's most experienced and best batsmen in Dilip Vengsarkar, who on his day, could decimate the best of bowling attacks. Next is Vijay Hazare who is undoubtedly in the top tier of batsmen, not only from India, but from around the world. Then comes Jayawardene who is arguably the greatest batsman Sri Lanka has produced, matched only by Sangakkara. Imran Khan is the second greatest all rounder of all time who is partnered by Sri Lanka's best and one the subcontinent's best fast bowlers, Chaminda Vaas, and Pakistan's first great fast bowler, Fazal Mahmood. I have two very potent spinners in Prasanna and Tauseef Ahmed who I expect to strike a deadly partnership and make any batsman wet their pants.

 

[SciD]

Bit worried about your batting Shrav. Bowling wise it is good side.

 

[King Cricket]

My last pick is Wasim Bari. He was one of the greatest wicketkeepers of alltime, and undoubtedly the best Pakistan has ever produced. Don't look at his batting averages and all, as they hardly reflect what type of a legendary figure he was. He ended his career with 228 Test victims off 81 matches, with 27 of them being stumped out. It's indeed a fabulous achievement. Needed a good keeper, and Bari perfectly fits in the shoes.