This is a new blog series that would try to find India’s eleven best players to have wore the Indian cap ever. We would dig deep into Indian cricket history to unearth cricketers who have made the nation proud time and again. The selection procedure is as follows – We would select two openers, three middle order batsmen, one all rounder, one wicket keeper, two spinners and two fast bowlers. It is obviously very tough for any cricket-enthusiast to list a set of XI cricketers for all seasons from a country like India where legends have been a part of the game since its inception.

Starting today, we will look into India’s best and once the voting is complete, the readers’ choice would be announced.

We’ll start off with the opening batsmen. Out of the nine players listed below, you can choose two openers with the voting option below. Before you, vote, here is a mini-profile of these legendary openers.

Men made of steel and shine: The Openers

Nari Contractor

Courageous, Gutsy and Unfortunate – Three words that defined Nari Contractor’s test career for India. If Charlie Griffith hadn’t shortened his test career, the left-handed opener should have gone on to achieve greater feats in his career. The same courage was at display at Lords’ (1959) when he scored a brilliant 81 after Brian Statham broke his ribs. In first class cricket, every time Contractor crossed 50, he made sure he reached triple figures. He has 22 first class hundreds to his credit and not a single fifty!

Vijay Merchant

One of the five Wisden cricketers of the year (1937), Vijay Merchant played 10 test matches and all of them were played against England. The Second World War caused a lot of anarchy in his cricketing career too. Over 18 years, he could just play 10 tests. He opened the innings in 7 of those 10 matches and averaged a phenomenal 56.75. All his hundreds came as an opener. Merchant also finished on a high with his highest test score of 154 in his last knock as an Indian test player. His first-class batting average was only second to, Sir Don.

M.L.Jaisimha

A typical trait of ML Jaisimha was pursued by modern Hyderabad cricketers such as Mohammed Azharuddin and later, VVS Laxman. Elegance, style and above-all, wristy, M.L.Jaisimha was a darling of masses with his stylish stroke-play and an attitude filled with exuberance. Apart from his batting exploits, Jaisimha was considered the best tactician of the game. Pataudi and Wadekar continued to seek his knowledge even after he retired from the game. Another aspect of Jaisimha’s love for Calcutta was also imbibed by Azhar and Laxman. His memorable 129 against England in Eden Gardens was one of the highlights of his career as an opening batsman. Called up as a replacement, virtually walking into the match straight from the airport, he scored 74 and 101 at Gabba (1968) against Bill Lawry’s Australians.

Chetan Chauhan

Although Chauhan possessed the dubious record of being the first batsman to score 2000 runs without scoring a hundred, his contributions at the top of the order with another Indian legend, Sunil Gavaskar, made sure that India got a settled opening unit for a long time and also got solid opening partnerships consistently. He wasn’t water-tight with his technique, but his levels of defiance and courage touched sky-high. The closest he got to a hundred was in Adelaide (1981) when he fell short by 3 runs. Chauhan enjoyed a great partnership with Gavaskar as both struck 10 100+ partnerships between them at the top.

Sunil Gavaskar

Most runs scored in a test series by any debutant (774) till date, Gavaskar’s entry into test cricket gave an insight into how great he would soon become into. He held the records for the most runs and most centuries by any batsman in test matches for sometime, until Allan Border and Sunny’s biggest fan, Sachin Tendulkar broke his records. Widely regarded as one of the best opening batsmen to have played the game, Gavaskar loved to score against the best in business. Against the then world beaters, the little-master averaged 65.45 in tests.

Kris Srikkanth

Srikkanth brought a completely different outlook towards batting at the top against the new red cherry. With quite a sharp-eye and effervescent stroke-play, Srikkanth took risks that not many opening batsmen would dare to take at his time. However, his successors in Sidhu and Sehwag followed Cheeka’s foot-steps quite adeptly and at times, even better. His courageous pulls, hooks, and drives against the most feared bowling units made him a special brand of opening batsman when Gavaskar reached glory in his career. Srikkanth’s daring batting also made him quite inconsistent with the bat.

Navjot Singh Sidhu

Sidhu is one of those rare batsmen in world cricket, who can bat at both extremes – dogged and aggressive. He would be as much remembered for his 491 ball 201 that extended into the 12th hour against West Indies, as much for his penchant for sixes against the best spinners in the world, like Warne and Muralitharan. Muralitharan was spanked all over for 8 sixes in his 124 at Lucknow (1993-94), while Warne was dealt with disdain when Australia toured India in 1998. His aggressive six-hitting ability earned him the name – “Sixer Sidhu“. With more than 3000 test runs and 9 hundreds, Sidhu was among the most successful opening batsmen, India produced.

Virender Sehwag

The “Nawab of Najafgarh” has made opening position his own, ever since Sourav Ganguly tested him in England. Since making a ton on debut at Bloemfontein (2001), Sehwag has been the single-biggest influence in the Indian batting line-up this decade. His efforts with the bat have helped India win many test matches and series’ abroad off-late. Every time Sehwag scores a 100, he goes on to make a big score (150+). And all those runs come at a fair clip making bowlers fear for him (possesses a career strike rate of 79 runs per 100 balls). He is the proud record holder of the fastest 300 (278 balls) and is also in the league of Brian Lara and Sir Donald Bradman, as batsmen who’ve scored triple-ton twice in their career. In 69 test matches (till date), Sehwag has scored more than 5700 runs at an average just above 50. Apart from all his blitzkrieg batting, Sehwag is a very useful off-spinner too.

Gautam Gambhir

In a career that is still blooming with just 25 test matches in the bag, Gambhir has resolved the most enigmatic batting slot for the Indian team. Along with Virender Sehwag, Gambhir has torn oppositions apart since his comeback in July 2008. In Sri Lanka he faced the Mendis-&-Murali menace. While his team-mates were bamboozled, Gambhir gave fantastic starts for the team regularly. He was the leading run scorer in the 4-test series against Australia at home. In New Zealand, Gambhir also went on to help India clinch their first-ever series win at New Zealand. He was again topping the numbers list at New Zealand too. With his brilliant form, Gambhir also became the No.1 Test batsmen (ICC Rankings) recently.

Choose your two :

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