India's all-time best Test XI

India has been playing Test cricket for 86 long years, starting from 1932.

Many great players have represented the country in the history of Indian Test Cricket. The contribution of these great players has been immense in making India a powerhouse in Test Cricket.

In the initial years, India used to struggle against the top teams of the World viz, West Indies, England and Australia. However, with experience, they got better.

It is from the 1970s that the Indian Test team slowly but surely started to become a formidable unit. Then in the 1990s, they became one of the best teams in the World at home. However, their away record was still not good. But in the 21st century, the Indian Test team became one of the best in the world. They had one of the best ever batting lineups in the world, and some great match winners in their team.

In this article, we try and pick India's best ever Test Match XI. It is definitely a very difficult job. There will be many great players, who will miss out but hear out the idea first.

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Openers:

Sunil Gavaskar : Matches : 125 Runs: 10122 Average: 51.12 Hundreds: 34

Virender Sehwag : Matches : 104 Runs: 8586 Average: 49.34 Hundreds: 23

Sunil Gavaskar is one of the greatest Test match batsmen, India has ever produced. He has been India's greatest ever test match opener. Gavaskar is thus an automatic choice for the opening slot in Test matches for India.

For the second opener's slot, Virender Sehwag is also an automatic choice. He was the man, who redefined Test opener's role. He showed the world that an attacking player, looking for boundaries and sixes can also be a very successful Test opener.

He scored tons of runs against all major bowling attacks of the world. His attacking style of batting demolished opposition attacks and provided the platform for the team to win Test matches.

Middle Order Batsmen:

Rahul Dravid : Matches : 164 Runs: 13288 Average: 52.31 Hundreds: 36

Sachin Tendulkar : Matches : 200 Runs: 15921 Average: 53.78 Hundreds: 51

Virat Kohli : Matches : 69 Runs: 5994 Average: 54.49 Hundreds: 23

Indian cricket has been blessed with many great batsmen at Number 3 position in Test matches. However, the man who stands out above the rest is "The Wall" of Indian Batting, Rahul Dravid. He has been one of the best Test batsmen India has ever produced.

His great technique and capability of playing long and match winning knocks make him the best choice for the number three position in the all-time Test XI.

Sachin Tendulkar " The God of Cricket", is the best ever Indian Cricketer and arguably one of the best Test batsmen, the game has ever seen. He owns almost all the major batting records and hence is an obvious choice for the number four batting slot in the Test team.

The Indian team had many great Test players in the No 5 slot, viz Gundappa Vishwanath, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Md Azharuddin. However, the current Indian Test captain and the greatest batsman of his generation, Virat Kohli, is our choice for the no 5 position.

Although no 4 is his regular position with the bat, in the test team, in the all-time XI it is a spot which belongs to the great, Sachin Tendulkar. But Kohli also, is too good a Test player to be left out and hence he is given the number 5 spot.

Wicket Keeper: MS Dhoni

Matches: 90 Runs: 4876 Average: 38.09 Hundreds: 6 Catches: 256 Stumping: 38

India's best ever wicket-keeper batsman MS Dhoni is also an automatic choice for the slot of the wicketkeeper. Although India had some very good keepers like Syed Kirmani and Nayan Mongia, after overall considerations, MS Dhoni is miles ahead of others.

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All Rounders:

Kapli Dev: Matches : 131 Runs: 5248 Batting Average: 31.05 Hundreds: 8

Wickets: 434 Bowling Average: 29.64 5wkt Hauls: 23 10wkt Hauls: 2

R Ashwin: Matches : 61 Runs: 2263 Batting Average: 30.17 Hundreds: 4

Wickets: 324 Bowling Average: 25.45 5wkt Hauls: 26 10wkt Hauls: 7

India's greatest ever all-rounder and one of the best match-winners of all time, Kapil Dev, is an automatic choice for the number seven slot in the batting lineup. He will also be the leader of the pace attack of the team.

India has produced some of the great spinners in test cricket history, viz Bishen Bedi, Chandrasekhar and Harbhajan Singh. However, Ashwin gets the nod ahead of all of them, to be India's second spinner, (alongside Kumble), because of his all-around capabilities.

He has developed himself from a bowler who can bat, to a genuine allrounder. He has also been India's biggest match-winner with the ball in the last 5-6 years of test cricket. His consistent batting and match winning bowling performances make Ashwin the best choice for the Number 8 slot in the team.

Bowlers:

Anil Kumble: Matches : 132 Wickets: 619 Bowling Average: 29.65 5wkt Hauls: 35 10wkt Hauls: 8

Javagal Srinath: Matches : 67 Wickets: 236 Bowling Average: 30.49 5wkt Hauls: 10 10wkt Hauls: 1

Zaheer Khan : Matches : 92 Wickets: 311 Bowling Average: 32.94 5wkt Hauls: 11 10wkt Hauls: 1

India's greatest spinner and one of the biggest match winners in test cricket, Anil Kumble, is an automatic choice to lead the spin attack of Indian all-time best Test XI. He is India's highest wicket-taker in Test cricket history and his contribution to India's rise as a Test match superpower has been immense.

Javagal Srinath is one of fastest bowlers India has ever produced. He has a very good Test record also. Although he was not a regular match-winner with the ball, his consistent performances in all types of pitches over a long period of time, keeps him ahead of the recent pacers like Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Md Shami.

Zaheer Khan is one of the greatest left-arm pacers India has ever produced. His ability to swing the ball both ways and also reverse swing an old ball made him a difficult bowler to face.

Because of his consistency and variety, Zaheer Khan is the choice for 3rd seamer's spot in India's all-time best Test XI.