India's top 5 Test cricketers of all time

India have been playing Test cricket since 1932. In these 86 long years, the team has come a long way.

From the pre-independence time till the end of the 1960s, India produced some excellent players - CK Nayudu, Lala Amarnath, Polly Umrigar, Vijay Merchant, to name a few. However, as a team, they were not very strong; they used to struggle against the top teams of the world viz, West Indies, England and Australia.

It was from the 1970s that the Indian Test team slowly but surely started to become a formidable unit. The teams of the 1970s had great batsmen like Sunil Gavaskar, Gundappa Viswanath, Mohinder Amarnath and Dilip Vensarkar, alongside very good spin bowlers like Bishan Singh Bedi, BS Chandrasekhar and Erapalli Prasanna.

With the arrival of Kapil Dev on the scene in the late 1970s, the Indian team became even stronger. In the 1980s, they started challenging and winning against the best teams in the world. They still lacked consistency though.

Then in the 1990s, they became one of the best teams in the world at home, even if their away record remained poor. But in the 21st century, the Indian Test teams have been among the best in the world, irrespective of venue.

They have started having more than one or two match winners in the teams. As a result, they have started winning Test matches and series both home and away.

Many great players have represented the country in the history of Indian Test cricket. The contributions of these great players have been significant in making India a powerhouse in world cricket.

In this article, we have picked the five greatest Indian Test cricketers of all time. It is a very difficult job to select just five from so many great players, but we have tried our best to justify our choices.

#5. Kapil Dev

Matches: 131; Runs: 5248; Batting Average: 31.05; Hundreds: 8

Wickets: 434; Bowling Average: 29.64; 5 wk hauls: 23; 10 wk hauls: 2

Kapil Dev is India's greatest ever all-rounder, and one of their best match-winners of all time. Before Kapil arrived on the scene, the Indian bowling lineup was totally spinner-dependent. It was he who showed the world that an Indian pacer can also win them Test matches.

Kapil was not only a great pace bowler, but also a very competent lower middle order batsman. He scored more than 5000 runs and played many match-winning knocks with the bat.

He ended his career as the highest wicket-taker in Tests, with 434 scalps to his name. He held the record for almost a decade, before Courtney Walsh crossed him.

Kapil has been one of the best Indian cricketers in the history of Test cricket for sure.

#4 Rahul Dravid

Rahul Dravid

Matches: 164; Runs: 13288; Average: 52.31; Hundreds: 36

Rahul Dravid was called "The Wall" of the Indian batting. He was the best ever No. 3 batsman for India in Test matches. With his sound technique and supreme temperament and patience, he was a nightmare for the opposition bowlers.

At times, it seemed as if no one could get Dravid out. He was the go-to man for India at all the difficult stages of the match. He bailed India out of trouble many times in his career, specially in overseas conditions.

Dravid's 36 Test hundreds and over 13000 Test runs show his humongous contributions as a batsman. He also played many memorable match-winning innings in his long and illustrious Test career.

Dravid is truly a legend in Test cricket, and one of the best that India has ever produced.

#3: Sunil Gavaskar

Matches: 125, Runs: 10122, Highest Score: 236*, Average: 51.12, Centuries: 34

Sunil Gavaskar is undoubtedly the greatest ever Test opener for India. He is also considered one of the best Test match openers the world has ever seen.

Gavaskar was an iconic figure for his generation. He was the first Indian cricketer that the whole cricketing world idolized.

Gavaskar's incredible batting performances against the greatest bowling attacks of the world made him a role model for every young batsman to follow. When he retired, he had the record of the highest number of Test match centuries to his name. He was also the first player to cross 10000 runs in Tests.

Gavaskar's sound technique and immense patience, combined with his ability to score match-winning centuries against the best ever bowling lineups, made him a true legend of the game. He is definitely one of the best Indian Test cricketers of all time.

#2 Anil Kumble

Matches: 132; Wickets: 619; Bowling Average: 29.65; 5 wk hauls: 35; 10 wk hauls: 8

"Jumbo" Anil Kumble

Anil Kumble is widely considered to be India's biggest match-winner in Test cricket. In the 1990s and the early part of the 21st century, when Kumble was in operation, India was almost unbeatable at home.

Wth his superlative bowling efforts, he won India many matches almost on his own. His contribution to India's rise as a Test match superpower has been immense.

With more than 600 Test wickets in a career spanning almost two decades, Kumble has surpassed his glorious predecessors, like Bishen Singh Bedi, BS Chandrasekhar and Erapalli Prasanna, in terms of achievements.

Kumble is undoubtedly the best spinner India has ever produced. He is a legend of the game and surely deserves a place among the top five Indian Test players of all time.

#1 Sachin Tendulkar

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar

Matches: 200, Runs: 15921; Average: 53.78; Hundreds: 51

Sachin Tendulkar is undoubtedly the best Test cricketer India has ever produced, and one of the greatest cricketers in the history of the game. He has been one of the biggest role models for young cricketers across the globe.

With more than 15,000 runs and 51 hundreds, Tendulkar has almost all the significant Test batting records to his name. He won India many important matches, and scored hundreds and double hundreds all across the world and against all opponents.

The longevity of his career and his consistency throughout the 20 odd years he played is staggering.

Tendulkar is easily one of the greatest cricketers of all time. He is a global sports icon and the brightest jewel of Indian cricket, and deserves the number one spot in the all-time best Test players' list.