Who’s Next?

*This column is cross-posted at my column in CricAges*

If for one fleeting moment, we can push the hullabaloo from India’ disappointing T20 world cup campaign and the debacle of the second unit in Zimbabwe aside, we can actually see a team that is sitting atop the world Test rankings. The long, winding and arduous climb to the top has been a product in the making for almost a decade, riding on the backs of some of the finest cricketers the game has ever seen: Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Anil Kumble and VVS Laxman. Two of the five have already said sayonara to the international game and the others, being on the wrong side of 35, are not far away either.

Autobiographies

Recently I came in possession of a few books on cricket, including a biography and an autobiography. That made me think what the titles would be if some of the Indian cricketers decided to put their lives on print.

Irfan Pathan – I used to be a fast bowler

Ajit Agarkar – Get your ducks in a row

Sreesanth – Show the other cheek, said Jesus

Yuvraj Singh – Mom’s the word

Ashish Nehra – What happens in St. Lucia, stays in St. Lucia

Harbhajan Singh – Maa ki See, Maa ki do

Sachin Tendulkar – God promise, I didn’t hear it

Sourav Ganguly – Striptease

Rahul Dravid – The Bridesmaid’s tale

MS Dhoni – At the end of the day

Zaheer Khan – Return of the dead

Virender Sehwag – I’m a better clone than Dolly the sheep

Send in your suggestions for VVS Laxman, Gautam Gambhir, Munaf Patel et al. Its open season, folks.

All Time Test XI – India

Cricinfo has been running a feature called All Time XI where various analysts, former players, cricket historians and writers form a panel that selects all time XI. So far the All time XI have been rolled out for Australia, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, England and South Africa. The process is now on for Pakistan. There is no rhyme or reason for the order they have chosen the countries; Its not alphabetical order or a chronological order by which these countries started playing test cricket. Perhaps, they are saving India for last, as that might be the one that gets cricinfo the maximum readership and debate? Not so much on this blog. We are going straight for it.

A lot of the final XI are typically legends of the game and will be a direct write in on anybody’s list. So, let’s get those out of the way and we can focus on the ones that need debate.

Sunil Gavaskar, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Kapil Dev, Anil Kumble.  (We can’t have any disagreements on these, gentlemen. They have served Indian cricket for a  long time and admirably. They all feature near the top of the lists of all time run-getters/wicket takers.)