The five most formidable sides to visit India

Was the Australian team of 1921 led by Warwick Armstrong the strongest team to visit England? Or should the palm go to Don Bradman's unbeaten 1948 squad? The debate raged till the mid 80s when another team came into the reckoning - Clive Lloyd's all conquering West Indian side of 1984 which won every Test of the five match rubber.

The debate continues afresh till this day. And while on the subject, let me try and trigger another debate along similar lines. This concerns the strongest team to visit India. Ever since Douglas Jardine's England team became the first official cricket team to visit these shores in 1933-34 after India was granted Test status, squads from many nations have toured the country. And of the many teams which have come here, it is possible to name a few which have been overwhelmingly formidable. To my mind, there are five teams which stand out, even if the final results in a couple of cases may not have been in keeping with the general view of the squad being a particularly strong and well balanced side. So here goes my selection and a short analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of each side.

The West Indians of 1958-59: After drawing the first Test, they won the next three games - the first visiting team to do so in India - before having much the better of another drawn final Test. Their two main strengths were the batting and the fast bowling. In the former department they were well served by Sobers, Kanhai, Butcher, Solomon, Smith, Holt and Hunte. Sobers got hundreds in the first three Tests, Kanhai had scores of 256 and 99 while Butcher, Solomon, Holt and Smith all got centuries. Hall and Gilchrist worked havoc with the Indian batting line up taking respectively 30 wickets (in five Tests) and 26 wickets (in four Tests). Their one palpable weakness was in spin bowling with the best years of Sobers and Gibbs still ahead. True, the Indians played that series in an unhealthy atmosphere with questions about their non-performance being asked in Parliament, 24 players being tried out, and there being four captains in the five Tests. But the margins of victory - 203 runs, an innings and 336 runs and 295 runs - brook no argument.

The Australians of 1959-60: The superiority of this team is not brought out by the final result which was a 2-1 victory in the five match series whereas a 4-0 triumph was generally forecast for the visitors. This was not unreasonable for the Australians had just taken back the Ashes from England the previous season, winning by a 4-0 margin. Then just before landing in India, they became the first team to win a series in Pakistan. It was a great all round side, possessing many virtues - a shrewd and inspiring captain in Richie Benaud, a batting line up that started with McDonald and Favell and continued with Harvey, O'Neill, Mackay, Burge, Davidson and Benaud and a bowling attack that had Davidson, Meckiff and an albeit aging Lindwall to share the new ball and with Mackay, Benaud and Kline in support, not to forget the wicketkeeping of Grout. If, despite all this, the visitors could not register a runaway triumph, it was because of a rejuvenated Indian side and some mesmeric bowling by Jasu Patel which won for the home team the Kanpur Test. Still, the performances were along expected lines with Harvey and O'Neill getting two hundreds apiece and Davidson and Benaud taking 29 wickets each.

The West Indians of 1966-67: Except for one weakness, which did not affect their overall performance, this team's strengths were awesome. In the first place, they had in Sobers the greatest cricketer of the day. As batsman, bowler (in more varieties than one) and fielder, the greatest all rounder of all time was then at the peak of his powers. He was joined in the batting order by Kanhai, Hunte, Butcher, Nurse and an exciting young 22-year-old big hitter Clive Lloyd. The bowling was balanced with Hall and Griffith handling the new ball and Sobers, Gibbs and Holford to provide the spin back up. The West Indies were easily the leading cricketing nation at the time and were expected to win the three match series 2-0 against a resurgent Indian side led by Pataudi. This in fact was the end result. Only Hunte got a hundred but all the other stars were among the runs and while Hall and Griffith proved to be slightly over the hill, Sobers and Gibbs made up for them. The only minor weakness was the lack of a suitable opening partner for Hunte.

The West Indians of 1974-75: Having completed the rebuilding process, a rejuvenated West Indian side under the new leadership of Clive Lloyd came to India bristling with confidence. The team had no real Achilles heel. The batting was strong with Greenidge, Fredericks, Richards, Kallicharran and Lloyd being an awesome quintet. This outstanding line up was bolstered by all rounders Julien and Boyce while in Roberts, they had an outstanding young pace bowler. Gibbs, even at 40, was good enough to shoulder the spin burden. They were expected to ride roughshod over a shattered Indian side, just back after the infamous `Summer of 42' in England. But under Pataudi's wise leadership and with Viswanath in great touch, the home team were a side on the comeback trail and the 3-2 victory for the visitors was well earned. Not unexpectedly, the batsmen were responsible for a riot of runs with Lloyd scoring a century and a double century, Fredericks getting two hundreds and Greenidge, Richards and Kallicharran one each. Roberts was in devastating form picking up 32 wickets while Gibbs, playing notable roles in the victories at New Delhi and Bombay, picked up 21. Murray proved his worth behind the stumps. The only weakness in the side was a tendency to crumble under pressure but the various strengths made up for this.

The West Indians of 1983-84: In the midst of their golden run which saw them set a world record of 27 matches without defeat, West Indies simply overwhelmed India, winning the six match series 3-0. For good measure, they also won all five one day internationals against the newly crowned World Cup champions. The one obvious weakness was the lack of a good spin bowler. But the variety of their pace attack - Marshall, Holding, Roberts, Davis and Daniel - more than made up for this lacuna. The batting was formidable with Greenidge, Haynes, Richards, Lloyd, Gomes and Dujon in the star studded line up. Lloyd got two hundreds and Greenidge and Richards one each. The failure of the other players to get big scores was made up by Dujon repeatedly bolstering the middle order and Marshall, Roberts and Holding making more than useful contributions at the tailend. In addition, Dujon proved himself to be a world class wicketkeeper.

These then get my vote as the five strongest teams to visit India though I must admit I considered a few others before arriving at my final decision. These were the 1933-34 England team, the 1948-49 West Indians and the 1969-70 Australians. Have I stirred a hornet's nest?