A list that would satisfy Indian cricket fans

Quick on the heels of the Wisden 100 list comes another list. And this, one supposes, will not draw the kind of adverse reaction from Indian cricket fans that greeted the controversial Wisden line-up. The main criticism against that list was the fact that it did not include a Sachin Tendulkar innings among the 100 all time great knocks. It did not matter to them if the list also did not include an innings by many other all time greats.

This time the list will make a lot of Indian cricket followers happy. For, not only has Don Bradman included three Indians in his list of 69 all time greats of the last century, he has a place for Tendulkar in his dream World XI. The great man maintained that he saw a split image of himself when he saw Tendulkar bat. All the same, it is worth noting that the other claimants for the No 4 slot in the batting order were Brian Lara, Graeme Pollock, George Headley, Viv Richards, Steve Waugh, Mark Waugh, Everton Weekes, Greg Chappell, Peter May, Denis Compton, Victor Trumper, Stan McCabe, Charlie Macartney and Walter Hammond, who incidentally is named as 12th man.

Of course, now the only point of debate would be whether Tendulkar deserves a place in what is virtually the team of the century. Even Indian cricket fans will, I venture to guess, be divided on this. There can't be much debate however about the inclusion of Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev as the two other Indians among the list of 69 all time greats. In the overall list of some 225 players who have represented India in Test cricket since 1932, Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and Tendulkar enjoy a very special status. One supposes that if an Indian quintet is chosen along the lines of Wisden's five cricketers of the century released last year, then these three would probably top the 100 mark. For the record, Don Bradman got 100 (out of 100 voters), Sobers 90, Jack Hobbs 30, Shane Warne 27 and Viv Richards 25 in the Wisden list. A lot of gap between the top two and the remaining three is evident In the Indian list however, there would be a big gap between the top three and the remaining two, whoever is chosen.

Incidentally, the three topped the list among the Indians in the Wisden list. Gavaskar got 12 votes and was in 12th slot. Tendulkar got six votes and finished joint 17th. And Kapil Dev, with five votes, was joint 20th. The only other Indian to figure in the list of 49 cricketers who got at least one vote, was BS Chandrasekhar. With precisely one vote, he was joint 33rd with a host of others.

Granted that Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and Tendulkar would be voted unanimously in the list of 100 voters in the list of five Indian cricketers of the last 70 years, it would be interesting to find out who the remaining two players would be. Anyone wants to initiate a debate? Or have I already?