ENG vs IND, 2018: Best India Test XI from all England tours

Test cricket is one of the most gruelling formats of the game. A player needs to have an extensive concentration and some great resilience while playing this format of the game. Battling on the field for five days is no easy and demands some great fitness levels. Also, it gets even tougher when you are playing in a different terrain in alien conditions. This has been the case with the Indian cricket team for quite some time now. The Indians haven’t found much success in this format while playing in England. Also, they lost in both the previous tours by a huge margin. While England clean swept India 4-0 in 2011, they defeated the Indians 3-1 in 2014. The Indian team would be touring England yet again to seek its revenge and try to win a series in England this time around. Although India failed as a team in England, there were quite some noteworthy individual performances. Despite all the odds, these players have battled hard to help the team’s cause. These players, when combined together, can easily give a tough competition to England. Here is the Best India Test XI from all the England tours so far: 1. Sunil Gavaskar Sunil Gavaskar of India. (Photo Source: Getty Images) Sunil Gavaskar is an absolute legend of Indian cricket. He was the first ever cricketer to reach 10,000 runs in Test cricket. Also, he inspired quite a few players including the likes of the great Sachin Tendulkar. This man also has 34 centuries in Test cricket which was the highest at one point in time. He is technically a very sound player and hence found some great success playing in England. Gavaskar is one of the three players to score over 1,000 runs in England. He played 28 innings in 16 games and scored 1,152 runs with an average of 41. Gavaskar has a high score of 221 runs in England. Also, the ‘Little Master’ scored two centuries and eight half-centuries in the country. 2. Sourav Ganguly Captain Saurav Ganguly of India with the Natwest series Trophy. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images) The former Indian captain has fond memories of playing in England. He has shown the Indian team how to fight the adversities out and emerge to be victorious. Ganguly is one of the finest left-handers that India has ever produced. He likes to go hard at the opposition and has a tremendous record playing in England where most of the other players have struggled. Ganguly has played a total of 15 innings in 9 games in England. He was an absolute beast and was one of the most prized wickets for the English bowlers. He scored 915 runs at a tremendous average of 65.35 and has the highest score of 136. Ganguly scored three centuries and five half-centuries and also bagged one duck in the country. He will open the innings along with Sunil Gavaskar. 3. Rahul Dravid RAHUL DRAVID. (Photo by David Munden/Popperfoto/Getty Images) ‘The Wall’, Rahul Dravid is one of the best Test cricketers you are ever likely to see. He has an ability to bat for hours together and is a thorough example of patience and application. Even at the twilight of his career, Dravid was just unbelievable playing in England. The legendary right-hander has the best average for an Indian batsman in England (min 5 games). Dravid has played 13 matches in England and played in 23 innings in those game. He scored a staggering 1,376 runs with the highest score of 217 and also remained not out on three occasions. Dravid averaged 69 in England which is truly unbelievable and has smashed 6 centuries there which is the highest among Indians. Further, Dravid also hit 4 half-centuries. 4. Sachin Tendulkar Sachin Tendulkar. (Photo Source: Twitter) The ‘God’ of cricket needs no special introduction. He has scored the highest runs for an Indian in Tests in England. This man holds numerous records and applied himself beautifully in the tough, swinging English conditions. Sachin has toured England with the team on numerous occasions and was successful most of the times. He was an absolute treat to watch and as Harsha Bhogle rightly said, it was indeed a huge loss for Lords Honour Board not to have the ‘Master Blasters’ name on it. Sachin played 17 Tests in England and batted on 30 occasions. He scored 1,575 runs in the country at an average of 54.31 and his highest score over there was 193 runs. Sachin also scored 4 centuries in England alongside with 8 half-centuries. None of the Indian Best XI’s would be complete without this man. 5. Dilip Vengsarkar Sport, Cricket, pic: July 1990, 1st Cornhill Test Match at Lords, England v India, Dilip Vengsarkar, India, who played in 116 Test matches for India (Photo by Bob Thomas/Getty Images) Dilip Vengsarkar made his debut for India in the 1975-76 season. Although he took some time initially to settle in international cricket, one he found some success, he never looked back. Vengsarkar was a very stylish player and grabbed a lot of attention with his style of play. He went on to become one of India’s most successful batsmen and also led the side for a brief period of the time. Vengsarkar was only behind Gavaskar in terms of runs and centuries by the time he retired. Vengsarkar was another player who found some great success in England. In the 23 innings that he played in 13 Test matches, Vengsarkar amassed 960 runs with an average of 48. His highest score was 157 and hit 4 centuries and 4 half-centuries in the country. At the same time, he also bagged three ducks in England. 6. Gundappa Viswanath Indian batsman Gundappa Viswanath, circa 1985. (Photo by Adrian Murrell/Getty Images) Sunil Gavaskar was a great inspiration for many. But, one player that this legendary cricketer adored was Gundappa Viswanath. Gundappa Viswanath was a true artist with the willow – his strokeplay, particularly the late-cut executed with lumberjack-strong wrists, was nothing less than divine. His footwork was impeccable and was as crucial as Sunny G was for India in the 1970s. Vishy has over 6,000 runs in Tests. His ability to play the ball very late rewarded him with some great success in England. He played 13 Tests in England. In 24 innings, Vishy scored 858 runs at an average of 39. His highest score was 113 and this was the only century he scored in England. Also, he scored 9 half-centuries in England. 7. MS Dhoni (wk) Mahendra Singh Dhoni of India. (Photo by Richard Huggard/Gallo Images/Getty Images) Mahendra Singh Dhoni has completely redefined modern-day Indian cricket. He has evolved into an absolute legend of the game and played some very memorable knocks for India. Dhoni was one of India’s most successful captains and has won every possible trophy for the country. MS is the most successful wicketkeeper-batsman to have toured England from the Indian side. Mahi scored 778 runs in 12 Test matches in which he played 23 innings. He averaged 37 and has the highest score of 92 in England. Although he failed to score a century over there, MS hit 8 half-centuries over there. MS continues to be an inspiration for many in the country and will assume the role of the wicket-keeper batsman in the side. 8. Kapil Dev (c) Kapil Dev batting for India on the fourth day of the 1st Test Match between England and India at Lord’s Cricket Ground in London, 30th July 1990. Kapil Dev scored 77 not out to save the follow on. England won by 247 runs. (Photo by David Munden/Popperfoto/Getty Images) Kapil Dev’s heroics in England are well-known. He lifted the glorious World Cup trophy back in 1983 with the Indian team. Kapil was highly successful both with the bat and the ball in England. ‘Hanuman’, as he is fondly called by the great Bishan Singh Bedi will also lead the side as he is the apt person to lead this pack of superstars. He is regarded as India’s best ever all-rounder and is absolutely fearless in his approach. Kapil has played 13 Test matches in England. He batted in 20 innings out of those and scored 638 runs at an average of 35. His highest score was 110, which was also his only century and he scored his runs at an unbelievable strike rate of 93. Kapil also hit 4 half-centuries and hit 12 sixes in England, the highest for an Indian. Further, he is also the highest Indian wicket-taker in England with 43 wickets. His best bowling figures in a match were 8/168. 9. Anil Kumble Indian cricket captain Anil Kumble. (Photo credit LAKRUWAN WANNIARACHCHI/AFP/Getty Images) Anil Kumble is India’s highest wicket-taker in Tests. The tall leg-spinner bowled quick and didn’t give the ball much of a flight. This assisted him in the English conditions as he ended up his career as the second leading wicket-taker in England. Jumbo, as he is fondly referred to as is perhaps India’s greatest match-winner. He didn’t have any magic about his bowling but still ended up with 619 Test scalps courtesy his discipline with the lines and lengths that he bowled. Jumbo picked 36 wickets in just the 10 Test matches that he played in England. His best figures in an innings were 4/66 and 7/159 in a match in England. His economy was just 2.84 and is by far the most successful spinner from India to have got great results in England. 10. Srinivas Venkataraghavan Srinivas Venkataraghavan. (Photo Source: Twitter) Although Bishan Singh Bedi is the more successful spinner in England in terms of stats, S Venkatraghavan being an off-spinner brings more variety to the attack. He was the most successful off-spinner in England and is highly crafty. A mechanical engineer by qualification, Srinivas Venkataraghavan often competed with E Prasanna for a place in the side. He was a fighter to the core, a useful lower-order batsman and a very good close-in-fielder. Srinivas played 10 Test matches in England. He picked 20 wickets in those games at an economy of 2.58. His best bowling figures in an innings were 4/52 and it was 6/96 in a match. He was a great thinker of the game and was known for his accuracy and precision. 11. Zaheer Khan Zaheer Khan. (© Getty Images) Zaheer Khan was regarded as the ‘Sachin Tendulkar of Indian Bowling’ by former skipper MS Dhoni. The left-arm fast bowler is an amazing thinker of the game and is one step ahead of the batsmen on most of the occasions. His ability to swing the ball both the ways and bowl yorkers at death marked him out from the rest of the bowlers. Also, Zak bowled at a great pace. Zaheer grew from strength to strength during his playing days and was a great exponent of reverse swing. He has particularly troubled left-handed batsmen most of his career. Zaheer is perhaps the most successful Indian pacer to have played in England. Although injuries forced him to miss out on a few games, he has made enough impact in the few games that he played for the world to remember. In just 8 games, Zak picked up 31 wickets. His best bowling figures in an innings and a match were 5/75 and 9/134 respectively.

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ENG vs IND, 2018: Best India Test XI from all England tours

India can definitely give a very stern competition to England with this XI

10. Srinivas Venkataraghavan

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