Saturday 14 August 2010

Leading Indian Batsmen


Over the years, Indian cricket has been fortunate in the batting their traditional strength. Swashbucklers and stonewallers, technicians and artists, craftsmen and artisans, right-handers and left-handers - you name it and a varied field has graced Indian cricket for almost 80 years.
So many of them have run up an enviable record and this thought came to my mind when just the other day I had a cursory glance at the nine Indian batsmen who have crossed 6000 runs in Tests.
The list of outstanding batsmen of course is
much longer but opportunities were rather limited in the formative years of Indian Test cricket and it is no surprise that all these nine players made their entry during the last 40 years when there was the scope to figure in more matches.

All the same, you still have to score runs consistently while notching up the three-figure knocks at regular intervals to figure in the top bracket and there is little doubt that these nine batsmen are symbolic of the myriad of hues that have marked Indian cricket since 1932.
The pioneers and those other greats who followed – CK Nayudu, Vijay Merchant, L
ala Amarnath, Mushtaq Ali, Vijay Hazare, Vijay Manjrekar, Polly Umrigar, Chandu Borde, Dilip Sardesai, the Nawab of Pataudi and Mohinder Amarnath – all upheld the highest traditions of Indian batsmanship and those who followed have further strengthened it.
A glance at that pioneering list clearly indicates that even in the early years, Indian cricket had the swashbuckler and the stonewaller, the technician and the artist batting side by side generally trying their best to overcome the odds and steer India to a draw. Those were the days when a draw was a moral victory and a win was a near miracle.

The scenario changed dramatically with the India Rubber Year of 1971 when the team scored successive historic series triumphs in the West Indies and England and a certain Sunil
Manohar Gavaskar announced his grand arrival on the international stage.
He provided the inspiration and a whole new set of batsmen cropped up who went on to show that fast bowlers could be hit and not menaces against whom one flinched.
Over the years the younger generation took over possessing the essential qualities of dedication and determination, technique and temperament, patience and perseverance, concentration and commitment. Soon, the upward swing in India's fortunes was there for the cricketing world to watch and admire. No more were the Indian cricketers 'dull dogs' who took an inordinately long time to get their runs, who lacked the will to fight and who were technically and temperamentally ill equipped.
They were now among the best batsmen in the world capable of frustrating bowlers, fielders and the captain by playing knocks that lasted anything between 10 and 12 hours, displaying artistry of the ethereal level during which they charmed the b
all away from the fielders or playing power packed shots while being at their most commanding and having bowlers at their mercy.
This is best illustrated by the nine leading batsmen headed by Sachin Tendulkar. The list includes technicians and artists, swashbucklers and stonewallers, players whose batting has been an ideal blend of power and elegance and to complete the picture a left hander. Tendulkar of course is the complete batsman and following him in the order are two master technicians Rahul Dravid and Gavaskar.
Occupying fourth spot is VVS Laxman whose batting is the very epitome of charm and elegance. Sourav Ganguly who is in the power cum elegance mould is next. Virender Sehwag must be a rather unusual entry at No 6 but then he has been one of the rarities in international cricket – a buccaneering batsman who
has been able to maintain a certain level of consistency otherwise he wouldn't be able to have an average of over 50 or run up six double hundreds including two triples. Dilip Vengsarkar follows and few could bat in a more commanding manner than the 'Lord of Lord's'.
Two batsmen who in their own deliciously different ways were artists personified occupy the final two slots. Md Azharuddin redefined oriental elegance with his wristy turns of the bat while Gundappa Viswanath's strokes which could only be described as chiseled and sculpted was everyone's ultimate artist.
The nine batsmen boast of averages that range from almost 42 to 56 and so they have provided both style and substance to Indian cricket over the years with their batting being a fusion of art and grammar, power and precision.

Source: http://cricket.yahoo.com/cricket/blog/partabramchand/225/225partabramchand