Harsha Bhogle picks his Dream Test XI

The Indian team recently played the 500th Test match and is currently playing its 250th Test at home. Most people who matter opted to pick their All-Time Test XIs, the Dream Test XIs and so one of the best commentators in India and around the world Harsha Bhogle named his Dream Test XI as well.

He said initially he didn’t want to but eventually had to. He picked the most obvious names while also considering multiple players for other slots, sometimes numbers one it and sometimes the sheer beauty of their game. He justified all the names he picked as well as the impact they had.

“I must confess that I am not very good at it when everyone was selecting their all-time XIs I was sitting in one corner saying thank god I don’t have to make it. But then I had to make one myself. So I said ok what’s the best way to do it, can you speak with a certain degree of authority? There are four players I have always looked upto and though wow how good it must have been to see more of them people like Vijay Hazare, Vinoo Mankad even Bishen Singh Bedi whom I watched just a little bit of and Subash Gupte. You don’t know how good they are. How do you compare Vijay Merchant’s fantastic 1946 season difficult conditions to that of Sehwag. So I said I’ll pick my team of people that I watched, of people I can make a reasonable comment about.” Harsha said in his video for Cricbuzz.

“Sunil Gavaskar – I grew up adoring him, let’s just put the numbers aside. You cannot even raise a figure in protest against Virender Sehwag, India’s top 3 innings are all from Sehwag. Anyone challenging Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar at 3 and 4? So these are like the first moves in chess, everyone makes the same moves, the game really starts after that.

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“For No. 5 and 6 I had to think, who do I pick an all-rounder. I have gone with beauty, artistry, eye catching, match winning, these are the kind of reasons you follow sports for. My No. 5 and 6 are Mohammad Azharuddin and VVS L and there is absolutely no home city bias in that. The only time I went through numbers was when I realized I didn’t have a left-handed batsman in my side. Sourav Ganguly 48 at home 8 hundreds, Laxman 51 at home, second half of his career was mind blowing.” He said.

“Kapil Dev and MS Dhoni that’s 7 and 8. Now comes the discussion point, Zaheer Khan or Javagal Srinath? I have seen Srinath bowl his heart out for India, absolutely bowl his heart out, there was nothing left behind when he came off the pitch and yet the left-handed Zaheer Khan, the reverse swing, snaking it past the left-handers providing that alternative, bowling with the old ball, so Zaheer Khan.

“No greater match winner in Indian conditions that Anil Kumble, that leaves one, Harbhajan Singh or Ravichandran Ashwin. Harbhajan, a young Harbhajan Singh when he was tossing the ball up and the batsmen are always short was a delight and yet Ravichandran Ashwin’s numbers, his strike rate, I think we are in midst of a modern colossus especially in these conditions. So Ashwin. That’s my XI, heavy heart.”

Harsha Bhogle’s Dream Test XI:

Sunil Gavaskar, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Mohammad Azharuddin, VVS Laxman, Kapil Dev, MS Dhoni (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Anil Kumble (C), Zaheer Khan

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