I can't believe my eyes...

Let Ramki come back with his all time dream team. In the meanwhile I can't wait to discuss about the 20 greatest Indian cricketers of all time picked by 30 eminent cricket journalists and ex-cricketers in the first edition of Sports Illustrated Indian edition. Before I could jump into one choice which had me absolutely dumbstruck, let me give the list here:

1. Sachin Tendulkar
2. Kapil Dev
3. Sunil Gavaskar
4. Anil Kumble
5. Rahul Dravid
6. Vinoo Mankad
7. M.A.K.Pataudi
8. Virender Sehwag
9. Bishan Singh Bedi
10. C.K.Nayudu
11. Vijay Hazare
12. Sourav Ganguly
13. B.S.Chandrasekhar
14. Vijay Merchant
15. Gundappa Viswanath
16. Subash Gupte
17. M.S.Dhoni
18. V.V.S.Laxman
19. E.A.S.Prasanna
20. Mohd.Azharuddin

To begin with, I have a few points to disagree with on this list. As big as Pataudi's influence on Indian Cricket is, does he deserve a spot ahead of the spin trio or Sehwag? Can a genuine batsman without a test century and with a test average of 25 be considered one of the top 10 cricketers that India has ever produced? I have read a lot about the legendary stories of C.K.Nayudu but with due respect to him, we shouldn't have taken him into consideration at all for compiling such a list. One can argue the same about Vijay Merchant but whatever record he has is still good enough and add that to the "what he could have been had he not belonged to the world war II era" factor. Back that up with his first class record which is second only to the Don - I would even argue that he deserves a higher spot than No.14 that he's been given.

Eventhough I disagree with these selections,I must also confess that I understand that the eminent panel considered these players standing in the game especially in Indian Cricket during their respective eras and based their evaluation on that. Also I have the disadvantage of being much younger, so I can't claim to have seen them and argue against these selections. But one selection which as I mentioned before had me completely dumbstruck was M.S.Dhoni at 17, ahead of Laxman, Prasanna and Azhar!!! I can't believe my eyes...I reckon even Dhoni would be shocked to see this...

Dhoni is a great ODI batsman with the numbers to back up his reputation and a very good captain too. But this list should be and is primarily picked on performances in test cricket. Thats why its no surprise that Yuvraj Singh has missed out. Also none of the players' have been downgraded from their deserving standing because of poor ODI performances. Except for Sourav and Dhoni none in the list have a superior ODI record as compared to Tests, but standalone Sourav's test record is damn good and his captaincy also weighed heavily in his favour and despite that he is positioned at 12. So surely ODI cricket is not given too much weightage in this selection process.

Now let's come to the more pertinent question - How good a test cricketer is Dhoni? He's just starting to find his feet in this format even though he's been in the team for 4 years now. A couple of match saving efforts in Pak and England and two memorable attacking innings against Australia at home - these are the highlights of his career. I think even Matt Prior or Geraint Jones would have such a test match CV! This is not to dilute Dhoni's credentials as a test batsman - I would back him to end his test career with a much improved record and a lot more match winnings innings under his belt. But standing today, he is an average test cricketer despite considering his wicket keeping responsibilities.

Compare that with Azhar's 22 hundreds (some masterpieces in there) and 6215 runs at an average of 45.03 and we are not even talking about his style and grace and extraordinary fielding. And his captaincy record is not too bad either. If the argument is about him being a match fixer, then he shouldn't have been considered for selection in the first place and if he was then he should be given his due. If I disagree vehemently with Dhoni being ahead of Azhar, I would disagree with him being better than Laxman even more - its a joke! And I think Ian Chappell would be more disappointed on seeing Dhoni being rated ahead of Prasanna than Prasanna himself!

Really what's it with Dhoni? There's so much hype about him and his captaincy that I can't quite comprehend! I have always liked his batting and his captaincy has been good in general but to heap so much praise on him so early in his career is a puzzle that I can't quite solve...What's the hurry guys? Let's wait to see if he fulfils his early promise and if he does then we have enough time to felicitate him, celebrate him, include him in the all time greatest Indian team, all this and much more but if and only if he goes onto fulfil his promise!