India's 500th Test celebration: mid-day picks the Greatest XI

Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar

India are set to play their 500th Test against New Zealand in Kanpur from September 22. To celebrate the occasion, we have decided to play selector and pick India's Greatest Test XI.

The team sees the formidable opening pair of Sunil Gavaskar and Virender Sehwag, with their completely opposite ways of approaching the game.

Then comes 'The Wall' at No 3 and India's 'God of Cricket' at No 4. The No. 5 slot goes to a genius all-rounder who opened for India, but could fit in anywhere: Vinoo Mankad.

A 'Very Very Special' cricketer is at No 6. India's greatest all-rounder Kapil Dev is at No 7. We have kept Kapil as skipper because of his aggression and ability to lead from the front.

The depth of the team can be seen in the fact that a destructive batsman like MS Dhoni is at No 8.

Then come the bowlers: Anil Kumble at 9, Bishan Bedi at 10 and India first pacer Mohammad Nissar bringing up the rear at No 11.

The squad may not be to every one's liking and stoke controversy since it doesn't have the likes of MAK Pataudi, Sourav Ganguly, Mohammad Azharuddin, Dilip Vengsarkar, Vijay Hazare, Polly Umrigar, Erapalli Prasanna, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar and Gundappa Vishwanath.

Ultimately, controversy and the selection of an imaginary cricket team go hand in hand. No matter which cricketer is picked to be part of the final XI, the ones omitted make more news and legions of fans stand up to protest their omission.

So we would like to apologise in advance for not being able to fit in all the greats in our Playing XI.

Sunil Gavaskar
Tests: 125 | Runs: 10,122 | Hundreds: 34 | Ave: 51.12 | HS: 236 no

The original 'Little Master', Sunil Gavaskar was the first cricketer to reach the landmark of 10,000 Test runs and India's batting rock for more than a decade-and-a-half. The great umpire Dickie Bird had called Gavaskar "one of the two best opening bats". He was named India's Cricketer of the 20th Century and when he retired in 1987 his 34 hundreds were the most in Test history.

Gavaskar averaged 50 at home but even greater is his away record: an average of 52.

Virender Sehwag
Tests: 104 | Runs: 8,586 | Hundreds: 23 | Ave: 49.34 | HS: 319

Wisden, the highly respected cricket publication, had named Virender Sehwag as the Leading Cricketer in the World for 2008 and Mahendra Singh Dhoni captain of its first ever Dream Test XI.

Adjectives fall short in describing the ‘Nawab of Najafgarh'. Stats to don't do full justice to his talent. But here are two -- Sehwag has two Test triple hundreds and a 293 to his name. His strike-rate of 82.23 in 104 Tests is the fastest of anyone with more than 2,000 runs.

Test cricket's overall greatest run-scorer Sachin Tendulkar at No.4 in his side. Tendulkar -- who retired at 40 having played a staggering 200 Tests, scored 15,921 runs in his remarkable career, with 51 hundreds -- was an automatic selection

Rahul Dravid
Tests: 164 | Runs: 13,288 | Hundreds: 36 | Ave: 52.31 | HS: 270

Rahul Dravid is not called ‘The Wall' for nothing. He is after all, one of the toughest men to dismiss in the history of the game. One of the ‘Fab Four' of India' Test history, Dravid is one of the best No.3 in the game. He scored more than 13,000 runs in his career, including 36 centuries. He though was one of the most underrated cricketers, having had to share the limelight with Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar.

Sachin Tendulkar
Tests: 200 | Runs: 15,921 | Hundreds: 51 | Ave: 53.78 | HS: 248no

One of the greatest cricketers of all time, Sachin Tendulkar was ‘God of Cricket' for India throughout his 24-year career. Form his Test debut as a 16 year old, ‘The Little Master' left all opposition bowlers demoralized. When he quit the game in November 2013, at the age of 40 and in his 200th Test match, he bowed out as Test cricket's most prolific ever run-scorer.

Vinoo Mankad
Tests: 44 | Wickets: 162 | 5wi: 8 | Ave: 32.32 | BBI: 8-52 | Runs: 2109 | Hundreds: 5 | Ave: 31.47 | HS: 231

A left-arm spinner and opening batsman, Vinoo Mankad was one of the greatest all-rounders India has ever produced. He will always be in the history books for his record 413-run opening stand with Pankaj Roy against New Zealand in 1956, which remains an Indian record for any wicket.

VVS Laxman
Tests: 134 | Runs: 8,781 | Hundreds: 17 | Ave: 45.97 | HS: 281

Another one of the ‘Fab Four, VVS Laxman was exemplary in pressure situation, especially against the dreaded Australians. The wristy Indian lived up to his moniker of Very Very Special. His epic 281 in Kolkata in 2001 is perhaps the greatest Test innings of them all. He paired up with Dravid again in 2003 for another classic stand, this time in Adelaide, to engineer a first Indian win in Australia for 22 years.

Kapil Dev (Captain)
Tests: 131 | Wickets: 434 | 5wi: 23 | Ave: 29.64 | BBI: 9-83 | Runs: 5248 | Hundreds: 8 | Ave: 31.05 | HS: 163

Kapil Dev was named India's Cricketer of the 20th Century. Doesn't that say it all. We have been looking to find his replacement ever since he retired, but have failed so far. ‘The Haryana Hurricane' carried the hopes and dreams of a nation on his shoulders throughout his 16-year Test career.

MS Dhoni (wicketkeeper)
Tests: 90 | Runs: 4,876 | Hundreds: 6 | Ave: 38.09 | HS: 224 | C: 256 | S: 38

MS Dhoni is by far the best wicketkeeper-batsman India has produced. The current India limited-overs skipper sneaks into the side on the basis of his batting ability, after all, he is regarded as one of the most destructive batsmen of the modern era.

Anil Kumble
Tests: 132 | Wickets: 619 | 5wi: 35 | Ave: 29.65 | BBI: 10-74

The current coach of the India team was the first Indian spinner to break the 300-wicket mark and the second Test player to ever take all ten wickets in an innings, achieving the feat against Pakistan in 1999. His commitment to the game and team is best exemplified by the 14 overs he bowled in Antigua in 2002 vs West Indies with a broken jaw. It doesn't hurt that he was also handy with the bat, and even has century against his name - vs England in 2007.

Bishan Singh Bedi
Tests: 67 | Wickets: 266 | 5wi: 14 | Ave: 28.71 | BBI: 7-98

The orthodox left arm off-spin of BS Bedi was beguiling. He makes it to the XI based on the fact that he has a superior Test average to the likes of Kumble, Harbhajan and Prasanna and instead of Bhagwat Chandrashekhar since he lends variety. Most impressive of all is the fact that some of his greatest achievements were in away matches, a bane for most Indian spinners. His only 10-wicket haul came at the bouncy WACA Ground in Perth.

Mohammad Nissar
Tests: 6 | Wickets: 25 | 5wi: 3 | Ave: 28.28 | BBI: 5-90

Mohammad Nissar makes it for his sheer pace. He is considered the fastest pre-independence Indian pace bowler and was arguably one of the fastest bowlers in the world during his time. Indian batsman C.K. Nayudu claimed in writings that during his first spell, Nissar was faster than Englishman Harold Larwood, who terrorized Australia in 1932 in the infamous Bodyline series. Nissar along with Amar Singh formed an Indian fast bowling duo that was considered one of the best in the world during the 1930s. Nissar's career kick-started right in his first match, as he, in the first ball of his second over, dismissed Herbert Sutcliffe for 3, knocking over Sutcliffe's stumps. Then, with the fifth ball of the very same over, he bowled the other opener, Percy Holmes

And how can we ignore the man who took the first Test wicket for India.

12th Man: Eknath Solkar
Tests: 27 | Wickets: 18 | Ave: 59.44 | BBI: 3-28 | Runs: 1068 | Hundreds: 1 | Ave: 25.42 | HS: 102

Eknath Solkar was an all-round cricketer who played 27 Tests and was called ‘Poor man's Sobers' for his ability to bat - he had a Test century to his name, and talent to bowl fast as well as slow. Solkar was renowned for his excellent close fielding. His catches helped India to victory against England at The Oval in 1971, the team's first Test win in England. Eknath's team-mate at Sussex Tony Greig once said, "He was the best forward short leg I've ever seen."

His 53 catches in only 27 matches is the best ratio for catches per test-match among non-wicket-keepers with 20 or more Tests.