Akshay write up:
XI:
Virender Sehwag
Graham Gooch
David Gower
Graeme Pollock
Zaheer Abbas
Misbah-ul-Haq
Ian Healy
Shane Warne
Curtly Ambrose
Dale Steyn
Angus Fraser (replaced by Ashwin for 2nd Test, who will bat at 8)
Batting:
Virender Sehwag (AVG: 49)
A destructive opener with a strike rate in the 80s, Sehwag is an unpredictable batsman who can also be his own worst enemy. On a flat wicket he is a bowler's nightmare, and while he's also very capable on turning tracks he can sometimes be found out against quality fast bowlers on seaming surfaces.
Graham Gooch (AVG: 42)
One of the best openers of this draft's period, Gooch's average may not look so impressive but needs to be taken in the context of the bowling attacks he faced.
He played over a third of his Tests against Australia, playing through Dennis Lillee's peak years and averaging 33 against them. He also played almost a quarter of his Tests against the West Indies, first featuring Marshall-Holding-Garner-Croft in their peak, and then followed by Ambrose-Walsh. Throughout all that, he managed an average of 45 against them.
He was also successful against spin, averaging 56 in his Tests against India (featuring the spin quartet), and 40 in the subcontinent overall. He made 83 in his only Test featuring Chandrasekhar.
David Gower (AVG: 44)
Gooch's partner-in-crime, Gower was an elegant left hander who at times made batting seem effortless. Like Sehwag, he liked to play his strokes and could end up risking his wicket in the process. Like Gooch, he faced many fearsome pace and spin attacks and came out with his reputation intact.
In direct contrast to Gooch, however, Gower found more success against the Australians with an average of 45 but fared less well against the West Indies, averaging 33. He had tremendous success in the subcontinent averaging 57 there, and overall averaged 45 against India's spinners. He made 200* in his only Test featuring Chandrasekhar.
Graeme Pollock (AVG: 61)
One of the best left-handers in cricketing history (along with Garry Sobers), Graeme Pollock made his Test debut at the tender age of only 19. Understandably his first few Tests were not a big success, as he recorded a pair against Australia on his debut. In fact if his first two years of Test cricket are ignored his average soars to above 70.
However, because his career was unfortunately cut short at just 26 due to the apartheid era Graeme Pollock did not have the opportunity to face several bowling attacks in their prime in sanctioned Test matches, although he did very well against the likes of Richie Benaud, Graham McKenzie, John Snow, and David Allen. Almost all his Tests (excluding 1 against NZ) were against Australia and England, both strong sides at the time.
Zaheer Abbas (AVG: 45)
A fluent stroke-player with immense concentration levels, Abbas' Test career spanned from 1969 to 1985, allowing him to face a wide variety of quality bowling opposition. He was known as an excellent player of spin, averaging 87 against India. In India's tour of Pakistan in 1978, he made scores of 176, 96, 235*, 34*, and 42. These are the only matches in which he faced Chandrasekhar.
He did have his struggles against some top pace bowlers, such as Hadlee's New Zealand and the Marshall-Holding-Garner-Croft West Indies, both of whom against he averaged only 18. On the other hand, he averaged 44 against an Australia featuring Lillee and Thomson, and 51 against England, first spearheaded by Bob Willis and then later by Ian Botham.
Misbah-ul-Haq (AVG: 49)
A gritty battler and very capable of leading a rearguard batting display if it should prove necessary. Defensively solid and consistent, Misbah does not give away his wicket easily, earning him the nickname of 'Tuk Tuk'. He's averaged over 42 against all Test nations except Australia (38). Although he's played most of his Tests in Asia, he's done reasonably well whenever he has played in other conditions, averaging 42 in Africa (6 Tests) and 37 in Oceania (7 Tests). He scored 114 (and a duck!) in England just four days ago, to date his only Test match there.
Ian Healy (AVG: 27)
One of Australia's best keepers of the 20th century (in competition with Rod Marsh), averaging two catches per innings and a stumping every six. He kept wicket to quicks like Hughes and McGrath, but gained special renown for his acrobatic keeping to Shane Warne, with c Healy b Warne becoming a regular highlight on the scorecards. His earlier struggles with the bat notwithstanding, he was also a very useful batsman in his prime from 93-98, during which he scored 3000 runs at an average of 35.
Bowling:
Sir Curtly Ambrose (405 wickets, AVG: 21.0)
A 6'7 giant with a release point almost 10 feet off the ground, Ambrose could get bounce on any kind of wicket. He also had incredible control, displayed for example when the Windies toured England in 1991. Despite the series being played on slow wickets, Ambrose finished as the top bowler with 28 wickets at an average of 20. Of course when the conditions were helpful he took full advantage and was often unplayable, such as Perth 1993, where he collected 7 wickets for the price of 1 run in the space of 32 deliveries. Overall, Ambrose's blend of pace, bounce and control notched him 22 five-fors during his career, often turning a match on its head in the process.
Dale Steyn (406 wickets, AVG: 22.5)
The ability to swing the ball both ways with accuracy and extreme pace (his fastest ball was 156km/h) makes Steyn an ideal complement to Ambrose. He has the best strike rate (41.7) of any bowler with 100+ wickets since WWI, a number made even more staggering by the fact that Steyn has bowled entirely in the 21st century, ostensibly the era of batsmen and batting friendly pitches. Reverse swing and consistent line and length on slow subcontinental wickets thought to be seamer unfriendly has allowed him tremendous success there, as he's taken 90 wickets at 22.5 in Asia.
Angus Fraser (177 wickets, AVG: 27.3) [1st and 3rd Tests]
Regarded as one of the best medium pace bowlers after Terry Alderman, Fraser was a line and length bowler, relying on a consistent stock offswinging delivery. His parsimonious economy of 2.66 earned him the nickname of 'Scrooge'. He was also a capable wicket-taker in his own right, such as in his 6-82 against Australia at the MCG and two 8 wicket hauls against the West Indies.
Despite his lack of genuine pace and reliance on swing, he did fairly well on flat decks that didn't offer much assistance to bowlers. In India's 1990 tour of England, the 3 Test series resulted in 5 declarations and 6 scores of 400+. Fraser took 16 wickets at an average of 29 against a batting lineup featuring Shastri, Manjrekar, Vengsarkar, Azharuddin, and Tendulkar, finishing as easily the best bowler of the series.
Shane Warne (708 wickets, AVG: 25.4)
One of the greatest spinners of all time, and certainly the best legspinner, Warne has proven himself equally adept in all conditions. Ball of the century, yada yada yada. He also played a large role in reviving the art of legspin, picking up from where Abdul Qadir left off.
Ravichandran Ashwin (176 wickets, AVG: 25.4) [Replaces Fraser for the 2nd Test]
An accomplished offspinner, Ashwin is a matchwinner on turning pitches. In the subcontinent his average improves to 20.5 with a strike rate of just 44, in fact only Imran Khan has a better average in Asia (among bowlers with 100+ wickets in Asia). He's also a credible batsman, with an average of 32 and two Test centuries to his name.
Match Ups:
Sehwag is the only one of my batsmen who has faced any of my opponent's bowlers outside Chandrasekhar. Here are the stats when facing attacks including one of those four:
M stands for matches, D for dismissals by that bowler. Avg indicates the average scored by Sehwag in matches involving that bowler.
My Bowlers vs Opposition Batsmen
M is for Test matches, D is for dismissals, and Avg is the average the batsman scored in games against the bowler. A high dismissals/matches and low average suggests the bowler was good at eliminating the batsman, while a low dismissals/matches and high average suggests the batsman held the advantage in meetings between the two.
Ashwin has barely faced any of my opponent's batsmen (1 solitary Test v Kallis) so I have not included him.
