Gautam Gambhir potentially a better test cricket captain than MS Dhoni

Mahendra Singh Dhoni or MSD in short continues to remain the captain of Inidian Cricket team even though he has the shameless away record among all the Indian captains thus far. The 8-0 away series drubbing where India lost to mediocre England and bore Cricket Australia's team in past couple of years has had no affect on MS Dhoni's captaincy as he continues to remain the most tactless captain ever. Under him India is likely to loose all the away matches this year as well. This will not be because of lack of quality players under him but because of his inability to use what he has got.

Gautam Gambhir - A Perfect Captain

MS Dhoni continuation as captain of India despite head shaker losses raises a question of two about the availability of resources for captaincy of India. Does India lack players who can lead the national team? After thinking about it - answer is comprehensive 'NO'. Far from it - India has many potentially great captains waiting to get an opportunity to serve the nation. Gautam Gambhir is the front runner in the race. The way he has been able to lift the morale of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in IPL 7 after a horrible start to the league is a prime example of his leadership qualities. Some of the international great players like AB De Villers have openly said in press that Gautam Gambhir has a potential to become the great captain. Jaques Kallis, now retired from test cricket, also shares the same view. Only problem with Gautam Gambhir is his own form which is not enabling him to get into the first eleven and hence the captaincy looks far away thing to be had.

Form is not the only thing that denies players to get their true position in Indian cricket, there is politics too. Everyone knows the backing MS Dhoni get from selectors, although Mohinder Amarnath was exception and he had to paid the price for raising voice against MS Dhoni, and has done quite well in limited over cricket. This is another problem in Indian Cricket. If you do some thing well in ODI and T 20 cricket you are considered good for test cricket as well. This is especially true if your godfathers are in cricket commentary who are also the former greats. You might be wondering what commentators has to do with who gets the captaincy or not? It matters a lot in Indian cricket. If a 'kar' and 'tri' says good things about you - no one can replace you from captaincy position. On the other hand if 'kar' and 'tri' don't like you - you won't be in a team no matter however good your performance has been. Then there is 'ogle' as well - master of creating the environment in favor and in against (mostly against) the player. Ask Yuvraj Singh, Virat Kohli, and Ishant Sharma, if you don't know what I am saying, how the comments from Mr. Ogle has made their cricketing career a hell at various times.

They say that all salute the shining sun. MS Dhoni is a shining sun even though he is not the best captain for India at the test cricket level. Bad luck is that he has age and so many other factors backing him. This means that the most deserving players who can captain India, especially Gautam Gambhir, will continue to be kept denied the opportunity captain the Indian Cricket team. India is most likely to suffer another whitewash by the hands of England in the upcoming test series this summer. MS Dhoni might win the IPL 7 for CSK Chennai Super Kings but he will struggle to win a test match series for India, for sure.

Onus entirely on Virat Kohli to win Asia Cup cricket tournament

India began their Asia Cup tournament with victory over hosts Bangladesh, thanks to yet another magnificent century, while chasing, by captain Virat Kohli. Virat is captaining side in absence of regular captain MS Dhoni who is not participating due to injury.

136 runs that Virat Kohli scored were absolutely essential. It seems like he has to do it again and again if India needs to win Asia Cup. This is because the players coming before him and after him, look incapable of handling the pressure. The team selected is bit of a 'joke', to be frank.

How far can Virat Kohli take India?

ODI cricket is a role based game. You need to have openers who can take advantage of field restriction overs and power hitters to maximize the score in the end. India is missing both of them.

Openers Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma have been struggling for long as One Day Cricket openers. They started brightly with century partnerships in Champions Trophy but faded quite quickly after that. Shikhar Dhawan though has impressed in Test Cricket, the most difficult form of cricket, as per experts, but Rohit Sharma has struggled in all forms of cricket that he has played, although he has been publicised as 'most talented' batsmen by same experts.

After openers come Virat Kohli and he has been the main reason for India maintaining its number 2 position in ICC One Day Cricket rankings.

But If Virat Kohli fails, does India have players who can win matches by accelerating the scoring if need be? Answer is comprehensive 'no'. Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh, 2 of the best finishers in ODI cricket have been dropped because experts, Aakash Chopra, Harsha Bhogle, Sanjay Manjrekar, Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri, Sourav Ganguly etc, have made it a point on more than one occasion during their commentary stints that both Raina nd Yuvra are not capable of handling the 'short balls'. It has created environment against both Yuvraj and Raina, pressure on selectors mounted as a result, and both have been dropped to please these stalwarts of Indian cricket.

Mind you, Yuvraj was man of the series in World Cup of 2011 and Suresh Raina played match winning knock in quarter finals against Australia in the same tournament. Both of them have changed the equation in India's favor, by quick running and strong hitting under pressure, if one is frank in his analysis of cricket. Also people like Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma etc, who have replace those two are getting out on even normal full length deliveries along with 'short pitch bowling' and india have possibly replaced better players with worst players.

Others are new comers. Ambati Rayudu, Cheteshwar Pujara, Stuart Binny haven't even faced a single ball of likes of 'Lasith Malinga' and 'Umar Gul'. It will be unfair to expect them to hit sixes and fours of them, and India will need them to do that if they want to win Asia Cup at some point or the other.

This leaves Virat Kohli to do a lot. Apart from leading young and inexperienced team, he needs to settle the ship every time because openers are ordinary, accelerate the scoring and bat long every time, then stay at the end to make sure India have a good finish. It's too much of an ask of 25 years old man.

Indian selectors have committed a blunder here. Even if India wins the tournament, the team selection will require some explanation.

Asia Cup 2014, What India needs to do to win it

India will start their Asia Cup campaign against host Bangladesh on Feb 26, 2014 with hope for winning the cup for the the 6th time. But given the recent form in ODI cricket it will not be easy for world champions to win the tournament.

Asia Cup Trophy, Can India win Asia Cup 2014!

India last time failed to reach the semifinals even though they had beaten Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the league stage. But they lost to Bangladesh in a match which saw Sachin Tendulkar reached hundredth century in all international matches.

Other teams in the tournament, especially Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh have been playing some good cricket recently. More importantly they have played their recent cricket on Asian Pitches. Afghanistan is other team in tournament but they are less likely to cause any upset. India on the other hand is woefully our of form and have lost badly in last 2 ODI series, albeit away from home in South Africa and New Zealand. In fact India did not manage to win a single match.

Apart from blip in form, there are other worries that Indian team is facing. To start off their most experience One Day cricket player and regular captain MS Dhoni is not playing due to side strain and captaincy responsibility is landed on shoulders of their best ODI batsmen, on current form, Virat Kohli. Will captaincy take its toll on Kohli, it remains to be seen. Other thing is the Indian team selected for Asia Cup lacks experience. Indian have had a good run against all teams in this tournament, but likes of Dhoni, Yuvra Singh, Virendar Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, and Gautam Gambhir had a big role to play in those performances. This time Suresh Raina is also missing who could have made a difference with his power hitting in asian conditions. With Rohit Sharma out of form and Ainkya Rahane not been able to come to terms with limited overs cricket, entire load of batting might fall on shoulders of Virat Kohli, which India would definitely not want to happen.

India's Squad for Asia Cup: Virat Kohli (captain), Varun Aaron, Ravichandran Ashwin, Stuart Binny, Shikhar Dhawan, Ravindra Jadeja, Dinesh Karthik, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Amit Mishra, Mohammed Shami, Ishwar Pandey, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ainkya Rahane, Ambati Rayudu, Rohit Sharma, MS Dhoni (withdrawn player)

It will also be interesting to see if fast bowler Ishwar Pandey and middle order batsmen Cheteshwar Pujara get to play in starting 11. Especially everyone is looking forward to how Cheteshwar Pujara is going to adjust his game to meet the demands of ODI cricket. Many former cricketers have demanded his inclusion in squad in past as well.

Also See:  Should Asia Cup squads be chosen keeping world cup 2015 in mind

Apart from batting, there is no secret, and forget about quality, as far as Indian bowling is concerned. Indian bowlers hardly win matches for them and in batting friendly conditions in Bangladesh they are likely to go for plenty of runs in flat fatullah cricket pitch.

What India, and Virat Kohli, needs to do is to back their spinners. Bat first, if possible, and bat out the opposition. Don't overestimate the 'dew' and other eternal factors. Inclusion of allrounders like Stuart Binny will help Indian team to strengthen both batting and bowling departments. Stuart Binny, son of former cricketer and current selector Roger Binny, has been in good form, particularly with bat, scoring a blistering 100 recently in domestic tournament. Also India should back themselves in the field with some exciting athletic fielders like Ravindra Jadeja available to them who has shown to turn matches on the head with smart fielding effort. There is no one more accurate than Ainkya Rahane when it comes to throwing down wickets by scoring direct hits off the deep position.

If Inda can bat well and field as if they have never before they might have a great chance of winning the Asia Cup, otherwise it will be yet another disappointing news as far as cricket is concerned for Indian cricket fans.

Will MS Dhoni resign from indian cricket captaincy?

"Time for Dhoni to go," writes Ian Chappell, former Australian captain, and probably the only sensible cricket writer and thinker left in the world.

Ian is right, what more should a test captain do to lose his job? Dhoni & Duncan fletcher have become synonymous to overseas defeats that they both do not deserve to continue in their jobs.

MS Dhoni, probably the greatest finisher in the game of cricket, and truly a great limited overs captain with couple of world cups under his belt, has failed miserably as a test match captain. There are calls of him being replaced by Virat Kohli as captain of India.

MS Dhoni, Will he take responsibility and resign?

See: MS Dhoni misfiring captain of India Cricket

MS Dhoni's performance as a leader of Indian cricket has been disappointing, especially in longer format of the game. It is not just about lack of runs, but it is also about inability to inspire and take the best out of what is available to him. His fan's might say 'captain is as good as his team', but isn't it true as well that 'good captains are able take best out of their players' thereby lifting up the performance of their team. Arjuna Ranatunga, Sourav Ganguly, and at present Brendon McCullum are prime examples of it. All of them started their captaincy stint with bunch of inexperienced players.

It's not that the past captains of India had battery of fast bowlers or world class spinners available to them. Indian spinners never made the same impact on foreign tours as at home. But they combined with their captains and together they were able to put up a good show. Yes India lost then as well, but never looked as hopeless as they are looking now under Dhoni. Something seems to be missing between Dhoni and his team members, and by the looks of it things are likely to remain same in the future as well. There is air of hopelessness surrounding Indian cricket.

Its a torture watching India play test matches these days especially when they are bowling. Dhoni has lead India to a dark period (like in 90's) in the test Arena. An Indian fan would agree with me when i say that he doesn't bother watching when India is bowling and i don't blame him. I mean, who would want to watch Ishant Sharma bowl?? Playing the same set of spineless bowlers again and again and again is more than enough to be losing interest in this Indian team. Some people talk about how Dhoni is not as blessed as say a Graeme Smith or Michael Clarke when it comes to bowlers. How can Dhoni unearth a good bowler if he doesn't give the new guys any opportunities?? There is enough bowling talent in India which he doesn't bother to utilize. A new captain might change this and might give opportunities to a lot of new talent.

There is no doubt that he is a defensive captain. He himself stated that he doesn't like to take risks when he refused to chase down 60 odd runs in last session in West Indies to win a test match. One sometimes wonder what he sees as risk is really a risk or just lack of confidence in himself and his team. May be this is the reason why he always keeps fielders in the deep, follow the ball, and always field first because he fear that his bowlers, which he don't trust, won't be able to defend the total. Batting 2nd has been counterproductive and has put inexperienced batting order under pressure of chasing 300 plus totals.

Dhoni has no knowledge of the conditions or field placement when playing outside the sub-continent. Also, he does not lead by example. You see successful team wicket keepers are batting so beautifully like AB De Villiers for SA, Brad Haddin for Aus, Matt Prior until of late for Eng. But Dhoni has never played a match winning innings for India in tests outside India. He never will but he does not have the quality to do so.

Under MS dhoni even proven performers like Virendar Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Harbhajan Singh, and Yuvraj Singh, have failed to perform at their best. All of them are now out of team. What has happened to them? Irfan Pathan, Yusuf Pathan, why they are not delivering under MS Dhoni? There can't be all wrong with such proven performers. There must be something wrong with Dhoni! May be those were too 'hot' players and MS like 'cool' playes just like himself. But hot and cool is not a question here, and not what MS Dhoni likes personally, India want players in the team who can perform, match after match, and a captain who can motivate them and not hurt their confidence by making irresponsible statements in the press conferences.

Worst thing about dhoni is that he doesn't allow individuals to express themselves. at 95-4 Aussies would have been all over their opponents under Michael Clarke but under Dhoni it was looking as if it was all over for India, at least that is what the feeling fans got watching the match on television. Virat Kohli, natutrally aggressive tried to disturb the concentration of batsmen just like any other team's player would have done when long partnership was going on between McCullum and BJ Watling, but then the voice came from stump mic 'take it easy' and kohli was all cold after that, runs continued to get plundered.

MS Dhoni had an experienced side full of talent on his plate when he started his captaincy. Current Indian team is full of young cricketers, especially batsmen, with Virat Kohli the only batsmen to have played more than 20 test matches. One would have thought that batting will not do well in overseas conditions, something that Indian batsmen have always struggled with, and India will continue to loose matches because of that. But opposite has happened. Both in South Africa and New Zealand, Indian batting order had put their team into winning positions, but such were the plans of MS Dhoni that the team managed to loose from position of strength. Bowlers can't be blamed because they showed the ability to pick wickets by picking up top order batsmen, but Dhoni wasn't too keen on picking up more wickets, it seemed.

MS Dhoni is also not keen on giving new player chances. Very talented Ajinkya Rahane carried drinks for couple of years and now Ishwar  Pandey, Umesh Yadav, Stuart Binny will do the same, unless someone else is given chance to lead the Indian team.

One good news is that Virat Kohli will lead Indian side in upcoming Asia Cup. 

See : Virat Kohli to captain in Asia Cup, MS Dhoni can learn lessons

It will allow selectors to assess the captaincy skills and leadership qualities of kohli. Many in India see him as a captaincy material. But there are others who feel kohli is too aggressive and not fit for the job. They want 'captain cool' to carry on. But as Rahul Dravid said recently 'you got to risk it all' and that is what one can surely expect from Virat Kohli.

Anyway, Indian cricket is not known to take tough calls. And it is very much possible that MS Dhoni would continue to lead the Indian side until the next world cup, and even after that, despite India continue to get hammered by the opposition teams when they tour. Former captains, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly, are also in favor of giving MS Dhoni a go till 2015 World Cup giving excuse that a new captain might not have enough time to built a team in such a short time. But problem is captaincy in test cricket and not one day cricket, so why not hand over captaincy to Virat Kohli in test matches and let MS Dhoni concentrate on ODI cricket.

The problem lies in our judgement being based on feelings and not facts . The future of Indian team performance in overseas tests cannot be sacrificed at the altar of 'personality Cult'.The fact is we have been thrashed thoroughly in 4 consecutive tours.The answers lies in a fresh combination of strategy and tactical inputs which only a new leader can infuse in his team and impose on the opposition keeping in view tours of England and Australia in the latter half of this year . MSD can be pursued with in the shorter formats as skipper,as his shelf life is well past the expiry date in tests overseas.

Criticism will continue and many people will speak as if they really think for the good of Indian cricket. But my experience tells me nothing will happen. Don't expect MS Dhoni to leave captaincy of Indian cricket team. No way he will resign. Virat Kohli might have to wait forever.

Virat Kohli to captain in Asia Cup, MS Dhoni can learn lessons

India's brightest middle order batsmen Virat Kohli is going to captain indian cricket team in Asia Cup tournament starting in Bangladesh from Feb 25, 2014 after a mysterious injury ruled out MS Dhoni from participating in the tournament. Dinesh Karthik will replace him as a wicket keeper batsmen. This should be well earned break for Dhoni even though it is due to injury. He needs rest. He has been playing non stop cricket and that must be very tiring. I hope he will rejoin the team fully reinvigorated and play his brand of Dhoom Dhoom cricket.

V Kohli is currently the only player in top 10 of ICC players rankings in all 3 formats of he game- His rankings are as follows: Test (9), ODI (2), T-20 (4).

India’s squad for Asia Cup 2014: Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Virat Kohli (c), Cheteshwar Pujara, Ambati Rayudu, Ajinkya Rahane, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Varun Aaron, Stuart Binny, Amit Mishra, Ishwar Pandey.

Perfect Timing for Virat Kohli to captain India

Dhoni has one of the highest workloads in the game of cricket. I think it is a good opportunity to see how the side does without him. While his overseas captaincy in Tests maybe unsatisfactory (compared to his otherwise high standards), there is no disputing his important presence and value as a player in the limited overs formats (ODIs and T20s). I think this is a good time for some rest for him though.

It is good to see the talented Dinesh Karthik get a chance. I think Karthik should still be a part of the WC 2015 team.

This development has occurred at interesting time, if one may say so. MS Dhoni has come under heavy criticism from former captains for the way he has lead the team recently, especially on foreign tours. Indian team's performance has been so dismal under him that former captain Sunil Gavaskar called it a 'powermouse' performance instead of 'powerhouse' (read: Is india powerhouse or powermouse of cricket). MS Dhoni has become a misfiring captain of indian cricket and India is looking for someone to control the sinking ship.

Talking about criticism, Saurav Ganguly termed the capataincy of dhoni as 'obnoxious', while Mohinder Amarnath said: "Dhoni is a defensive captain who allows opposition to make a comeback in the game. His record is good at home pitches only like any other Indian captain. There is nothing special about it. We need aggressive captains like Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi to win matches abroad, A captain has to lead from the front. Not a single Test captain in the world bats at number seven. What kind of example you are going to set. I sincerely feel that this is high time to relieve him from Test captaincy and although he is a match winner in ODIs, they should look at an option in shorter format as well."

Amarnath's wish has come true, although in somewhat mysterious circumstances as no one is able to decipher when and where Mahendra Singh Dhoni got injured. But it is golden opportunity for Virat Kohli to claim for the post of permanent captaincy of Indian cricket team.

Kohli has also lead Indain cricket team before but this is first time he will be captaining india in a high profile tournament. However, kohli will not have much of say in selection of Asia Cup squad as it is already selected. If Virat does well in the tournament with young side, who knows what might happen in future! He could be made captain of India for the World Cup of 2015 to be hosted next year by Australia and New Zealand jointly.

This happening can even help MS Dhoni to improved his captaincy skills, especially with young players. Virat Kohli has had experience of leading India Under 19 world cup team and he did win the tournament for India after having a very successful run. He is an aggressive leader and love to attack the opposition batsmen and enjoy pressurizing them with attacking fields. On certain  occasion he open up 'verbal attack' on opponents without really 'sledging'.

While Dhoni is known to be 'captain cool', there is every thing 'hot' when one talks about kohli, including his mesmerising batting.

But it is a double edged sword. For some reason cricket pundits in country always seems ready to come down heavily on virat kohli and criticise him. Personally I don't like undue criticism of players, especially if he is as talented as Virat Kohli. In fact even today I have sent down an email to Sanjay Manjerekar to ask him why there are double standards while judging Indian players and foreign players. I haven't got the reply yet. I'll share with you, if he replies. So if Kohli fail to deliver as captain in Asia Cup, there could be curtains as far as his fortunes for becoming permanent captain of India is concerned.

Without Dhoni, India looks vulnerable when it comes to absorbing the pressure and finishing the game.Thus Kohli has added responsibility.Also this will be Karthik's last chance of cementing the place in Team India.

Fan's reaction are interesting:

Venkateswar says: "Best thing ever happened Indian cricket team in recent times ... Hope he will go out of the Indian cricket permanently. Media and poor India gave him insanely over hype. India will be a better team if they bring 1) Cricketing knowledge and unbiased selection members to BCCI 2) Removal of 2-3 dummy players present in the present team."

Mika Singh is real fan of Mahi (MS Dhoni's nickname) "To all those of you who are continuously persisting with DK, he has played 67 odi's and has managed runs at an average of 28. How is that even close to MSD? Look at MSD and look at him. Msd is also a better wicket keeper. He plays cricket non-stop and hardly takes any break. No matter how much people criticize him, he has and will be the best wicket keeper batsman India has ever had. Look at dk 23 test at an average of 27, I mean if this guy can't play in subcontinent i don't think he can be any better overseas."

Tanvir Ahmad smells something fishy though " I have heard rumours that Raina will be implicated in match fixing for CSK by Supreme Court. Since Dhoni is captain of CSK, it maybe a precautionary move by BCCI to rest him. Also he has had a poor series all round in SA and NZ and it gives selectors a chance to try Kohli in a major tournament and at same time give Dhoni rest. Its all mind games to be honest and Asia Cup is low profile compared with upcoming World T20"

Sachin has his thoughts on cricket "This might be a blessing in disguise.I wish Duncan Fletcher would also be injured. Only if we could have made some changes in the team such as including Rishi D. Samson would have been an interesting but risky pick considering he doesnt regularly keep. We need to watch out for Samson and Kuldeep Yadav. If they are groomed well, they could be good long term prospects. Virat has to make some strong decisions like picking Mishra, Binny and Aaron/Pandey. He has to look beyond proved non performers." 

One hopes that Kohli will be able to uplift the moods in indian ranks. He has achieved great success in his cricketing career so far and it will be no surprise if he end up being the best cricket captain of india.

Starting 11 for India could be -

1. Dhawan 2. Rahane/Pujara 3.Kohli 4. Rohit 5.DK 6. Binny 7. Jadeja 8. Ashwin 9.Shami 10. Ishwar 11. Bhuvnesh/Aaron

mix of explosive power and caution in the opening, followed by "the awesome" Kohli , Rohit needs to stabilize middle order in Dhoni's absense (Mumbai Indians kind of role), erratic DK, power and some quick runs in binny, followed by Sir Jaddu, useful Ashwin and the bowling dept.

I want to include Mishra too considering tournament is in bangladesh (maybe at the expense of the most expensive pace bowler based on first ODI). He can bring in some more batting capacity too (compared to aaron/shami/bhuvi - dont know too much abt ishwar).

Who is best among Pujara, Rahane, Kohli, Dhawan, and Rohit Sharma

Ajinkya Rahane, one of India's new young batsmen, today put India on top in wellington test against New Zealand with  his maiden test match century. He ended with 118 runs as India took a formidable lead of 246 runs. By the end of second day's play Indian bowlers had already taken 1 New Zealand wicket while the hosts still trail by 222 runs of India's total.

The scorecard at the end of 2nd day's play looked like this:

cricket score, New Zealand Vs Inda, 2nd test 2014 , stumps day 2 Wellington

Ajinkya Rahane played excellent knock and bought up his first test century, again highlighting the confidence the team management has shown in him. He missed a hundred in South Africa.

This is a new Indian team and the way new batsmen have been able to take responsibility is reassuring as far as future of Indian cricket is concerned.

The new talent consists of 5 major batsmen : 1) Cheteshwar Pujara 2) Virat Kohli 3) Shikhar Dhawan 4) Rohit Sharma 5) Ajinkya Rahane. Let us try and rank them based on their recent performance.

Rank #1 : Virat Kohli - First rank goes to Virat Kohli. This youngsters, right from the start of his career, has looked a special talent. He has shown that he can handle experienced test bowlers in their own conditions. His centuries in Australia, and South Africa, and many match winning knocks in ODI cricket are proof of the match winning contribution he has made to the Indian team. His main strength is his positive outlook and his ability to score quickly without playing any rash shots.

Rank#2 : Cheteshwar Pujara - He is in good books of all the X cricketers of India. He looks calm and composed but he is at 2nd place rather than 1 for us. This is because while kohli has shown the ability to dominate matches almost alone and change the complexion of the match single handed, Pujara hasn't shown such ability yet. He is close 2nd to Virat Kohli.

Rank #3 : Shikhar Dhawan - He is new Indian opener and has started to learn his trade recently. He took off with a world record fastest century on debut against Australia at Mohali. After that he struggle a bit against South African bowlers in their on conditions, but has hit back with a century and 98 runs innings in New Zealand. He was sensational in champions trophy held in England last year. Given that he had to face the new ball and that  he has not that much experience behind him, he has done quite well.

Rank#4 : Ajinkya Rahane - This classy batsmen is grabbing the opportunities with both hands. He had to wait long time before he finally get the opportunity to play in starting eleven of indian cricket team. He has shown excellent skills both in South Africa and New Zealand.

Rank#5 Rohit Sharma - He has been projected as the most talented Indian batsmen, mainly by cricketers from Mumbai, but he hasn't shown much of that, especially on foreign tours. He started off well with couple of test centuries. Also he had that double century in one day cricket, a rare feat to say the least. Overall though he needs to improve a lot and show the world what he has got to be called 'most talented'.

I know every one has his own opinion and many of you might not agree with my rankings of players. Never mind, you can always state your ranking by commenting on this cricket forum.