The Top Five Indian Batsemen In last !0 Years.

In mid 90's to be exact the wills world cup marked a new cricket wave in India. During those times our test line up were hardly capable enough to stand 70 overs against a decent pace attach overseas. The strategie was simple. Have a couple of guys to open who could hardly survive 10 overs , get through the new ball and set the stage for sachin. The england tour in 96' has an important mark in indian cricket history.In mordern days you could hardly see two legends debuting together.

The inings that first comes to me speaking about the 90's are the ones played by sachin and azhar in SA. We were down on 58-5 when they came together and took the bowling apart. We hardly see some one batting with sachin getting applause and that was azhar for me. A guy from hyderbad who was so lazy but elegant . His cover drives, leg fliks, pulls all are just what than classic and deserves to be in top five.

This lad from delhi is some one who nobody expected to even play the gameshighest format.At the first class level he was an all rounder who bats in the middle order. His carrier changed with the sharpness of ganguly's captancy during an ODI during the SL tour.The whole tournament was a low scoring affair with scores around 225 being wining. In the do - die match, NZ went on to score 264 which looked like nearly an impossible target for the indian batting line up with sachin not playing. when i was back from school around 4 clock in the evening i was shocked to see the indian score board which said 160/1 in 22 overs. Remember those are the days when teams score 60/1 in 15 overs as a norm. Then i recoganized this lad who opened for us along with ganguly and scored a century in about 67 balls and he is no one else than Virendar shewag!!. From there he was taken to SA where he made a century as middle order bat in his debut. Now time tells his class. It's hard to pick his best knock, might be the match saving 150 in adelaide or 83 against eng in chennai. The most important thing about this lad is that when ever he scores a century he scores it big. He could be the most entertaing test opener ever too.

when you speak about two legends debuting on the same test match we usually forget this guy who made his debut two tests after. None noticed this guy growing in the team.When rahul cemented the one down position and saurav the sixth spot this guy was running around trying to fit in the team. He opened played at no seven,and even carried water.For more than four years no body cared for this guy until he walked in to open at Sydney. But the moment came which shook the whole cricketing fretanity when this guy took on the OZ attack along with rahul at kolkata. That legendry 281 can be rated as one of the best test inings all time. That’s the moment when every one realized that he was a sleeping star. Then on he played a lot of great inings including the 148 with rahul in adeliade (03'), the 70 in perth (08') to name a few. His major contribution was'nt limited to these big inings in test matches even his small 30's and 50's at important situaitons has helped us.
As gilichrist famously quoted "VVS seems to be in a state of meditaion when he is batting". he is one the most elegent stroke makers india has ever produced." same ball at same spot back to back you ball at him he will show you how to hit one through leg side another through offside " sunil gavasker ones famously quoted.that's the class of this man.

"commit all your crimes when sachin is batting because even the lord is watching". that can easily some up the man we are talking about. May be the only batsmen ever in the history of cricket who would have got a standing ovasion where ever he comes out to bat regardless of wether it's mumbai,lords,jo'burg or sydney.An icon himself is almost treated as GOD by millions. "sachin is out now y are you wasting time watching the match get back to your studies" my parents not only them i think the whole of india used to think in these notes during the 90's. He is not some one i can define . His 136 against PAK in chennai made me cry the whole night that was the pain that inings gave to all the indians. Though he can be the best still what makes him the just second to best is defined in that inings or may be the 150 he scored in sydney(08') (i am not going about his legendry inings as even kids know about them).An ideal man outside the field too has never been seen angry until when ponting said the tri series best of three finals will be over in just two matches and he replied saying he will make sure that ponting words come true and classicly did it. An inspiration for many he will be the best indian cricketer ever.

This guy a true gentleman, came into the pitch while his debuting partner was scoring a hundred. He made a solid 95 with tailenders which was over shadowed by saurav's 131. That's the story of a man who lived in shadows for many years. When he scored a blistering 145 against SL in 99' WC saurav scored a 183. When he had the world record partnership with sachin of 331,sachin out scored him by leaps. When he scored a majestic 180 and batted the whole day with laxman,laxman was building an innings of life time.The wall as rightly being addressed had this story till 02'. The innings that made his mark in the international arena was against SA in joburg when he went on to score his maiden century of 148 in 96’. Then he followed up with a lot of 50's but nothing turning on to big ones. The one which cemented his place in the team was in NZ when he scored a valuable 190 and a 150 stand on the eighth wicket with srinath which saved the match for india. But the gem in him stood up in adelaide when he went on to score a match wining 233 & 72* marking OZ defeat in there home soil which was equalent to a miracle. The wall came out of the shadows and got the man of the match in eng 02' for his 148 on the opening day of the test on a seaming wicket which laid the platform for sachin's 193 and saurav's 115 leading india to a test win in eng after years.The man was the architect for india's major foriegn soil wins including WI(02',06') eng(02',06') OZ (03') PAK (04') and many others. I know am in for many brick bats for placing him above sachin still my heart feels he is the one who thought us how to win abroad.

5. Mohamad Azharuddin
4. Virendar Shewag
3. VVS Laxman
2. Sachin Tendulkar
1. Rahul Dravid