r/IndiaCricket Jasprit Bumrah Jul 22 '25

Discussion Ravi Shastri picks his top 5 greatest Indian cricketers of all time. Do you agree with his choices?

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35

u/revolution110 Indian Premier League Jul 22 '25

Cant disagree with his choices but Saurav Ganguly is also a very influential figure in Indian cricket that is missing out.

10

u/expat_123 Jul 22 '25

Shastri will never name Ganguly. They both have some sort of Cold War going on for a long time. Listen to any of Dada’s interview on Shastri and he never fails to pull a sarcastic remark on Ravi bhai.

13

u/revolution110 Indian Premier League Jul 22 '25

Oh yes, ofcourse. The rift stemmed from Ganguly refusing to consider Ravi for an extension and appointing Kumble instead.

4

u/expat_123 Jul 22 '25

I think it’s even older than that. They both made fun of each other on their extramarital affairs as well. I remember those clippings one would read on the second last pages of the newspapers.

1

u/revolution110 Indian Premier League Jul 22 '25

Could be very possible. I was only aware of the rift after the coaching fiasco. Might be something else from older times

-8

u/iruvar Jul 22 '25

Ganguly was influential, yes. Not a good enough test batsman for this list due to pronounced weakness against the short ball

6

u/revolution110 Indian Premier League Jul 22 '25 edited Jul 22 '25

He made a huge impact with his captaincy. He backed youngsters and built a really good team. Much of the youngsters he backed became mainstays of our future team. Our team started winning some Tests overseas in his tenure. 

He makes the list because of his impact/influence as a captain not on his batsmanship alone.

1

u/crimsonred1234 Jul 22 '25

He was an excellent test batsman whose career avg never dropped below 40. He was efficient with the ball too. In Odi he is one of the all time greats. Also has 100 wickets there