Today we bring you the cricketers who make the best Indian all time left-handed ODI XI. The Indian Cricket team played their first ODI match against England on July 13, 1974. In less than a decade, they were the world champions. While the growth of Indian Cricket from being minnows to a decent team and then to a competitive unit is a story to tell, here we talk about some of the most amazing left arm bowlers and left handed batters who were good in international cricket. Here we discuss the best Indian all time left-handed ODI XI.
Sourav Ganguly
We do read about Ajit Wadekar also as one of the greatest captains India ever had, but Wadekar had a very short ODI career whereas Sourav Ganguly would go on to lead the Indian Cricket team into 146 ODI matches with some of the worthiest wins across the globe in the format.
The “god of off side“, a name he would get for his ability to score prominently on the off-side, Ganguly would go on to play 300+ ODI matches scoring 11363 runs with 22 hundreds and 72 fifties. He could be called a decent fifth bowler as he took 100 ODI wickets, that part can be skipped in this piece as we are talking today about the best Indian all time Left-handed ODI XI and he was a right arm medium bowler.
Gautam Gambhir
The Delhi Cricketer Gautam Gambhir would join Sehwag to form a left-right combination up the order and would go on to become the leading scorer for India in all three formats for a couple of years before fading away. The Southpaw would score 5000+ ODI runs with 11 centuries and 34 half-centuries at an average touch below 40. A key member of the Indian Cricket team, he would be the highest scorer in Cricket World Cup 2011 final that India won. Gambhir, thus features inside the best Indian all time Left-handed ODI XI.
Shikhar Dhawan
The Delhi Southpaw Shikhar Dhawan would start scoring runs from the junior cricket days itself as he would be the lead scorer of ICC U-19 World Cup 2004. His ODI debut would, though, would take another six years coz of the presence of Sachin, Sehwag, Gambhir & Ganguly, all fighting for the opener’s slot.
Shikhar would go on to be one of the good performers of Indian Cricket team in the ICC tournaments. Dhawan, in his ongoing career, would make to some of the exclusive lists like 5000 ODI runs and 50 fielding dismissals, 100 in 100th match, etc as he would make to our best Indian all time Left-handed ODI XI.
Suresh Raina
The Uttar Pradesh Cricketer Suresh Raina was another cricketer coming senior level from India’s Under-19 team of the ICC U-19 World Cup 2004. A middle order batter, as he would grow into, Raina would go on to play 200+ ODIs scoring 5625 runs with 5 hundreds and 36 fifties, adding to the 10-15 runs he would consistently save in the field. The Southpaw, thus, features inside the best Indian all time Left-handed ODI XI.
Yuvraj Singh
There won’t be any all-time ODI XI of India that wouldn’t feature this immensely talented cricketer from Punjab. Yuvraj Singh came into International cricket based on his all-round performances at the ICC U-19 World Cup 2008 which had earned him player of the tournament and would go on to be player of the tournament in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011; India won both World Cups.
With him and Robin Singh in the playing XI at the time of his international debut, fielding of Indian Cricket team would drastically improve in days to come. Singh would go on to score over 8000 runs and pick 111 wickets from 304 ODI matches. Yuvi, thus, features inside the best Indian all time Left-handed ODI XI.
Ravindra Jadeja
The Southpaw from Saurashtra Ravindrasinh Jadeja would take his time but develop into a decent all-rounder that India was looking for after Yuvraj Singh. The two, though, can’t be compared as Jadeja hangs more towards bowling performances than batting which was the strong point of Yuvraj. One of the current cricketers to feature in the best Indian all time Left-handed ODI XI, Jadeja has been the best fielder of the team in addition to his contributions with bat/ball.
Rishabh Pant
Parthiv Patel and Rishabh Pant are the two left handed batters- wicket-keepers who Indian selectors have tried out in past couple decades or so. While Patel would have a short stay in the Indian cricket team due to rise of MS Dhoni as the best WK-batter option, Pant is the one from current team. The man from Haridwar hasn’t played many matches as the team management has persisted with KL Rahul donning the gloves but still features inside the best Indian all time Left-handed ODI XI.
Zaheer Khan
The left arm medium pacer from Ahmednagar Zaheer Khan would debut in the same match that Yuvraj debuted in on October 3, 2000 against Kenya at Nairobi. A bowler who would get seam movement from the pitch, Zaheer would soon be the perfect partner for Javagal Srinath in the latter’s fag end of career. Zaheer would soon master the art of reverse swing to rise to spearhead the Indian Bowling attack. Khan would be the highest wicket-taker for India in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2003, a tournament India finished as runners up.
Zaheer would go on to become the highest wicket-taker (jointly) in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, a tournament where India won their second world cup title. Zak would finish with 282 wickets from 200 ODI matches including 7 four wicket hauls and a five wicket haul and, thus, features inside the best Indian all time Left-handed ODI XI.
Ashish Nehra
The left arm medium pacer from Delhi, Ashish Nehra would debut in in ODIs 2001 against Zimbabwe. He would swing the ball in air and off deck as he would soon become the third pacer India would have. Injuries and fitness issue would put brakes frequently in his career but he would make a return every time he was out due to injuries.
Nehra would pick 15 wickets for India in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2003 in one of the better performances by Indian Pace trio of Javagal Srinath, Zaheer and him. Ashish Nehra’s 6/23 was the best bowling figures by an Indian bowler in the cricket world cup edition. He would go on to pick 157 wickets from 120 matches including 5 four wicket hauls and a five wicket haul as he features inside the best Indian all time Left-handed ODI XI.
Irfan Pathan
The left arm medium pacer from Vadodara, Irfan Pathan would come out as a swing bowler who with his batting ability could fill the shoes of ace Indian all-rounder Kapil Dev. His inswingers would trouble some of the very accomplished batters. Pathan would go on to take 173 wickets from 120 matches including 2 five fors and 5 four fors while he scored 1500+ runs in these matches, primarily as a lower order batsman. Irfan, thus, features inside the best Indian all time Left-handed ODI XI.
Kuldeep Yadav
The left-arm spinner, Kuldeep Yadav, would be the first unorthodox spinner to play for the Indian Cricket team and soon become the fourth fastest to 50 ODI wickets. The UP Cricketer is among the current cricketers, though he gets less matches due to presence of Ravindra Jadeja and Yuzvendra Chahal as the first two choice spinners in the team. Kuldeep is among the Indian bowlers who have taken ODI Hat-trick, and he was third to do so after Kapil & Chetan Sharma when he scalped 3 Australian wickets at Eden Gardens. Kuldeep, thus, features inside the best Indian all time Left-handed ODI XI.
Apart from these, Murali Kartik, Venkatpathy Raju, RP Singh, Sunil Joshi, Hemang Badani, Dinesh Mongia, Hrishikesh Kanitkar, Robin Singh, WV Raman, Vinod Kambli & Sadagoppan Ramesh played for the Indian Cricket team, but wouldn’t go long. These were some of the top left-handers who made our the best Indian all time Left-handed ODI XI. This was it for today, folks. Hope you’re liking the content we create for you. If you think you can contribute by sharing your thoughts and asking questions, feel free to put these into the comments boxes below the posts. Stay safe and healthy.
Hello Friends, join our Telegram Channel via this link:
— SportsCrunch (@SportsCrunch) July 15, 2020
SportsCrunch?⚽️?
Cricket, Football, Tennis and every popular sports news, views, opinions and updates at your finger tips.https://t.co/0dzACSB5V8