Three Indians among Bradman's selection

Three Indian cricketers - Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and Sachin Tendulkar - were among a pool of 69 from whom the legendary Sir Donald Bradman made his selection of the 'World Best Team' before he died.

The `All-time ideal team' of Bradman will be announced on Monday, Roland Perry, who chronicled the careful considerations of individual talent and corporate balance behind how the Don selected his best XI, wrote in his book 'Bradman's Best', a report in The Times, said in London on Saturday.

"In interviews for Bradman's Best, the Don, over a concentrated six months in 1995 and intermittently over the next five years, discussed the greatest players of the game, from WG Grace and Victor Trumper at the beginning of the 20th century to Shane Warne and Sachin Tendulkar at the end of it," the report said.

Bradman exhibited an enormous capacity for analysing the strengths, weaknesses, technical skills, temperament, personality and character of scores of cricketers who have graced the world stage over more than 120 years.

"I was intrigued to know his all-time ideal team. At first we discussed it in terms of achieving the perfect balance under normal playing conditions," Perry wrote.

According to the report, Bradman opted for the following: two recognised opening batsmen of whom one shall be a left-hander, three other batsmen of whom one should be a left-hander, one all-rounder, one wicketkeeper who is also a good bat, one fast bowler to open with the wind, one fast or medium-pace bowler to open into the wind, one right-arm off spinner or right-hand leg spinner and one left-arm orthodox first-finger spinner.

Perry said Bradman's understandable obsession to avoid publicity made a book on his best team untenable. "But I was still interested to know his world best XI. I suggested that the team only be made public posthumously and sent him a range of selections for the positions in the team, based on our discussions," Perry said.

How the idea of an ideal team came into the mind of Bradman makes interesting reading.

Bradman had been retired eight years when he returned to England for the 1956 Ashes battle as a journalist. England won 2-1 and had the superior team, with right-arm off spinner Jim Laker in blistering form, especially in the fourth Test at Old Trafford when he took 19 wickets for 90 runs on a dustbowl.

"This went very close to perfect (balance)" Bradman said. "England had a left and right-hander to open, but there was neither a left-hand batsman nor an all-rounder in the next four."

The Australia 1921 teams also went close: Collins, Bardsley, Macartney, Andrews, Taylor, Pellew, Armstrong, Gregory, Oldfield, McDonald and Mailey.

Bradman also liked his 1948 "invincibles", the unique squad that went through an entire Ashes tour of 34 games without losing a contest.

Asked whether the 1948 team was the best since cricket's inception, Bradman replied with diffidence. "It's difficult comparing teams from era to era," but conceded that it was "the best team I was ever involved with as a player."

But was it the best in history?

"I suppose that could be argued" Bradman replied. "It's biggest challenger would probably be (Warwick) Armstrong's 1921 side or the West Indies teams of the 1980s (under Clive Lloyd and Viv Richards)."

He paused, smiled wryly and added: "A match between any two of these teams would have been worth seeing."

The pool of players read:

Openers (one a left-hander) from Gavaskar, Greenidge, Haynes, Hobbs, Hutton, Ponsford, Barnes, Lawry, Simpson, Morris, Sutcliffe, Barry Richards, Slater.

Three other bats (which was two given that Bradman would be an automatic selection), ideally one should be a left-hander: from (Bradman), Lara, Tendulkar, Viv Richards, Mark Waugh, Steve Waugh, Graeme Pollock, Headley, Weekes, Hammond, McCabe, Harvey, Macartney, Greg Chappell, Compton, May, Trumper.

One all-rounder: from Sobers, Miller, Davidson, Benaud, Proctor, Kapil Dev, Botham, Hammond, Grace.

One wicketkeeper, who is also a good bat: from Tallon, Healy, Knott, Dujon, Marsh, Evans.

One fast bowler to open with the wind, and one fast or medium pacer to open into the wind: from Ambrose, Hadlee, Lillee, McGrath, Lindwall, Donald, Marshall, Holding, Roberts, Walsh, Alec Bedser, Tyson, Larwood, Wasim Akram, Davidson, Johnston, Barnes.

One right-arm off-spinner: from Laker, Gibbs.

One left-arm orthodox first-finger spinner or an orthodox leg spinner: from Verity, Rhodes, O'Reilly, Grimmett, Mailey, Warne.