All-time India Test Cricket Team: Kohli, Tendulkar, Bumrah and more

Matt Gibbs Published: 09 Jul 25 14:07

Putting together a list of 11 players to form India's greatest Test XI is not an easy task.

You only have to look at the players who have not made the list to realise the depth of quality operators that India have been able to choose from over the years.

In the batting department, there is no place in the top-order for the likes of Rohit Sharma, VVS Laxman, Sourav Ganguly and Mohammad Azharuddin, while current Test opener Yashasvi Jaiswal could be a future contender for this team at his current trajectory.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been overlooked for a current Test star in the wicket-keeping department and the likes of Harbhajan Singh and Bishan Bedi both miss out to other spin options.

Here are the 11 players that make up our greatest India Test team...

India's Best Test XI

1. Virender Sehwag

Matches: 103 (2001-2013)
Innings: 178
Runs: 8,503
Batting average: 49.43
50s: 31
100s: 23
Highest Score: 319

Sehwag was one of the most destructive batsmen in world cricket at the turn of the millennium and he had the ability to dismantle bowling attacks whilst accumulating runs at a frantic rate.

His remarkable 319 against South Africa in 2008 remains the highest score made by an Indian batsman in Test cricket and it is also the fastest triple century in Test history.

Amongst batsmen with at least 3,000 Test runs, Sehwag boasts the highest career strike-rate in Test cricket.

2. Sunil Gavaskar

Matches: 125 (1971-1987)
Innings: 214
Runs: 10,122
Batting average: 51.12
50s: 45
100s: 34
Highest Score: 236*

Gavaskar is widely regarded as one of the finest openers in Test history and his more traditional style makes him the perfect foil for Sehwag at the other end.

A veteran of 125 Test appearances, Gavaskar possessed a compact defensive technique, a high-level of composure and he was a consistent run-scorer throughout his international career.

3. Rahul Dravid

Matches: 163 (1996-2012)
Innings: 284
Runs: 13,265
Batting average: 52.63
50s: 63
100s: 36
Highest Score: 270

'The Wall' was a run-machine for India across three different decades and once he was in, he was a nightmare to get out.

His calm and collected nature at the crease is not too dissimilar to the style of Gavaskar and he frustrated even the most gifted of bowlers.

Over 10,000 runs while batting at number three makes his inclusion a simple one.

4. Sachin Tendulkar

Matches: 200 (1989-2013)
Innings: 329
Runs: 15,921
Batting average: 53.78
50s: 68
100s: 51
Highest Score: 248*

Despite the array of batting talent that India have had over the years, Tendulkar is clear at the top of the list of his country's best Test batsmen.

He was the greatest batsman of his era and he is the highest run-scorer in the history of Test cricket.

Tendulkar remains the only cricketer to score 100 international centuries and in 2019 he was inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame.

5. Virat Kohli (captain)

Matches: 123 (2011-2025)
Innings: 210
Runs: 9,230
Batting average: 46.85
50s: 31
100s: 30
Highest Score: 254*

His 58.82% win rate as India captain makes him one of the best captains in Test history.

He moves down a place from his beloved number four slot to accommodate the great Tendulkar but we simply couldn't leave Kohli out.

Kohli was also voted as Cricketer of the Decade between 2011 and 2020.

6. Rishabh Pant

Matches: 45* (2018-2025)
Innings: 79
Runs: 3,290
Batting average: 44.45
50s: 16
100s: 8
Highest Score: 159*

It's perhaps controversial to pick Pant over the great Mahendra Singh Dhoni, but the flamboyant wicket-keeper/batsman is well on his way to being mentioned alongside Adam Gilchrist, the greatest wicket-keeper/batsman of all-time.

Pant is one of the most exciting players in world cricket and he is someone who can take the game away from an opposing team in the blink of an eye.

7. Kapil Dev

Matches: 131 (1978-1994)
Innings: 184
Runs: 5,248
Batting average: 31.05
Highest Score: 163
Wickets: 434
Bowling average: 29.64
Best figures: 9/83

Kapil Dev is arguably the greatest all-rounder in cricket history after combining his skills as a pace bowler with a number of fine contributions with the bat in the middle order.

Dev remains the only player in Test cricket to have scored more than 5,000 runs and taken more than 400 wickets.

8. Ravichandran Ashwin

Matches: 106 (2011-2024)
Innings: 151
Runs: 3,503
Batting average: 25.75
Highest Score: 124
Wickets: 537
Bowling average: 24.00
Best figures: 7/59

The aforementioned Bishan Bedi and Harbahajan Singh are perhaps unlucky to miss out in our all-time India Test team, but Ashwin's record is simply frightening.

His longevity and tally of 537 wickets is one thing, but to take them with a bowling average of just 24.00 makes him one of the most potent spin bowlers of all-time.

Ashwin also holds the record of being the fastest player to reach 300 Test wickets.

9. Anil Kumble

Matches: 132 (1990-2008)
Wickets: 619
Five-wicket hauls: 35
Bowling average: 29.65
Best figures: 10/74

The great leg-spinner was perhaps overshadowed by Shane Warne in the 1990s, but he is still regarded as one of the greatest of all-time.

He became just the second player to take all 10 wickets in an innings when he dismissed 10 Pakistan batsmen in a Test match in 1999.

Kumble was a wily bowler who relied on variations in flight, pace and bounce rather than being a big turner of the ball in the same way that Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan were.

10. Jasprit Bumrah

Matches: 46* (2018-2025)
Wickets: 210
Five-wicket hauls: 14
Bowling average: 19.60
Best figures: 6/27

Bumrah is the first bowler to have topped the ICC rankings in all three formats of the game and very few batsmen have thrived against the unorthodox pace bowler.

A combination of his action, the way he presents the ball and the frantic nature of his delivery stride makes him exceptionally hard to score against and his bowling average of under 20 is amongst the best we've ever seen.

11. Zaheer Khan

Matches: 92 (2000-2014)
Wickets: 311
Five-wicket hauls: 11
Bowling average: 32.94
Best figures: 7/87

Throw in the left-arm swing of Zaheer Khan and the five-man bowling attack in this all-time India XI takes some beating.

Very few Indian seam bowlers have been able to move the ball both ways at the pace that Khan delivered the ball at, and his reverse swing with an old ball was sublime at times.