India's all-time left-handed Test XI
Left-handed cricketers, for some mysterious reason, always appear more elegant than their right-handed counterparts irrespective of whether they are batting or bowling. While there have been a few ugly-looking left-handers, with the likes ofWest Indies batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul and South African chinaman bowler Paul Adams comingto mind, the majority of them seem to make playing cricket look ridiculously easy on the eye.Be it David Gowers driving through the off-side or Brian Laras nonchalance while playing spin, there is a certain gracefulness and ease to their cricket, which theright-handers seem to lack.On the occasion of International Left-handers Day, here is an Indian all-time left-handed Test XI:
#1 Gautam Gambhir
Gautam Gambhir made his Test debut for India in 2004 but wasn’t, initially, able to translate his runs in domestic cricket into international success. In and out of the national side on a regular basis, Gambhir’s frustrations were mounting, as he had to live with the fact that his place in the side would be in jeopardy every time that he failed.
In fact, Gambhir had reached a stage in his career, post his exclusion in the Indian squad for the 2007 50-over World Cup in the Caribbean, where he had fallen out of love with cricket and was considering quitting from the game altogether.
But things took a turn for the better when he was included in the victorious 2007 T20 World Cup squad and played a match-winning knock of 75 against Pakistan in the final. After that, he earned a comeback into the Test team and became, for a period of time, one of the best opening batsmen in the world.