One of the most over-used words in the cricketing dictionary is “great”, because there are very few players in any country who qualify. It is in any case a subjective view and all of us are limited by the number of players we have seen over the year when judging earlier players, we have to take the word of people We trust, who have in fact seen them play. My view of Indian batsmen is that there have been a lot of very good ones, some able to play in all. Conditions, some best when playing on their own pitches.I believe there are three “great Indian batsmen and I put them in order of appearance on the Test scene – Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid. Tendulkar and Gavaskar have given me many days of great enjoyment and Dravid in recent times has played some wonderful innings. Attributes common to all three are courage and clear thinking and an ability to carry the attack to the opposition by keeping a step ahead of the bowle’ Richie Benaud The first Indian to score five double centuries in test cricket each of those five scores higher than the previous one….

The first Indian to score four centuries in four consecutive test innings…The only contemporary Indian cricketer to take 100 catches in test cricket…The first batsman in Test history to score a Test century in every Test-playing nation. One of the highest batting averages in Test history…