Laxman's 281 voted greatest Indian innings

The top spot was a no-contest. VVS Laxman's coruscating, series-turning, once-in-a-lifetime 281 against Australia at Eden Gardens in 2001 emerged the overwhelming winner in the Greatest Indian Test Innings survey conducted by Wisden Asia Cricket magazine on the occasion of its third anniversary.

Laxman's 281, that turned a hopeless situation for India to a match-winning one, garnered 268 points, more than Rahul Dravid's 233 against Australia at Adelaide in 2003 which was ranked second. However, Sunil Gavaskar emerged the most valuable batsman. Though his highest ranked innings - a stirring 96 against Pakistan on a crumbling pitch at Bangalore in 1987 - came at number six, Gavaskar had two other innings in the top ten, underscoring his worth to Indian cricket in a period when the team's batting revolved around him.

Rahul Dravid, whose stellar performances have underpinned India's recent success, came out shining too with all four of his nominated innings being ranked in the top 25. Sachin Tendulkar - whose unbeaten, match-winning 155 against Australia at Chennai in 1998 occupied the number nine position - won five nominations in all, and three of them in the top 25.

A total of 63 innings were nominated by the 35-strong jury comprising former players, broadcasters, sportswriters and analysts. They were asked to nominate their own top ten, and each selection was assigned a point value in descending order - 10 for the top-ranked innings, nine for the next, and so on all the way down to one for the tenth-ranked innings.

Gundappa Viswanath, rated by many of his contemporaries, including Gavaskar, as the best Indian batsman of his generation, won five nominations. His gutsy 97, a bulk of which came in the company of tailenders, against West Indies at Madras in 1975, was ranked third. One place lower was Virender Sehwag's thrill-a-minute 309, the highest individual score by an Indian batsman. Performances from the early era were not ignored either, with Vijay Hazare's 145 against Don Bradman's Australians at Adelaide in 1948 being rated fifth and Vinoo Mankad's towering 184 against England at Lord's in 1952 at number seven.

The 40-page cover story feature in the December issue of Wisden Asia Cricket features eyewitness accounts of the top 25 innings as voted by our jury. Those contributing their memories of these performances include: Justin Langer, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Bishan Bedi, Glenn McGrath, Madhav Apte, Rajan Bala, Angus Fraser, Scyld Berry, Ramachandra Guha, Tony Cozier, Saqlain Mushtaq, Ajit Wadekar, Mike Whitney and many others.

The top 25

Player	Score	v	Venue	Points
VVS Laxman	281	Australia	Kolkata, 2001	268
Dravid	233	Australia	Adelaide, 2003	133
Viswanath	97*	West Indies	Madras, 1975	132
Sehwag	309	Pakistan	Multan, 2004	118
Hazare	145	Australia	Adelaide, 1948	115
Gavaskar	96	Pakistan	Bangalore, 1987	106
Mankad	184	England	Lords, 1952	104
Gavaskar	221	England	The Oval, 1979	83
Tendulkar	155*	Australia	Chennai, 1998	81
Gavaskar	220	West Indies	Port of Spain, 1971	58
Dravid	148	England	Leeds, 2002	56
Viswanath	139	West Indies	Calcutta, 1974	54
Dravid	180	Australia	Kolkata, 2001	46
Pataudi	75	Australia	Melbourne, 1967-68	40
Vengsarkar	102*	England	Leeds, 1986	37
Tendulkar	114	Australia	Perth, 1992	34
Sardesai	112	West Indies	Port of Spain, 1971	29
Mushtaq Ali	112	England	Manchester, 1936	28
Tendulkar	136	Pakistan	Chennai, 1999	26
Dravid	270	Pakistan	Rawalpindi, 2004	26
Lala Amarnath	118	England	Bombay, 1933	25
Azharuddin	121	England	Lords, 1990	22
Mohinder Amarnath	91	West Indies	Bridgetown, 1983	22
Vijay Manjrekar	133	England	Leeds, 1952	17
Chandu Borde	96	West Indies	Delhi, 1959	17

The Jury
Khalid Ansari sportswriter, Madhav Apte former Test player, Abbas Ali Baig former Test player, Rajan Bala sportswriter, Bishan Bedi former Test player, Harsha Bhogle sportswriter and broadcaster, Chandu Borde former Test player, BS Chandrasekhar former Test player, Chetan Chauhan former Test player, Nari Contractor former Test player, Raj Singh Dungarpur former cricketer and administrator, Gulu Ezekiel sportswriter, Anshuman Gaekwad former Test player, Karsan Ghavri former Test player, Ramachandra Guha historian and cricket writer, Mukul Kesavan novelist and cricket writer, Boria Majumdar cricket historian and writer, Sanjay Manjrekar former Test player and broadcaster, Madhav Mantri former Test player, R Mohan sportswriter, Ayaz Memon sportswriter, Suresh Menon sportswriter, Clayton Murzello sportswriter, Bapu Nadkarni former Test player, H Natarajan sportswriter, Vasu Paranjpe former cricketer and coach, Mudar Patherya Sportswriter, Sandeep Patil former Test player, K N Prabhu sportswriter, Vasant Raiji cricket historian and writer, G Rajaraman sportswriter, V Ramnarayan former cricketer and writer, Suresh Saraiya broadcaster, Sharda Ugra sportswriter, Ajit Wadekar former Test player.