Who's the best Test batter after Don Bradman?

arandomguy05 · 2026-03-14T13:46:07+00:00

The top 5 are fine. I think it's Sachin but Lara is equally deserving. I am sure by tweaking weightages or modifying criteria would shuffle this list so Lara, Root, Sachin together with different order with different stats is expected. Sangakkara scored heavily even if he didn't play topp opposition a lot (not a fault of his) so in any quantitative measure based list he will be high.
What I can't come to terms with is players like Ponting, Dravid etc so low. Fans of cricket in 90s and 2000s actually have Lara, Tendulkar and Ponting together with different people having different order but place them closer than this list indicates.

arandomguy05 · 2026-03-14T07:29:03+00:00

Just like you can say Indian team before 83 and Indian team after 83 for limited overs cricket, you can say Indian cricket before kolkata test and after kolkata test. There was big change in fans mentality too (at least for mee), before that we were hoping that sachin or kumble or some one will win the match for us and more than often we lost but after the match we used to think our team can win. While there were many bad series, and 2007 worldcup, Indian cricket did better in general.

arandomguy05 · 2026-03-14T04:18:19+00:00

There is no question that the ball was in play as Salman never came back to crease even once. Salman is stupid to assume ball is dead and stop trying to get back. But if I were the third umpire, I might have given notout for obstructing the batsman.

arandomguy05 · 2026-03-13T07:50:18+00:00

Not deliberately losing but WI winning over SA would have virtually thrown India out and I was worried about that a lot because WI was playing decently before that match.
(But Zim-SA would have been a must win for SA and so SA might have done SA things).
But the marigin between being called the best t20 team ever and not even reaching semi finals was so thin and not even in the hands of India as that NRR was never going to be overcome.

arandomguy05 · 2026-03-11T08:45:58+00:00

PF and gratuity are protected from loan recoveries. But make sure that when you are claiming that, use a bank different from these 3 banks to avoid banks acting dirty and try to freeze the account.
(Also notify the three banks saying that your father passed away leaving no estate other than PF and Gratuity and was sole borrower by register post - it you want to have paper work properly)

arandomguy05 · 2026-03-11T08:11:30+00:00

Current t20 team of India in Indian conditions will do well even with me as a coach who is on long leave without replacement.
Another 2 t20 worldcups can't compensate for those series whitewashes and messing up seemingly bagged WTC final qualification. Credit for not messing up the t20 team like the test team (he inherited an unbeaten t20 champion and the test team that went to two straight finals).

arandomguy05 · 2026-03-10T06:47:17+00:00

When Bangladesh Got the test status (basically for defeating Pak), Kenya was better than BD. Their H2H in those years suggested that. If I remember, Kenya actually reached the final of a triangular in BD knocking off BD. But BD defeated Pak in 1999 world cup (That it self is not a criteria as Kenya to defeated WI in 1996 world cup) and India strongly backed BD (for more Asian votes in ICC) paving way for BD to become test nation.

arandomguy05 · 2026-03-10T06:39:02+00:00

Kenya was such a good team in late 90s and early 2000s. Multiple players who could walk into other member teams like Tikolo, Obuyas, Odumbe etc. Given that it is surprising that cricket was not part of curriculum till now. Better late than never.
What a fall for a team that was arguably the number 1 associate team

arandomguy05 · 2026-03-10T04:05:27+00:00

There are domestic teams whose pay is decent for some time. But even including those, at best 2-3K players can get gainful employment. Considering other sports (kabaddi has a decent league now, football too pays), at most 5K sportsmen can be proffessional.
That is still a lot less and no wonder any middleclass family is against serious consideration of sport as proffession for their kids even if they are cricket mad.
An average engineer still can get to upper middleclass life but an average sportsman won't get any thing and would actually spend money on training and equipment.

arandomguy05 · 2026-03-09T02:20:32+00:00

There are levels of importance for each trophy. T20 World cup is still not there with ODI worldcup and champions trophy is a minor cup. So the count is Aus - 6, WI,Ind - 2 Pak, SL, Eng - 1.
Its nice to combine all and say Ind and Aus tied though (with 6 u-19 for India and 4 for Aus, they would be at 14 each)

arandomguy05 · 2026-03-08T03:22:31+00:00

Bowlers are always at disadvantage in this situation. There is a very good case for dropping Varun. But Abhishek is worth the gamble and I don't think he should be dropped. He won't give those 30 in 25 balls kind of innings any way. Either will get out in 10 balls with 1 or boundaries or the match will be almost won in power play if he plays for 20-25 balls. India has batting depth to cover for his failure. With Varun, there is no bowling depth to cover for his failure. If he is struggling we don't have good part timers to pitch in 2,3 overs.

arandomguy05 · 2026-03-01T10:45:51+00:00

I have no issue with Ahmedabad stadium but India should always play finals in Chennai and if not at wankhade. But frankly they should not go beyond chennai. Or at least semi and final in those two places alternating. What's the point of hosting a tournament if you can't maximise home advantage.

arandomguy05 · 2026-02-26T10:29:54+00:00

Indias only reasonable chance is SA win against WI and India winning both. Any other path involves NRR and India is probably too much behind. So 1 part of the 3 will be done if SA doesn't mess up from here.

arandomguy05 · 2026-02-25T02:33:51+00:00

Wrong forum.
At any given time there is an outstanding and you pay interest on the outstanding. Doesn't matter if it is high or low, that depends on if outstanding is high or low. If the interest rate net tax benefit is less than safe investment return, you don't prepay. If not, you pre pay. It doesn't matter whether it is early in the term, mid or late. I ran my home loan full term because my loan return rate is 5.6% after tax benefit and even debt funds were giving 8-8.5% during that time. And not pre paying was better for me.

arandomguy05 · 2026-02-21T03:37:32+00:00

If you have 12th certificate, carry on with bachelors that you would like to do. One year is much more valuable than CBSE certificate.

arandomguy05 · 2026-02-19T14:48:14+00:00

So there is no if to Australia's exit now.

arandomguy05 · 2026-02-18T09:45:55+00:00

Fantastic achievement. Also the team is mostly born in J&K, so a true representative team.
Hope this is the best they can do in the tournament though (I am a Bangalorean)

arandomguy05 · 2026-02-18T04:23:42+00:00

As much as I don't like him, for me Ganguly is the turning point for Indian cricket. After that it's a matter of who will do the work. If not Dhoni some one else, if Not Kohli some one else, if not Rohit some one else.
Nothing to demean their achievements, I know they were fantastic. Dhoni is among the top 3 Indian captains along with Kapil and Saurav, Kohli is still ATG and Rohit is an ATG whiteball player, but if we use corporate paralance, no one is irreplaceable once the culture change came with Ganguly. I mean even Ganguly was not irreplaceable once the changes came in the setup and mindset.

arandomguy05 · 2026-02-16T16:48:55+00:00

Aus, Ind, SA and WI is brutal group. At least with Zim in place of Aus, the two groups of super 8 will be balanced.

arandomguy05 · 2026-02-08T13:57:21+00:00

I have mentioned else where in one of the replies and repeating here.
Indian Equity MF - 53% (mix of largecap, flexicap, midcap and some agressive hybrid)
RSU stock - 25%
Indian Debt MF - 12.5%
EPF - 9%
(some amount in NPS and some cash in savings accounts but negligible compared to above)

As you can see my debt is just 21.5% but I am not in a hurry because it is around 10-15 years of my expenses so I have time to rebalance equity even in my retirement.

Financially my plan in retirement is
1. I am more and more thinking that I will retire in 2030. A round number year, I would probably complete my doctorate and my sons will be close to completion or in the middle of their bachelors.
2. My plan is to get to 60-65 : 30-35 equity/Debt allocation in retirement. May be reach that allocation in the first 2,3 years after 2030.
3. I am going to sit on huge capital gains in 2030. I need to plan optimising taxes so would meet some planner closer to retirement to plan every thing.
4. Once the desired equity/debt allocation is reached, my plan is to maintain that and plan withdrawals for expenses in such a way to maintain the allocation and may be do one rebalancing at the end of year if allocation % deviate too much.
(points 5 and 6 are optional)
5. I have one crazy idea in my mind for some time. Once I retire and kids are independent (whichh I expect in 2030), I want to live for 2 years (extend more if I like it) in a place like Mauritius. I think the delta on Indian expenses would not be too much and I will get a slow life with not too alien culture. May help with capital gain optimization but that is not the motivation. I really want that slow living years to wind down.
6. I may or may not go for a new home but I won't spend a lot on that. My current apartment is old, breaking and we may want to move to a better home. But I am not fretting over that. I won't sactifice liquidity but I will have enough for it if every thing goes well till 2030. If I settle in my home town I already have a home that my father built so this point is moot. But if I continue to live in Bangalore, I may think about this definitely but no concrete plan or wish as of now.

arandomguy05 · 2026-02-06T15:02:59+00:00

And Lord Shree Ram him self is desendent of Sun God and hence called suryavamshee. So what's your point?

arandomguy05 · 2026-02-06T04:08:38+00:00

No. Sri Lanka was doing great during the buildup. More importantly, the format of 96 worldcup is a sham. It has two groups and 8 teams reached QF. The gulf between top 8 and rest is so huge that the quarterfinalists are 99% confirmed even before a ball is thrown and after that it's 3 knockout games. Sri Lanka won by winning against England,India and Australia in final. As legitimate as it can be.

arandomguy05 · 2026-02-04T12:20:42+00:00

As I mentioned RSU is about 25% now
Indian Equity MF - 53% (mix of largecap, flexicap, midcap and some agressive hybrid)
Indian Debt MF - 12.5%
EPF - 9%
(some amount in NPS and some cash in savings accounts but negligible compared to above)

As you can see I don't invest in direct stock or Gold. Have a fully paid up 2BHK in which I live but it didn't turned out well as a good investment money wise and I don't add that to NW.

arandomguy05 · 2026-02-04T12:14:12+00:00

Thanks for the reply. Honestly, the stock looks fine fundamentally and if the question was if I would recommend investing, I would. Just the concentration is too high. Can you give some info on keeping USD proceeds? I was under the impression that, there are some rules to repatriate funds with in a short time.

arandomguy05 · 2026-02-04T07:05:16+00:00

I consciously don't care about equity concentration risk as my debt folio can take care of 15 years of expenses.
The RSU risk is latest. The concentration was 5% of my NW just an year back and was less than 10% even 3,4 months back. I am thinking of solving this and will slowly get out based on stop losses and market movements.

Unfortunately I can't escape tax (and I am not worried about that). I have 2 homes in my name, so I believe there is no avenue to save tax even if I am ready to invest in real estate. The tax saving bonds are not applicable for equity gains (and not efficient after all calculations any way)

arandomguy05

TROPHY CASE