Which Indian has the highest batting average in Test cricket? (02nd May 2001)

Of the 236 players who have represented India in Test cricket, only six can claim the honour of a career batting average above 50. Two are still active in the game, Sachin Tendulkar (56.94) and Rahul Dravid (53.82), so those figures are subject to the vicissitudes of form and fortune before settling at a final resting place. Vinod Kambli (54.20) is still active in the first class game and is only 29 years old but it would be stretching the imagination a little to believe that his Test career is not over. Sunil Gavaskar's ultimate Test average of 51.12, forged over a length of 125 appearances, is an enduring monument to consistency, particularly for an opening batsman. That takes the count to four, but who were the other two?

Cota Ramaswami, a surprise choice for the 1936 tour of England given his advanced age, was one of them. Ramaswami was 40 years, 37 days old when he made his debut at Old Trafford and remarkably finished on top of the Test averages at 56.66, surpassing such stalwarts as Vijay Merchant. But that remained the extent of his Test career. Perhaps the most curious is the case of RH 'Deepak' Shodhan who became the first Indian to score a century in his maiden Test innings when, batting at No.8, he collected 110 against Pakistan at Calcutta in 1952/53. Going on the West Indies tour that followed, the lefthander played only two Tests on account of injury, making 45, 11 and 15 not out. But the whims of the selectors put a baffling full stop to his Test career at the age of 24. Shodhan closed with an average of 60.33 and remains the only Indian to average above 60 in Test cricket.

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