Sportskeeda's Top 50 Indian Test cricketers of all-time (20-11)

#14 Vinoo Mankad

Vinoo Mankad's all-round ability helped India win quite a few Tests during their formative years

At a time when the Indian players settled for sporadic personal landmarks, Vinoo Mankad became a trend-setter by catapulting his country to rare Test victories through sheer will. Possessing seemingly endless reservoirs of patience and application, he blunted several bowling attacks. Defence was not his only forte. The right-hander could also take the attack to the opposition and calibrate his game to the situation at hand.

In addition to his versatile batting, Mankad also had the tenacity to bowl marathon spells on lifeless tracks. The accurate spinner picked up 12 wickets in India's maiden Test win against England at Madras in 1952. He also topped the wicket charts during India's first Test series victory against Pakistan in the same year.

With the scars of partition still fresh on everyone's minds, the left-armer rose to the occasion and managed to outshine the likes of Fazal Mahmood. Countless all-rounders may have come and gone. But Mankad holds a special place in the history of Indian cricket. It is such a travesty that the rest of the world continues to associate him mainly with the controversial mode of dismissal.

Career Span: 1946-1959

Statistics: 2109 runs from 44 matches at an average of 31.47 with 5 centuries and 6 fifties; 162 wickets at an average of 32.32 and strike-rate of 90.6 with 8 five-wicket hauls and 2 ten-wicket hauls