VVS Laxman's epic 281 against Australia in 2001 has been voted as the Greatest Indian Test Innings in a recent survey conducted by Wisden Asia Cricket magazine.
Laxman's knock, which helped India win from a hopeless position, garnered 268 points while Rahul Dravid's 233 against Australia at Adelaide in 2003 was ranked second in the list with 133 points.
However, it was Sunil Gavaskar who emerged as 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, according to the survey.
Dravid too came out shining with all four of his nominated innings being ranked in the top 25.
Sachin Tendulkar, whose unbeaten 155 against Australia at Chennai in 1998 occupied the number nine position, won five nominations in all, and three of them were in 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 won five nominations. His gutsy 97 against West Indies at Madras in 1975 was ranked third. One place lower was Virender Sehwag's 309, the highest individual Test score by an Indian batsman.
