ESPN Cricinfo as a part of its 25 years celebration recently announced that they would be picking dream team XI across all formats from cricketers who played in the 25 year period from March 1993 to December 2017. This is not the first time they are indulging in the exercise of picking dream teams : Their all time XI’s can be found here. On this occasion though the restriction of 25 years gives an opportunity to select players across relatively similar eras and similar playing conditions. An added advantage for my generation is that we would have watched most of them play. The shortlisted players for the last 25 years can be found here.
The shortlist has a total of 37 players with 5 openers, 14 middle order batsmen, 6 keepers and 12 bowlers which includes 3 spinners and 9 fast bowlers. Here’s my pick of the XI:
Virender Sehwag, Alistair Cook, Jacques Kallis, Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara, AB De Villiers, Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne, Wasim Akram, Dale Steyn and Curtly Ambrose.
Its a fairly global team – 2 West Indians, 1 Englishman, 3 South Africans, 1 Pakistani, 2 Indians and 2 Australians.
The rationale for the choice are as follows:
Openers – Alistair Cook & Virender Sehwag: Traditionally openers have been slow starters with mandate of seeing of the new ball and laying a platform for the middle order to build upon on. However in the last 25 years, we have seen the rise of swashbuckling openers who have liked to take the attack to the opposition. Keeping in sync with the times and yet making an allowance for the old school variety while maintaining a left right combination, i would pick Sehwag and Cook. The former redefined test batting with his fearless entertaining style and the latter has been one of the most phenomenal run getters in recent times with a strong record across the globe.
Middle Order: Jacques Kallis, Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara and AB De Villiers: Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara are a cut above the rest and get a straight walk in. Every team probably needs one batsmen who can play the sheet anchor role and obvious candidates include Dravid, Chanderpaul, Younis Khan, Steve Waugh. Jacques Kallis was of a similar mould and has a batting record that could rival any of the others, but what really flipped the case in his favour was his bowling abilities. In fact the combined package is so good that there are many who put him on par with Gary Sobers as the greatest all rounder ever. Regardless of whether we agree to this comparison, the fact remains that having him in the team allows a fifth bowling options which adds considerable balance to the team. The last slot goes to go ABD a versatile batsman who has the ability to execute “blockathons” to bail his team out of tough situations and also the ability to score at fast rates resulting in multiple match winning innings over the years
Wicket Keeper – Adam Gilchrist: Gilchrist was the pioneering keeper batsman and brought in an additional dimension to the great Australian team of the late 90’s and the 2000’s. He was also exceptional behind the stumps and could handle both spinners and fast bowlers.
Bowlers – Shane Warne, Dale Steyn,Curtly Ambrose and Wasim Akram Have opted for 1 spinner and 3 fast bowlers. Spinner slot was a toss between Warne & Murali. While both have great records, Warne bowled most of his career outside the sub continent and yet was a strike bowling option for his captains contributing substantially to their victories. Among the fast bowlers, i have opted for variety with Wasim Akram the only left arm bowler in the list who was also a master exponent of the reverse swing. His batting abilities are an added bonus and he thus potentially slots in as a bowling all rounder. Dale Steyn’s record in the last few years puts him way ahead of his contemporaries with multiple match winning performances even in the sub continental dustbowls. The last slot was a choice between Curtly Ambrose and Glenn McGrath – both tall bowlers blessed with accuracy. They barely gave any runs away and had the uncanny knack of picking wickets that mattered. Went with Ambrose simply out of personal choice. ( Plus never liked McGrath for his over the top sledging )
12th Man: Would choose Murali as the 12th man and he could play in for any of the seamers in conditions that favour spin.
The above list is subjective and needless to say not driven by dispassionate analysis and statistics. Next post will come up with a team based purely on statistics.
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