As a part of its 25 year anniversary celebrations, Cricinfo is inviting readers to pick their dream teams across formats in the 25 year period from 1995 to 2017. The T-20 shortlist has 29 batsmen including 5 keepers, 9 all rounders and 20 bowlers.See full list of players here .Readers need to pick atleast 4 batmen including a keeper and 5 from the all-rounders and bowlers. Here’s my pick based on what I have observed and followed over the years:

Shane Watson (AR ), Sunil Narine ( Bowler ), Virat Kohli (Batsman), Kevin Pietersen ( Batsman ), AB De Villiers ( Batsman ), MS Dhoni ( WK ), Shakib Al Hasan (AR), D Bravo (AR ), Rashid Khan ( Bowler ), Dale Steyn ( Bowler ), Lasith Malinga ( Bowler )

The team is packed with all rounders and theoretically bats all the way down to #8 and has 7 bowling options with 3 spinners and 4 medium pacers. The batting opens with Sunil Narine and Shane Watson. Both have fantastic records at the top of the innings and in addition to this can also contribute with the ball. In fact Sunil Narine is one of the most economical bowlers around in the T20 format and Shane Watson is certainly not a bad choice as the 7th bowling option! The middle order consists of the RCB pair of Virat Kohile and ABD along with Kevin Pietersen. Together this is a supremely destructive middle order which on its day can dismantle the best of bowling attacks. They are followed by MS Dhoni one of the best finishers in the game. In addition they also have two all rounders in Shakib and Bravo who can contribute with the bat as well. In terms of bowlers, the team has a wide variety to choose from. Lasith Malinga & Dale Steyn form the lead fast bowlers. Malinga has one the most destructive yorkers in the game and many a times was virtually unplayable. Dale Steyn is widely regarded as one of the all time greats of the game and together both form a potent fast bowling unit. In addition to this Dwayne Bravo would play the role of the third seamer with Shane Watson as the 4 option. The spin bowling resources are equally impressive. Sunil Narine and Rashid Khan are some of the most economical bowlers in this format and also have the knack of taking wickets at regular intervals. They also have a third option in terms of Shakib Al Hasan who could walk into most teams as the front line spin bowler. The plethora of bowling options coupled with an intimidating batting line up makes this a team to be feared.

As mentioned earlier this choice is based on my personal choices – will draw up a XI based on statistics in a forthcoming post.