My Dream Test Eleven
Well, I was asked by a colleague of mine to put forward my dream test team over the past 10-15 years(say everyone who played after 1995-96).It is also assumed that every player is at their peak(a peak for a good/great player lasts for atleast 2-3 years I believe). So, here is my eleven.
1.Matthew Hayden
2.Virender Sehwag
3.Rahul Dravid
4.Sachin Tendulkar
5.Brian Lara
6.Jacques Kallis
7.Adam Gilchrist(Wicket-Keeper)
8.Shane Warne (Captain)
9.Wasim Akram
10.Muralitharan
11.Glenn McGrath
12th Man: Ricky Ponting
If I were to name a squad of 14, the other two who would make it are Steve Waugh and Curtly Ambrose(the 3rd pacer).Some players who just about miss out are Flintoff,Vettori,and Shaun Pollock.
It is strange that world cricket has not seen many top openers over the past 10-15 years. Langer, Jayasuriya, Graeme Smith, Gibbs, Saeed Anwar come close but Sehwag just makes it because of his outstanding record/attacking capability.
I pondered over a lot on my all-rounder with Pollock,Flintoff and Kallis being the contenders. But, I had to go for Kallis for his solidity in the batting. With all stroke-makers around, Kallis would nicely fit in between Lara and Gilly. Its basically a trade-off between batting all-rounder and a bowling one.
Let me know your thoughts on this team of mine.
1.Matthew Hayden
2.Virender Sehwag
3.Rahul Dravid
4.Sachin Tendulkar
5.Brian Lara
6.Jacques Kallis
7.Adam Gilchrist(Wicket-Keeper)
8.Shane Warne (Captain)
9.Wasim Akram
10.Muralitharan
11.Glenn McGrath
12th Man: Ricky Ponting
If I were to name a squad of 14, the other two who would make it are Steve Waugh and Curtly Ambrose(the 3rd pacer).Some players who just about miss out are Flintoff,Vettori,and Shaun Pollock.
It is strange that world cricket has not seen many top openers over the past 10-15 years. Langer, Jayasuriya, Graeme Smith, Gibbs, Saeed Anwar come close but Sehwag just makes it because of his outstanding record/attacking capability.
I pondered over a lot on my all-rounder with Pollock,Flintoff and Kallis being the contenders. But, I had to go for Kallis for his solidity in the batting. With all stroke-makers around, Kallis would nicely fit in between Lara and Gilly. Its basically a trade-off between batting all-rounder and a bowling one.
Let me know your thoughts on this team of mine.
posted by Sreekar at
9:29 PM
11 Comments:
2 concerns :)
New ball to a bowler who at his peak used to bowl at 82-83 mph, that too in all time best XI.
With all due respect, I wont like to see Dravid and Kallis to play for same XI, for obvious reasons.
Sushanta,
For me, pace is not a big thing. McGrath at any pace is a great new ball bowler.Well, Dravid and Kallis together might not be the most attractive watch, but pretty effective. What if we are 50-odd for 4 pretty early? If we are around 450/4, obviously Gilly would come ahead of Kallis.Anyway, its debatable.
I'd go with a lot of the choices. Here is where my team would defer:
I would have Ambrose for Mcgrath as I believe Ambi at his best had the most lethal combi - pace, accuracy, bounce and seam movement.
There is also a case of replacing Murali, the second spinner, with a right-arm swing bowler who can also crank up the pace. I also don't approve of Murali because of his defensive mindset at times. I would be tempted to go in with a Donald or Lee there.
In the batting arena, there is no way I would bat Lara at 5. He is definitely my No 4. I would have Sangakkara just as a batsman in place of Sehwag who is vulnerable against seam/swing. I think Sanga can open in Tests as he does in ODIs for the Lankans. On the subject keeping, Sanga might produce better glove-work than Gily. Continuing with batting changes, Haydos will make way for teammate Michel Slater [This selection is born out of personal preference as to who you wanna watch and no other cricketing logic :)]. I would choose the fire power of Flintoff over the stability of Kalis. esp. given that The Wall is in the mix for the sake of solidity. The final, perhaps the most eye-brow-raising change, would be to drop Tendulkar in favour the most effortlessly elegant player I have ever watched - Mark Waugh aka Juniour.
Here is my eleven summarized:
Slater
Sangakkara (Wicket-keeper)
Dravid
Lara
M Waugh
Flintoff
Gilchrist
Warne (Captain)
Akram
Donald
Ambrose
12th man: Brett Lee
Sreekar, thanks for prompting me to do this :).
Hey Pulkit, Expected this from you :) A vastly different team(we have just 5 players in common).Actually, I agree with Sanga as an opener instead of Viru. And you know what, I too contemplated on dropping Tendu :).Well, Slater and Mark Waugh are debatable as you said. And ya, I overlooked Donald :( . But, Pigeon would feature in my scheme of things any day.
Good work mate!
My team:
1) Hayden
2) Sangakkara
3) Dravid
4) Sachin
5) Lara
6) Kallis
7) Steve Waugh
8) Warne
9) Akram
10) Donald
11) Ambrose
Gilly, Murali and Pidge miss out. Sanga gives me an option to open. He can perfectly compliment aggressive Hayden and the watchful Dravid following.
Murali would come in place of Ambrose if it's a spinners track.
Pidge loses out to Ambrose because of the sheer presence of th ebig man. More pacy and aggressive, Ambrose can easily scythe through any team...not that Pidge can't.
Surprisingly it's more difficult to omit than to select... selection blues!
Am I supposed to mention that Steve would be the captain? Guess not!
Hey Thanks Sridhar :) Not bad aa, we have 7 players in common :P. Its indeed surprising to see you folks opt for Ambrose ahead of Pidge in the eleven.But agree, Ambrose and Murali will fight for one slot.And whats baffling is there is no place for Gilly in your team. Hmm..dint expect this. And whos ur kaptan? Well, whats pretty interesting to me is Ponting doesn't find a place :).
I actually did not put my team in this.
Here it goes
Sehwag
Hayden
Kallis
Tendulkar
Lara
Ponting
Gilchrist
Warne
Akram
Ambrose
Murali
Comments Welcome!
BTW Warne is the captain.
As I said...selection blues.
For me, Ponting is a decent chap but not yet in the league of Dravids, Sachins and Waughs. He almost always walked down to great starts (unlike Dravid) and not much burden (unlike Sachin). Neither is he know for the houdini acts (unlike Steve). He is vulnerable to spin and some good pacy swing (read Bhajji and Ishant)
We grew up watching Pidge and probably would lean towards him...but Curtly is as mean and destructive as it gets. Pidge and Warnie would make an awesome combo but still...
Gilly...I had to leave with a tinge of sadness 'cos my middle order is packed. I need to take out one of Lara/Sachin/Kallis/Dravid (not in any particular order) to accomodate him. Instead I booted Gilly and Langer (my first choice for opener) and got Sanga in. Sanga has been brilliant in tests over the past three four years and almost commends a pure batsman place. Tough for him to keep and open but we have Dravid as back up...ain't it ;)
Dropping ponting was very tempting. The other combination I had in mind was playing dravid and flintoff, instead of ponting and kallis. But ponting's overall record swayed the decision. Also I would love the fact that he would be playing under Warne's captaincy.
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