ALL TIME WORLD XI

The Cricinfo jurors have completed their exercise of selecting the All-Time World XI squad. And it looks a good one too (as it was bound to)! Here's a look at it:

Now, 7 of my XI that I had chosen here have been selected in the First XI by the Cricinfo jury. 2 find a place in the Second XI... and 1 finds himself in the Third XI, which was not officially selected but was mentioned here.

The 1 player in my XI to miss out completely was Ken Barrington, which is a shame really. A man with a batting average of 58.67 with 20 tons during the 1950s and 60s missing out... well, one cannot help it when spoiled for riches!

I was surprised to see Wasim Akram in the First XI... not that I think he was not good enough! I was expecting Wasim Akram in the Second XI definitely though.

I was disappointed to see Virender Sehwag absent from the First XI as well as the Second XI. Ian Chappell mentions in his interview that his choice had been Sehwag for opening... and he has a very sound logic too. You select teams to win matches... and with Sehwag taking on bowlers right at the top with consistency unmatched in modern day cricket, you had a guy who can win matches on his own.

I have always believed that bowlers win you Test matches. The same can be said about very few batsmen. Virender Sehwag, in my opinion, is one of them.

Otherwise, the team looks awesome. In respect of the Readers' XI, it is obvious that the team has been voted for by readers who have not bothered to consider cricket played before 1970s. Only Sir Don Bradman from that team played exclusively before the 1970s, and Sir Garry Sobers played before and through the 1970s.

One last word... the biggest surprise, disappointment and shock was to see that Jacques Kallis is missing from the First XI, the Second XI as well as the Third XI. An all rounder of his capability... one I regard as equal to Garry Sobers amongst the best batting all rounders of all time... if he's missing from such a list, it's more than just a shame... it's a tragedy! If such an exercise of picking the All-Time XI were to be repeated in a few years' time (after Kallis' retirement), I wouldn't at all be surprised to see him even replacing Sobers in the First XI, because a guy as good as him with the bat and the ball, you just cannot ignore!

ALL TIME WORLD XI - FINAL TEAM WITH A CAPTAIN

Over four posts on this blog, I have analysed and selected my team for the Cricinfo’s All-Time World XI Test team. Here is a look at the entire team: 

1. Sir Jack Hobbs (England)
2. Virender Sehwag (India)
3. Sir Donald Bradman (Australia)
4. Sachin Tendulkar (India)
5. Ken Barrington (England)
6. Jacques Kallis (South Africa)
7. Adam Gilchrist (Australia)
8. Imran Khan (Pakistan)
9. Shane Warne (Australia)
10. Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka)
11. Malcolm Marshall (West Indies)

Looks a formidable side, doesn’t it? However, when I was discussing this side with a friend, he told me that it is indeed a very strong side, but it really does not have a feel of being the ALL-TIME XI. And so I took another searching look at it.

And I thought that he had a point. The names in the side are big champions in their own right, but does this resemble what an ALL-TIME XI should be like? He told me that I should consider removing either Jacques Kallis or Muttiah Muralitharan, and consider putting in a fast bowler like Dennis Lilllee or Michael Holding or Fred Trueman or Allan Donald or even Curtly Ambrose or Waqar Younis or Wasim Akram.

He was of the opinion that of all the great, fiery and devastating fast bowlers that have ruled our game, it is quite meek that my ALL-TIME WORLD XI’s new ball attack be headed by just Malcolm Marshall and Imran Khan, with Jacques Kallis as the first change pacer. In my post about the bowlers, Elegantstroke had a similar comment about the new ball attack.

And so I made two changes. I replaced Jacques Kallis with Sir Garfield Sobers and then replaced Muttiah Muralitharan with Fred Trueman. Two contemporary greats replaced by two past greats. The rationale behind this is simple: Sir Garry Sobers is another batting all rounder like Jacques Kallis, but he is a spinning all rounder rather than a medium pace one. Having made this change, I could then omit Murali from the team (rather painfully… you see, 800 wickets is quite a loss) and bring in lightening speed and fire in the form of Fred Trueman. With a strike rate of a wicket in a little of every 8 overs, I have ensured that on an average day, my new ball attack will bring me 2 wickets by the end of their first spell.

So here’s the look at my new bowling unit: Malcolm Marshall, Fred Trueman, Imran Khan, Shane Warne and Sir Garfield Sobers. Does this sound better than the previous one… I think so!

So my final team for the Cricinfo ALL-TIME WORLD XI in is:

1. Sir Jack Hobbs (England)
2. Virender Sehwag (India)
3. Sir Donald Bradman (Australia)
4. Sachin Tendulkar (India)
5. Ken Barrington (England)
6. Sir Garfield Sobers (West Indies)
7. Adam Gilchrist (Australia)
8. Imran Khan (Pakistan)
9. Shane Warne (Australia)
10. Malcolm Marshall (West Indies)
11. Fred Trueman (Australia)

And now comes the question of captaincy… there are only three reasonable contenders for this job – Sir Donald Bradman, Sir Garry Sobers and Imran Khan. Here are their records as captains:

• Sir Donald Bradman: M 24 W 15 D 6 L 3, and his batting average improved to 101.51 from a career average of 99.94
• Sir Garfield Sobers: M 39 W 9 D 20 L 10, and his batting as well as bowing averages were almost identical to his career averages
• Imran Khan: M 48 W 14 D 26 L 8, and his batting average improved to 52.34 from 37.69 and his bowling average improved to 20.26 from 22.81 

So it was a fight between Imran Khan and Sir Don Bradman. Though Imran’s feats are prima facie relatively more impressive, I would still go for Sir Don Bradman. I know Imran Khan had to lead a Pakistani side, which is always more difficult than Sir Don’s Australia… but the captaincy of ALL-TIME WORLD XI is not only a recognition of their abilities, but also an honour. And no one deserves this honour more than Sir Donald Bradman.

ALL TIME WORLD XI - THE MIDDLE ORDER

Oh well, this is one difficult task. Selecting the middle order of the World's All-Time Test XI. Before I start this exercise, I'll mention the team that I have already picked thus far in one previous blog.

Openers: Sir Jack Hobbs, Virender Sehwag.
Wicketkeeper: Adam Gilchrist.

Now, the middle order... there's the question of whether it should be a 3-man or a 4-man middle order... and there are some BIG names eligible. Here's a look at the Test numbers of the men selected by Cricinfo as eligible for selection into the World XI:

Seriously big names and seriously difficult decision. My first task was shortlisting some names who are good enough to make the cut for the All-Time World XI team in my opinion. Those names are highlighted yellow.

As great the others above are, I do not think that they are ones to make the cut for the All-Time World XI. It was a particularly difficult decision to leave out Greg Chappell and Rahul Dravid, but I had no choice. This decision was based on the numbers listed above, their profile descriptions on Cricinfo and whatever other knowledge I possessed of their cricket.

Now, Kallis was causing a bit of a problem. He is too good a bowler to be considered as a specialist middle-order batsman. So, I have cut him out of this analysis and decided to include him in my All Rounders analysis. This then made the task slightly easier for me as I was able to decide upon the formation of my team, which will be: 2 Openers, 3 Middle Order Batsmen, 2 All Rounders, 1 Wicketkeeper and 3 Bowlers.

What remains in front of me is a list of 10 batsmen... the best you can find anywhere! And I have to select just 3 of them... a pity!

The easiest selection was the No. 3 spot... no one can hold that other than Sir Donald Bradman. I don't even have to discuss his case further. The numbers, the stories, the quotes... there's everything available to back this decision.

And for the 2 remaining spots, I choose Ken Barrington and Sachin Tendulkar. Again, it was very difficult to leave out Brian Lara, George Headley, Sir Viv Richards and Wally Hammond. But after frying my brains over it, I settled on the former two.

Sir Viv Richards lost a place in my team because for all his intimidating persona, his Test records fall short of the other mighty men included above. And to inspire fear in the bowlers, I have Sehwag opening the batting for this team. That ensured that Viv missed out.

Omitting George "The Black Bradman" Headley was even more difficult. In fact, I penned him in my team initially before scratching his name out. What counted against him was that all his runs have come against the English and Australian attacks in those two countries and his home archipelago of West Indies. He just played 1 Test at a different place - against Indian at Delhi where he made 2. So he was never really tested on slower pitches against good spin bowling. He did not even play South Africa ever. That led to his omission. Not his fault, but I really can't help it much.

Barrington and Tendulkar climbed the ladder above Lara and Hammond because they have played everywhere, scored everywhere and scored BIG everywhere... In Tendulkar, the team has a player who can bat in any gear, can adapt his game for any situation and play any bowler. Barrington got in as he could provide the ideal foil with his resolute style of batting. His natural game, according to his Cricinfo profile, was attacking... but he changed it to be a "stonewaller" and thus, he becomes a part of my team.

I know there will be many objections to this selection... I just hope the Don at least is approved by all. Please do comment about my middle order selection and let me know about your opinions.

CRICINFO'S WORLD XI

After picking the All-Time XIs for top 8 Test-playing nations, Cricinfo has now decided to pick a World XI out of these 88 players picked. Hard enough as it is to pick 11 players from 1 country across generations, now they have decided to pick 11 from 8 countries with diversities in their cricket cultures.

Bold venture this! It is going to be a very very difficult task.

Here is the list of players eligible for selection into this coveted XI -
Openers: Arthur Morris, Barry Richards, Glenn Turner, Gordon Greenidge, Graeme Smith, Hanif Mohammad, Marvan Atapattu, Saeed Anwar, Sanath Jayasuriya, Sir Conrad Hunte, Sir Jack Hobbs, Sir Leonard Hutton, Stewie Dempster, Sunil Gavaskar, Victor Trumper, Virender Sehwag.
Middle order: Arjuna Ranatunga, Bert Sutcliffe, Brian Lara, Dudley Nourse, George Headley, Graeme Pollock, Greg Chappell, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Jacques Kallis, Javed Miandad, Ken Barrington, Kevin Pietersen, Mahela Jayawardene, Martin Crowe, Martin Donnelly, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sir Donald Bradman, Sir Viv Richards, Vijay Hazare, Wally Hammond, Zaheer Abbas.
Allrounders: Aubrey Faulkner, Chaminda Vaas, Imran Khan, John Reid, Kapil Dev, Keith Miller, Mike Procter, Sir Garry Sobers, Sir Ian Botham, Sir Richard Hadlee, Vinoo Mankad.
Wicketkeeper: Adam Gilchrist, Alan Knott, Ian Smith, Jackie Hendriks, John Waite, Kumar Sangakkara, MS Dhoni, Rashid Latif.
Bowlers: Abdul Qadir, Allan Donald, Anil Kumble, Ashantha de Mel, Bill O'Reilly, Curtly Ambrose, Daniel Vettori, Dennis Lillee, Derek Underwood, Erapalli Prasanna, Fazal Mahmood, Fred Trueman, Glenn McGrath, Harold Larwood, Hugh Tayfield, Jack Cowie, Javagal Srinath, Lance Gibbs, Malcolm Marshall, Michael Holding, Muttiah Muralitharan, Rumesh Ratnayake, Shane Bond, Shane Warne, Shaun Pollock, Somachandra De Silva, Sydney Barnes, Waqar Younis, Wasim Akram.

I am still weighing a few combinations in my team before I cast my vote with Cricinfo. There have been numerous players who were selected in their respective Country XIs unanimously. But in this World XI, I guess there will be just 1 unanimous choice - Sir Donald Bradman. If anyone else makes it to the team with even 90% of votes, it will be a remarkable feat.

So readers, please do pitch in your comments... I will post more about my choices for this XI as and when I finalise them!

BLESSED!

He is 36 years, 9 months and 23 days old today. He just scored his 47th Test century yesterday. His 92nd in top flight international cricket. At the age when most cricketers of his generation have had stints in the commentary box, he just seems content in giving them all an evergreen subject to comment on.

The Master and his Self - Proclaimed Follower were at it once again. Statistics will tell you that Sachin Tendulkar and Virendra Sehwag have a partnership average of more than 75. They might tell you that Sehwag's knock overshadowed Sachin's art today (Sehwag has a habit of overshadowing everything thrown at him when he is in mood).

But let that not fool you. Batting has always been an art. But I doubt any artist in history has been as pleasing as our Little Master. Some might say Sir Don Bradman was better, some might add that Sir Viv Richards was better, some might even put modern contemporaries like Ricky Ponting and Brian Lara ahead of him.

But lets get this staight - no one with a bit of knowledge and in a sound state of mind can argue when I say that no cricketer in the history of cricket has had a greater impact on the game as Sachin Tendulkar.

Sachin Tendulkar grew up wanting to emulate India's 1983's heroes. Though he has not managed to achieve that particular aim, he has managed something even bigger: he has managed to inspire a generation and more of youngsters who want to emulate him and help him to achieve this dream for him.

A man who made his debut when India was in pre-liberalisation period now wants to see India through to a period of a super power. He plays cricket for India - his dream career. And that's the reason why he still enjoys being there in the middle - doing what he can so that India can win matches.

Some might want to say that he has not won India enough matches. For those of you who think so, I'll post a different blog with all the statistics and counter arguements to satisfy you. Right now, you guys can take a backseat.

Sachin does not have a lot of time left in cricket (even though I feel he can go on till he is 50). So let us enjoy his cricket as much as he enjoys it himself. He sometimes makes me wonder whether I'll be enjoying my work as much as him when I am in the twilight of my career. I don't know about that right now.

All I can say right now is that blessed are those whose vocation is also their life's greatest passion.

GAMBHIR'S GALLERY OF RECORDS

It will be right to assume that Gautam Gambhir's shot at equalling the great Sir Donald Bradman's record of scoring hundreds in six consecutive Tests has been lost. Dismissed for 68 in the first innings of the Second Test against Bangladesh, he is unlikely to get a chance to bat again in this Test match. India's lead, as I write this, has crossed 300.

However, Gambhir has equalled one other record of scoring a 50+ score in 11 consecutive Test matches, earlier set by Sir Vivian Richards. This fact has been well publicised. There has been one record though, that he is currently a joint holder of, which has gone completely unnoticed. Gautam Gambhir is currently holding a record jointly with Sir Don Bradman (again!) of scoring 4 centuries in consecutive 2nd innings of Test matches.

Gambhir scored 137 and 167 against New Zealand at Napier and Wellington respectively last year, followed by 114 against Sri Lanka at Ahmedabad and 116 against Bangladesh at Chittagong - all in the second innings. In between, the team did not bat in the second innings in the 2nd Test against Sri Lanka and Gambhir did not play the 3rd Test as he was attending his sister's marriage. As he is unlikely to bat again in this Test, he has a chance against South Africa in the upcoming series to cross this record. Mark Taylor (Aus) and Jacques Kallis (SA) have scored 3 centuries in consecutive 2nd innings of Test matches.

Irrespective of the fact whether he gets to these records or misses them, one has to look upon with awe at Gambhir's phenomenal success in all forms of the game over the last couple of years. Gambhir, before the start of this Test match, is 28 Test matches old and has scored 2692 runs. This is an Indian record, surpassing Sunil Gavaskar, for the most Test runs scored after 28 Test matches by a player. Considering the fact that Gavaskar had a tremendous start to his Test career against West Indies and Gambhir's start to his Test career can be described as lukewarm at best, this achievement seems even bigger.

I must confess that I did not predict great achievements from him at the start of his career. In fact, when he scored his maiden Test century against Bangladesh at Chittagong in 2004, I was of the opinion that we have a new minnow basher - a man who can be tried out every time when the team is scheduled to play Bangladesh and Zimbabwe (they weren't suspended back then). How wrong I have been proven!

I know it is too early in his career to assess his greatness or lack thereof. He is yet to play Test cricket in Australia, South Africa and England. He is yet to play a World Cup (ODI format... I know he has won one in the T20 format). So, there is still a long way to go for Gambhir, but early signals are extremely positive. Even if most of his runs are scored in the sub - continent, any player who is matching the world records of the likes of Sir Don Bradman and Sir Viv Richards must certainly be a quality material. He is now considered the Mr. Reliable in a batting line up comprising of Sehwag, Dravid, Tendulkar and Laxman (who have a whopping 38023 Test runs amongst them including the current Test). Who would have though that a year and a half back!

P.S. (Updated after the end of 2nd Test between Bangladesh & India): Last ball of the 90th over of Bangladesh's second innings, Mushfiqur Rahim got down on one knee and dispatched Harbhajan Singh to boundary and India has to bat again. In the process, he ensured that Gambhir does not get a shot at either of Bradman's record mentioned above - centuries in last 6 tests OR centuries in last 4 second innings. The silver lining is that he atleast has Viv's records to look forward to.