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!

LALIT MODI AND SURESH KALMADI

Lalit Modi and Suresh Kalmadi.

Similarities -

Two sports administrators in India. Two extremely dislike-able men. Two men who have had to handle big responsibilities - the Indian Premier League and the Commonwealth Games respectively. Two men currently embroiled under charges of scams and corruption. Two men who always claim that they will deliver the very best.

Difference -

One delivers what he promises. The other shames himself, others and the entire country by proving himself to be an incompetent and irresponsible administrator.

Now let me make it clear... whatever good I may write about Lalit Modi in this blog, make no mistake, I dislike that man completely! I usually despise men who have an air of arrogance about them... and Lalit Modi makes that list! But when I compare him to Suresh Kalmadi, I have to admit that he's the better administrator... by miles.

Lalit Modi has also made outrageous statements in the past. His methods and techniques have always been questionable. But there is no denying that whatever he promised, he delivered on that. Most, including me, scoffed at the idea of IPL moving to South Africa. But he made it happen and delivered a very well-organised and well-managed IPL there.

And now Suresh Kalmadi. For months now, I have been reading about his promise of delivering the "Best Games Ever". The situation now is such that we don't even know if he will be able to deliver any "Games"... let alone the best ones ever. Not one of his claims have yet been vindicated. He made a fool out of himself when he claimed that Usain Bolt will participate at Delhi 2010, only to hear Bolt's agent announce next that the star athlete will not be competing here.

I do not understand why men as incompetent as Kalmadi or Ijaz Butt take up such big responsibilities when it is obviously apparent that they are not up for it. What pleasure do they derive in bringing shame and disrepute to their respective countries!

With CWG just a few days away now, many countries have issued warnings and deadlines to the Organising Committee (OC) to meet their standards in safety, security, health and sanitation. A friend of mine remarked that it would still be understandable if the Games were to be called off due to security issues. The world today is truly a dangerous place to live in and security is a genuine concern. But to hear that the Games may be called off due to issues such as cleanliness, health and sanitation is downright shameful!

As is all this is not enough, a member of the OC has the courage to give explanations to the media saying that everyone has different standards for cleanliness and sanitation, and therefore, this should not be regarded as a big issue.

Bullshit! The Games are on the verge of being called off due to such issues and we are not supposed to regard them as big. We want India to become a superpower with our booming economy, we want India to be a permanent member of UN's Security Council... but when we are given a responsibility that in itself is also an honour, we perform so dismally that it shames not only us, but even those who thought that we deserved such an opportunity.

Irrespective of whether we find some quick-fix measures to conduct the Games smoothly or not, one thing is certain. India is not likely to be given an opportunity to host any big event any time soon. And we would be huge buffoons if we even approach the concerned authorities for another such chance any time soon.

I really hope that Mr. Suresh Kalmadi and Mr. Ijaz Butt and the like are really brought to task for their brand of buffoonery. The axe needs to fall now! Enough is enough!

MOST POPULAR SEARCHES

Have a look at Cricinfo's most popular searches at the top right corner circled in red... not surprising, is it?

DHONI'S SUPER-MISTAKE

MS Dhoni's choice of bowler for the Super Over during yesterday's tied tie against Victoria was a surprising one. Usually, a captain gives the ball to a bowler who has had a good day. That would have been Murali, given that both Bollinger and Ashwin had had a mixed day.


However, to my mind, the best option would still have been Bollinger. Here is a bit of trivia before I proceed further:


- Cricinfo archives show that there have been 12 recorded cases of Super Overs in Twenty20 matches, including yesterday's.
- Of these 12, I managed to find out who were the bowlers and the scores involved in 11 of them.
- The 1 match that I did not manage to find anything about was the Northern Districts v. Canterbury match at Seddon Park, Hamilton on 18th February 2009.
- On a completely irrelevant note, that day (i.e. 18th February 2009) saw 2 other cases of Super Overs in South Africa - Dolphins v Cape Cobras at Kingsmead, Durban and Eagles v Warriors at St. George's Park, Port Elizabeth.
- Of the 22 Super Overs (11 X 2) I have on record, only 7 have been bowled by slow bowlers.
- Of these 7, only 2 have been won by slow bowlers. Incidentally, both these wins came when the opposition also used a slow bowler for their Super Over.
- So in the 3 cases where Super Over was a slow bowler v medium / pace bowler affair, the slower bowlers have always failed to deliver.


Now, I do not expect MS Dhoni to know these facts. But I would have expected him to learn from his mistakes. Just this year at the IPL, he had faced a Super Over situation where he chose Muttiah Muralitharan to bowl against Kings XI Punjab to defend his team's score of 9 for 2 (which were scored against Juan Theron - a medium pacer). Muralitharan managed 10 for 1 in less than 1 over as CSK lost that match and crucial points.


In the only other case of pace v spin, Ajantha Mendis had fared badly as Yusuf Pathan demolished him during IPL 2009's Rajasthan Royals v Kolkata Knight Riders match. Kamran Khan, the unheralded young Royals pacer had gone for 16 in his over as Mendis conceded 18 in his first 4 balls itself. And I expect Dhoni knew about this match.


Added to this were factors like constant drizzle and the grip on the ball during the Super Over yesterday. So Dhoni's decision to use Ashwin was pretty much a wrong one to me even before he started bowling and conceded those 20-odd runs. The match was effectively sealed then and the points secured for Victoria.