Tuesday, May 1, 2007

My ODI 11

Now that the WC is over and there is nothing much happening in Pakistan cricket, I have decided to write about a more general topic. This is perhaps a more debatable topic and almost every reader will have a difference of opinion. This is my best one day 11 since the time I started following cricket (1992). I did watch a few games before then and have seen a few on tape, but I have stuck to choosing among the players whom I have followed for most of their careers. Hence no Imran Khan, no Viv Richards. Also, in the batting line up I have chosen players in the position they have played most of their careers in. So, I had to make some tough choices and could not include both Brian Lara and Ricky Ponting in this team. Finally, some other individuals have been left out because they have not played enough games (eg Kevin P Michael Hussey and Shane Bond)So, here it is:

Dada's One Day XI since 1992:
Sachin Tendulkar
Adam Gilchrist
Brian Lara
Aravinda DeSilva
Inzamam-ul-Haq
Michael Bevan
Wasim Akram
Curtly Ambrose
Saqlain Mustaq
Waqar Younis
Glen McGrath

10 comments:

awasim said...

Hmm... only pakistani batsman in your team is Inzi!

awasim said...

I think I'd add Saeed Anwar...

Unknown said...

Adnan - tumhara buss chalay to pooray 11 pakistani houn :)

Hamid said...

Glaring Omission: Ricky Ponting ... you just can't have any modern XI without Ponting!

So: Tendulkar out ... Lara moves to the opening slot, and Ponting gets his favorite position

Plus: Murali comes in for Saqlain's spot (sorry Rehan :)) .. Ambrose? not really! Warne would be much better (unless Lara is playing in the opposition of course :p)

If it were 11 favorite players instead of a team with preferred batting positions, I'd replace Inzi with Saeed Anwar!

Unknown said...

Dear Friends, there is a very big man missing in the tauseef's Bhai squad. I think every body can guess that, come on Tauseef by where Younas Khan.

Hamid said...

when is the test XI and best 11 since 2003 cup coming?

Ladies and gentlemen said...

Ok, so here we go. First of all its a good start, but lets see where we can go from here. So here it is (drumrolls please)
Ladies & Gentlement XI
Sachin Tendulkar
Adam Gilchrist (wk)
Ricky Ponting (C)
Rahul Dravid
Inzamam-ul-Haq
Jacques Kallis
Shaun Pollock
Wasim Akram
Muttiah Muralitharan
Shane Warne
Glen McGrath

Now I know this team has some weak spots (namely Dravid and Kallis) but I included them because they are one of the few most sophisticated players of the game. Anyways, good call by spark as to the inclusion of Murali and Ponting, but I cannot justify the inclusion of Saeed Anwar over Tendulkar, Gilchrist or Inzi. Furthermore, even though Bevan had one of the highest batting averages of all times, that was a function of his batting position and not his talent. So here it is, argue my friends.

Ladies and gentlemen said...

on second thoughts, I think Tauseef has done a poor job of getting the best XI in the team. I just cant come to justify Ambrose's inclusion into the team, in no scenario whatsoever. Anyways, I digress. Just a few moments ago I was requested to post, what I think would be, Rehan Malick's ODI XI. So here it is, hold your breath:

Wajahatullah Wasti
Saddagopan Ramesh
Younis Khan
Sultan Zarawani
Basit Ali
Brendan Julian
Khaled Mashud
Muhammad Sami
Zaheer Khan
Lakshmipathy Balaji
Faiz Burney

rehanmalick said...

L&G interesting choice you have made for me I didn't know you did my bidding. Such obsequiousness will not get you really far with me so I would suggest you stop kissing ass. Tauseef has done a good job but there are a few kinks one that I can think is Saqlain no matter how much I love him I do not think you can choose him over Murali. As for your line up L&G I would change Kallis since he doesn't play at #5 so get your cricketing knowledge up to date. Also there are better players than Dravid who can do the job like De Silva, Jayawaedene, Yousuf (maybe). Anyways we all have our own personal XIs and we should learn to respect it. As for you L&G your childishness is not really endearing to me. So if you want to make personal attacks I would suggest that you atleast have the BALLS to come up with your true identity the rest of us here know who we are so that is all fine so quit this charade son and be a man for once and stop your childishness.

Ladies and gentlemen said...

hoo, I guess that "batsman" at number 11 really stung a bit. Didn't he?