All time best ODI team

[vayuu1]

Gilly Tendulkar Ponting Viv ABCD Dhoni Dev Akram Warne Garner Mcgrath.

[JaFanatic]

Amla Sachin Ponting© Richards Abbas DeVilliers Pollock Hadlee Akram(VC) Garner Muralitharan

[midge]

Tendulkar Gilchrist Ponting Richards ABDV / Yuvraj Dhoni Kapil / Imran Wasim Warne Lee McGrath / Garner It is important to have good alrounders at 6 to 8. Lee is perhaps the best express bowler in ODIs. You need atleast one in the lineup. Both Lee and Warne would make the batting order longer. I would include Yuvraj if the pitch is spin friendly. Would give me an extra spinner. Plus, Yuvraj is one of the best six hitters and tough condition lower order ODI batters I have seen. Plus, he would be the only left hander in the middle order. Kapil was a better strokemaker than Imran. Imran was a bit quicker. Kapil was the better conventional swing bowler, Imran better at reverse swing. Choice among the 2 would depend on playing conditions. We have an express pacer in Lee; steep bounce and accuracy in McGrath and Garner; pace in Lee, Wasim, Imran; left arm pacer in Wasim; swing in Kapil, Wasim,Lee; reverse swing in Wasim, Imran ; all these pacer could seam the ball; a leg spinner in Warne; off spinner in Richards; left arm orthodox in Yuvi; ....so a lot of variety for different conditions and variation. I have tried to keep most players from World Cup winning teams....who know how to perform on the big stage and in pressure conditions.

I would go for one among Klusener, Flintoff, Symonds or Faulkner in place of Kapil/ Imran as they are aggressive lower order batsman, and at the same time more than decent bowlers as well. By the way, liked your thoughts behind team selection.

[21cent]

Tendulkar Jayasurya Richards Hussey Dhoni (Capt/WK) Kallis Bevan Murali Akram Akhtar (when he was fit not fat)/Warne Donald

[midge]

Gilly Tendulkar Ponting Viv ABCD Dhoni Dev Akram Warne Garner Mcgrath.

Nice line-up. I would opt for a Klusener/Symonds/Flintoff/Maxwell in place of Kapil.

[nic007]

Amla, Tendulkar, Ponting, Kallis, Viv Richards, AB (W/K), Akram, Warne, Hadlee, Mc Grath, Murali, 12th man - Jonty (make sure the bowlers come off the field after their bowling spell so that Jonty can be there for the fielding).:finger:

[midge]

Amla Sachin Ponting© Richards Abbas DeVilliers Pollock Hadlee Akram(VC) Garner Muralitharan

Nice pick. I would move AB to No. 5 and have an all rounder at 6. Among bowlers, my pick would be McGrath in place of Hadlee

[midge]

Tendulkar Jayasurya Richards Hussey Dhoni (Capt/WK) Kallis Bevan Murali Akram Akhtar (when he was fit not fat)/Warne Donald

I would bring Kallis up the order (No. 4), 1 or 2 attacking batting all rounders in the middle & replace Akhtar with a M. Holding. How's that?

[midge]

Hayden' date=' Tendulkar, Ponting, Kallis, Viv Richards, AB (W/K), Akram, Warne, Hadlee, Mc Grath, Murali, 12th man - Jonty (make sure the bowlers come off the field after their bowling spell so that Jonty can be there for the fielding).:finger:[/quote'] I would have Viv and AB bat up the order, have an express bowler in place of Hadlee and have one more quick in place of either of the two spinners. What do you think?

[express bowling]

I would go for one among Klusener' date=' Flintoff, Symonds or Faulkner in place of Kapil/ Imran as they are aggressive lower order batsman, and at the same time more than decent bowlers as well. By the way, liked your thoughts behind team selection.[/quote'] I would ideally want a full fledged bowler and a good strokemaker and finisher at 7. Symonds, with 133 wickets from 198 ODIs , would not qualify as a full fledged bowler. Faulkner has potential. But, after just 44 ODIs, would not qualify for an all time best 11 yet. Flintoff was a bit of hot and cold player. Had massive talent but lacked the focus or passion to be a top notch player. Klusener can be a good choice. He was quick for a few years and a great strokeplayer. Sometimes he could be a bit expensive though. Kapil was a massive strokemaker. With those strokeless bats of the 80s, hehad an ODI strike rate of 95 and a test strike rate of 94. He had an innings of 175 in a crucial world cup game. Plus he was a very economical bowler and a world cup winning captain. Imran's strike rate of 72 maybe a bit of a dampner at 7. So, now, I would choose between Kapil and Klusener depending on the playing conditions. P.s - Interesting fact .....Kapil's strike rate of 95 is more than Klusener 89, Flintoff 88, Symonds 92 even though he played primarily in the 80s.

[nic007]

I would have Viv and AB bat up the order' date=' have an express bowler in place of Hadlee and have one more quick in place of either of the two spinners. What do you think?[/quote'] Perhaps up the order if the batting goes exceptionally well (openers have a huge partnership and you need hitters to come in to make merry with few overs left, so in exceptional circumstances). Viv and AB are good enough to score fast and big even if sent out later in the innings. I'll keep with the two extraordinary good spinners (Kallis is there if another seamer is needed in special circumstances). I'll stick with Hadlee, can bat a bit too. No use picking a fast bowler just for extreme pace. Those selected are quick bowlers in their own right.

[Muloghonto]

Tendulkar Lara Viv Kohli ABDV Dhoni Kapil Wasim Warne Donald Murali/Ambrose (depending on the pitch)

[midge]

Tendulkar Lara Viv Kohli ABDV Dhoni Kapil Wasim Warne Donald Murali/Ambrose (depending on the pitch)

I would have a specialist opener in place of Lara, and some other all rounder in place of Kapil. Is Dhoni the captain?

[midge]

I would ideally want a full fledged bowler and a good strokemaker and finisher at 7. Symonds, with 133 wickets from 198 ODIs , would not qualify as a full fledged bowler. Faulkner has potential. But, after just 44 ODIs, would not qualify for an all time best 11 yet. Flintoff was a bit of hot and cold player. Had massive talent but lacked the focus or passion to be a top notch player. Klusener can be a good choice. He was quick for a few years and a great strokeplayer. Sometimes he could be a bit expensive though. Kapil was a massive strokemaker. With those strokeless bats of the 80s, hehad an ODI strike rate of 95 and a test strike rate of 94. He had an innings of 175 in a crucial world cup game. Plus he was a very economical bowler and a world cup winning captain. Imran's strike rate of 72 maybe a bit of a dampner at 7. So, now, I would choose between Kapil and Klusener depending on the playing conditions. P.s - Interesting fact .....Kapil's strike rate of 95 is more than Klusener 89, Flintoff 88, Symonds 92 even though he played primarily in the 80s.

Symonds would not qualify as a complete bowler, but he is a good 5th bowling option. His ability to bail the team out of difficult situations and win games makes him a strong contender. Faulkner doesn't have the numbers on his side, but nobody doubts his all round capabilities. In the just concluded WC final, he picked 3 wickets and showed his class. I thought Flintoff was quite an aggressive and difficult bowler to play on most occasions. His batting was decent. Klusener will fit in any side as a pure bowler or pure batsman. Not taking anything away from Kapil, but as a finisher either in terms of scoring runs or taking wickets when the team really needed them to deliver, these 4 have been much more consistent. We can drop Symonds (since his bowling is not as strong), Flintoff (his batting wasn't that consistent) and Faulkner (since he hasn't played enough). My final choice would be Klusener.

[midge]

Perhaps up the order if the batting goes exceptionally well (openers have a huge partnership and you need hitters to come in to make merry with few overs left' date=' so in exceptional circumstances). Viv and AB are good enough to score fast and big even if sent out later in the innings. I'll keep with the two extraordinary good spinners (Kallis is there if another seamer is needed in special circumstances). I'll stick with Hadlee, can bat a bit too. No use picking a fast bowler just for extreme pace. Those selected are quick bowlers in their own right.[/quote'] The kind of psychological dent that Viv and AB can make on any opposition with their explosive batting, I would prefer them up the order. Quick bowlers do rattle the opposition. M. Starc showed that in this WC. So I would definitely go for one. With Kallis there, can keep both the spinners.

[Muloghonto]

I would have a specialist opener in place of Lara' date=' and some other all rounder in place of Kapil. Is Dhoni the captain?[/quote'] Specialist openers in ODIs are overrated- plenty of middle order bats made the jump very well: Tendulkar, Mark Waugh, Sehwag, Ganguly- none of these guys were ODI openers before they played quite a few international matches. FYI, Lara does have quite a good record coming in at 4/1 or 10/1 kinda scenarios in ODIs early in his career- that is practically opening the batting. Whats important, is that Lara was a stroke maker and did well against almost all ODI attacks. As for replacing Kapil- LOL. Who else would you have at #7 ?! A guy who was the highest wicket taker with a bowling economy of 3.7 and a batting strike rate of 90 @ 20-25 average is not good enough ?! PS: Captain is Wasim.

[Muloghonto]

Symonds would not qualify as a complete bowler, but he is a good 5th bowling option. His ability to bail the team out of difficult situations and win games makes him a strong contender. Faulkner doesn't have the numbers on his side, but nobody doubts his all round capabilities. In the just concluded WC final, he picked 3 wickets and showed his class. I thought Flintoff was quite an aggressive and difficult bowler to play on most occasions. His batting was decent. Klusener will fit in any side as a pure bowler or pure batsman. Not taking anything away from Kapil, but as a finisher either in terms of scoring runs or taking wickets when the team really needed them to deliver, these 4 have been much more consistent. We can drop Symonds (since his bowling is not as strong), Flintoff (his batting wasn't that consistent) and Faulkner (since he hasn't played enough). My final choice would be Klusener.

Err no. Klusener does not come ahead of Kapil in bowling department. In fielding they are about even but when it comes to batting, Kapil was actually more consistent and played huge pressure knocks against the best bowling.

[BlueBee]

1. Gilchrist 2. Tendulkar 3. Punter 4. Richards 5. De villiers 6. Dhoni 7. Kapil 8. Akram 9. Lee 10. Ambrose 11. Murali

My revised XI

[JaFanatic]

Nice pick. I would move AB to No. 5 and have an all rounder at 6. Among bowlers' date=' my pick would be McGrath in place of Hadlee[/quote'] Nope, you're overdoing it. Team already has 5 top bowlers and then there is Sachin and Richards who were better than the part timers, so no need of another allrounder. Aren't McGrath and Garner similar bowlers ? Thats why I went with Hadlee.

[midge]

Specialist openers in ODIs are overrated- plenty of middle order bats made the jump very well: Tendulkar, Mark Waugh, Sehwag, Ganguly- none of these guys were ODI openers before they played quite a few international matches. FYI, Lara does have quite a good record coming in at 4/1 or 10/1 kinda scenarios in ODIs early in his career- that is practically opening the batting. Whats important, is that Lara was a stroke maker and did well against almost all ODI attacks. As for replacing Kapil- LOL. Who else would you have at #7 ?! A guy who was the highest wicket taker with a bowling economy of 3.7 and a batting strike rate of 90 @ 20-25 average is not good enough ?! PS: Captain is Wasim.

Well, what you said about openers is correct, but we are considering the slots that these players held for most part of their careers. The guys you are referring to are all recognized as openers. They might have started at different positions, but they made their mark as an opener only. As for the all-rounder, I think we need to look away from stats as they do not always tell a lot of things and the kind of impact a player has made. I would instead have a Klusener/ Bevan/Symonds or even a Faulkner (though, he hasn't got enough matches under his belt) for their match winning ability.