I think most people agree on the following:
1 Tendulkar
2
3 Viv
4 Kohli
5 de Villiers
6
7
8 Wasim
9 Murali
10 Garner
11 McGrath
Some people are edgy hipsters and I'm usually one of them, but not on this, so I'm going to kind of take that as given.
The real debates are over the keeper and the fifth bowler combination. If people choose Dhoni, some of them have opted for using Watto/Jaya as an opener to give cover as sixth bowler. Most people who did that also picked Klusener (makes sense - gun sixth bowler means your fifth bowler can be weaker). But the real real
real debate is basically over this allrounder/#7 spot, because we haven't had anyone in ODI history yet actually make it a lock for this team. It's always a trade off.
- You pick Klusener, it weakens the bowling. Maybe you offset this with a batting allrounder as opener, maybe you don't even bother with that.
- You pick Imran, it weakens the batting, especially since he's not suited to the spot you pick him in.
- You pick Flintoff. Probably makes the most sense in terms of being a gun frontline bowler and good enough to bat top 7 at this level, but he really sucked with the bat in the role he'd be picked in, which is a serious problem.
- You pick Pollock, he almost makes it on bowling alone anyway but it seriously weakens the batting, especially since Murali already has nosebleeds.
- You pick Kapil, who is well suited to #7 and probably as good a bowler as Imran, but at this imaginary level might be a bit of a bits-and-pieces player.
- You pick Shakib, because you're
@Athlai and you love him.
- You don't really pick a fifth bowler at all and just allow batsmen to bowl 10 overs for ~100 and lose to the Second XI