Silver Line
U19 Debutant
Okay
The order can be adjusted. Those are the players I'd opt for. The only possible change would be to give Sanga the gloves, drop Dev and play 5 specialist bowlers with Akhtar coming in for his raw pace.Why is Tendulkar at #3? Surely Sanga should be there.. or if you want to keep him lower b/c he’s keeping pick the bloke who played 49 matches at #3, rather than putting the best batsman in the side in at a position he never played in his career.
Mudassar Nazar and Asif Iqbal are pretty Watson-adjacent and so should find a place.HB-approved XI.
Jayasuriya (9)
Mankad (8)
Sangakkara +
Shakib (6)
Matthews (10)
Mushtaq (5)
Pandya (7)
Jadeja* (4)
Dev (3)
Imran (1)
Akram (2)
On reflection I may have overstocked on SLA bowling so definitely can afford to swap out an opener.Mudassar Nazar and Asif Iqbal are pretty Watson-adjacent and so should find a place.
Why not M.Rizwan? He debuted tests in 2016, is it too early to consider? Cause as glovesman he’s probably the best or second best of this gen and less said about his batting in comparison to other keepersThe best pure keeper might well be Bari who was a mediocre bat. Kirmani was also excellent as was Kalu for Lanka. But the point stands: thin lower order batting.
With the passage of time he becomes a very viable candidate.Why not M.Rizwan? He debuted tests in 2016, is it too early to consider? Cause as glovesman he’s probably the best or second best of this gen and less said about his batting in comparison to other keepers
Speaking of SLAs, I think Shastri would be the most HB cricketer ever if Katich and Watson didn't exist. He also rates Wasim Raja way higher than anyone else so Raja is worth considering too.On reflection I may have overstocked on SLA bowling so definitely can afford to swap out an opener.
Are there any offies with better batting credentials than Ashwin to slot in? Think HB will want (at least) one.
This is a bad, bad call.Sangakkara (depspite wearing gloves) from 2002-2014 has better stats than sachin, when you take Zim/Ban out of them both
Wasim Raja bowled leggies no? Automatically better than the other ARs.Speaking of SLAs, I think Shastri would be the most HB cricketer ever if Katich and Watson didn't exist. He also rates Wasim Raja way higher than anyone else so Raja is worth considering too.
I think the options per your criteria are Muhammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik and Chandu Borde. All 3 were fairly unexceptional cricketers but could still replace Pandya I suppose.
its true, sachins peak average drops around 55 when ban and zim are taken out. I mean were applying the same to sangaThis is a bad, bad call.
Even PJ or Engineer with gloves makes batting thin. Both average 30. PJ probably was the best gloveman from Asia. You don't need Shoib and Waqar both. Simply get another pure bat or a batting all rounder in. Shakib would do nicely in that team.I agree Dev isn't in the top 6 bats, or top 5 bowlers. He offers a bit of both disciplines so adds flexibility. He's the 5th bowling option. An alternative 5-1-5 set up would see him nowhere near selection.
Consider:
Gavaskar
Dravid
YK
Tendulkar
Sanga
Wkt (the best pure gloveman)
Imran *
Wasim
Waqar
Murali
Shoaib
The batting seems a bit thin with Imran realistically batting at 6. The best pure keeper might well be Bari who was a mediocre bat. Kirmani was also excellent as was Kalu for Lanka. But the point stands: thin lower order batting.
Waqar is a lock. Shoaib was a genuine match winner. If I opt for 5-1-5, I need the 5 best bowlers. The greatest balance is probably 5 bats, 1wkt, 2 AR and 3 bowlers but Asia has only 1 AR who was also a demon bowler (Imran), and lacks a great wkt/bat. Sanga is an ATG bat but to burden him with the gloves diminishes his returns. Decisions, decisions.Even PJ or Engineer with gloves makes batting thin. Both average 30. PJ probably was the best gloveman from Asia. You don't need Shoib and Waqar both. Simply get another pure bat or a batting all rounder in. Shakib would do nicely in that team.
maybe if he didnt average 35 away, it would have been helpfulThese people deciding Jadeja doesn't exist smh. Disappointing.
It's not like the other bowlers wouldn't average bad if they didn't get helpful conditions for their bowling.maybe if he didnt average 35 away, it would have been helpful
Jadeja is useless away from home in tests. His record is grossly inflated by the dustbowls in India. If we remove the pre covered/post covered split (I wont for rational reasons), Mankad or someone might slot in as the spinning AR.It's not like the other bowlers wouldn't average bad if they didn't get helpful conditions for their bowling.