Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Greatest All Time Test Eleven - Best in Tests :)


Four Indian cricketers, including batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar and 1983 World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev, were named in the Greatest All Time Test XI chosen in an online poll.


Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag - Two current cricketers in the World's best Test eleven team


The other two Indian cricketers were the stylish opening batsman Sunil Gavaskar and explosive opener for company -  Virender Sehwag. They beat competition from the likes of Geoffrey Boycott, Jack Hobbs, Len Hutton, Hanif Mohammad and Herbert Sutcliffe.

Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev - the other two legendary Indian cricket players who are selected in the Test best XI by public in an online poll


Four Australians, two West Indians and one Pakistani also made it to Peoples' Dream XI as more than a quarter of million people voted on ICC's official website as part of the build-up to the England-India Test match at Lord's to celebrate the 2000th cricket Test. 

Tendulkar occupied the number four batting spot, one slot down Australian legend Don Bradman and one above West Indian Brian Lara, who was chosen at number five. The trio beat the likes of Greg Chappell, Wally Hammond, George Headley, Javed Miandad, Graeme Pollock, Ricky Ponting and Vivian Richards.

Kapil was chosen as the lone all-rounder ahead of the likes of Ian Botham, Richard Hadlee, Jacques Kallis, Imran Khan, Gary Sobers and Frank Worrell.

Australian Adam Gilchrist won the poll for wicket-keeper by beating the likes of Mark Boucher, Jeff Dujon and Rod Marsh while Shane Warne got the nod of online voters ahead of the likes of India's Bishan Singh Bedi and Anil Kumble and Sri Lankan Muttiah Muralitharan.

Wasim Akram, Curtly Ambrose and Glenn McGrath were named in the three fast bowlers' slots. The likes of Michael Holding, Dennis Lillee, Malcolm Marshall and Courtney Walsh missed out.  



ICC Chief Executive Haroon Lorgat said the enthusiasm shown by the fans by taking part in the online poll in huge numbers showed Test cricket's popularity.

"The huge interest generated during the past month was amazing as media and supporters worldwide speculated and then selected the fan's Greatest Test team of all time. It supports our view of the everlasting popularity of Test match cricket," he said.

"It would have been quite special to see this team take the field of play given the array of batting and bowling talent contained within the playing eleven.

"Selecting from such greats is no easy job, and not surprisingly, the selection mainly reflects modern players seen by present day supporters. There are many greats from the past who would have easily merited selection in this team, but it is nevertheless interesting to see the fans view on their greatest eleven of all time," he said. 


Greatest All Time XI:  

Openers: Virender Sehwag and  Sunil Gavaskar

Middle order batsmen: Donald Bradman, Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara

Wicket keeper: Adam Gilchrist (wk)

All rounder: Kapil Dev 

Spinner: Shane Warne

Fast Bowlers:  Wasim Akram, Curtly Ambrose, Glenn McGrath 


Some of the honorable misses were the great Sir Gary Sobers, Muttiah Muralitharan, Viv Richards, Dennis Lillee and Malcolm Marshall.  A bit harsh but am happy to see the 4 great Indian players in the team :)

Share this post with your friends....

0 comments:

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...