My Greatest World Cup XI

The World Cup fever is now finally getting on. While we wait for the real thing to start on February the 14th, its time to reminisce about the World Cups gone by. And here is me indulging in some typical fanboy hobby of picking a Fantasy XI. Following is my selection of the Greatest XI from the ICC Cricket World Cups. (Link)

The selections have been made on the following criterion.

• World Cup performances - multiple World Cups count more.
• Being a World Cup winner. Hence no South Africans or Kiwis or English players
• Special performances have more weightage

Now based on these criterion, following is my Greatest World Cup XI in batting order.

1. Sachin Tendulkar - (winner 2011) most World Cup runs and consistent across tournaments. It would have been blasphemous for an Indian not to include him in such an XI. Also a handy bowler.
2. Adam Gilchrist (wk) - (winner 1999, 2003, 2007) the greatest keeper-batsman of all time across formats. Also provides a left-right opening combination with Tendulkar. And a gentleman who walked even in the World Cup semi-finals.
3. Ricky Ponting - (winner 1999, 2003, 2007) and once runner-up. Also the man to have played the most World Cup games. And that 140 in 2003 final in Johannesburg to knock India out (a sad moment for Indian fans but still I pick him)
4. Viv Richards - (winner 1975, 1979) The original master blaster. Could change games single handedly, not just with the bat but also with the ball.
5. Aravinda de Silva - (winner 1996) The key player in the 1996 winning campaign for Sri Lanka, was declared the Man of the Match in both the semis and the finals. Another handy spinner.
6. Clive Lloyd (c) - (winner 1975, 1979). Excellent leader, superb batsman and a good fielder. He is in as captain of the team.
7. Kapil Dev - (winner 1983) Fast bowling all-rounder whom India is still to replace. He walks in to the team just on the basis of that 175.
8. Imran Khan - (winner 1992) The man could walk into any team either as batsman or a bowler or just a captain. After all he inspired the maverick Pakistanis to a World Cup victory from a seemigly hopeless situation.
9. Wasim Akram - (winner 1992) The two stump seeking yorkers to break the back of the English chase in the 1992 final. Also undoubtedly the greatest left arm pace bowler of all time. And handy with the bat.
10. Shane Warne - (winner 1999) The best leg-spinner. Very good at most times but excellent at the biggest stage. The ball to get rid of the Herchelle Gibbs in 1999 semis in That match.
11. Glenn McGrath - (winner 1999, 2003, 2007) retired after collecting the most wickets in a single World Cup and being declared the player of the tournament.

So thats my Greatest World Cup XI. 6 batsman who can all maintain a more than handy run-rate, 5 bowlers, 4 fast bowlers including a left handed one, 2 all-rounders, 1 leg-spinner, 1 wicket-keeper, a left-right opening combination, 3 more than handy part-time spinners and some superb  fielders. The batting order seems settled. But not sure who will be the new ball operators. After all these are men who made the ball not just talk but could make it recite poetry if they wanted. 

Truly spoilt for choice.

The IPL Expendables XI

The Expendables - a lovely movie with a starcast comprising of veteran action stars. They may have grown old but the spirits are still young. And these veterans packed enough punch to create a movie good enough to go on to become a series on its own right.

Was watching Expendables (again) the other day and found it similar to the Indian Premier League in some respects. The IPL can be considered to be a haven for recently and should-be retired stars who are past their prime but still playing on - some successfully, some not-so-successfully. So thought of making an Expendables XI for this year's IPL. And have followed the IPL policy of limiting the number of foreign players to four.

1. Sachin Tendulkar - How old is he? He has been going on and on since 1989 when half of the players in the IPL were not even born. And one of them (Sachin Baby) is even named after him.
2. Ricky Ponting - Recently retired from all international cricket. And then goes on to be the top scorer of the Australian domestic first class season. Though finding it difficult to sustain in the slam bang IPL mode
3. Rahul Dravid (C) - captain of the expendables. Leads Rajasthan Royals, a side which has a battalion of veterans (Hogg, Hodge, Tambe) and a squadron of babies (Sachin Baby, Sanju Samson)
4. S Badrinath - not retired yet but chances of playing further international cricket is now very limited. Will take over from the likes of Wasim Jaffer & Amol Mazumdar as the next Ranji legend.
5. Saurav Ganguly - all right, he is not in any of the squads as on date, but like Chuck Norris in Expendables 2 he might return out of nowhere and be leading one of the side. With Dada you never know.
6. Adam Gilchrist (wk) - The wicket-keeping slot simply can not go anywhere else.
7. Laxmi Ratan Shukla - He made his debut for India in 1999 and hasn't played since. And neither has he been close to national selection since. IPL considers him to be an uncapped player (?). But Shukla continues to toil on in Ranji trophy and IPL.
8. Ajit Agarkar - Sir Aggie hasn't played for India for more than 5 years. One of the enigmas of cricket. His Test career highlights are (a) scored a century at Lords and (b) a six-wicket haul which lead to India winning in Adelaide. And he has been one of the best one-day bowlers for India of all time yet one of the most unsung in that regard. Still toiling on in domestic cricket.
9. Brad Hogg - He was happily retired from all forms of cricket. Then the Big Bash happened and at the age of 42 Hogg was making his T20 international debut for Australia.
10. Muttiah Muralitharan - Another legend who is still clinging on. His Test records are unlikely to be broken.
11. Pravin Tambe - The most off-field inclusion in the Expendables XI. At the age of 42, Tambe gets selected for the first time to the Mumbai team. And then gets picked up by the Rajasthan Royals. Yet to make an appearance though.

This was my Expendables XI for IPL. One thing I can safely bet, they won't be pushovers in the competition.

P.S. Wondering how many of these warriors survive into IPL7.

IPL6: Opening Shots

The IPL madness has begun. All the teams have played their opening encounters and some initial trends have begun to emerge (Now I am sounding like those election time psephologists :P). Presenting the opening shots after the first week of matches.

One of the joys of IPL is watching the recently and soon-to-be-retired stars in action. The highest wicket taker bowling to the two highest run-scorers provided one such instance. As were opening over blitz by Gilchrist and Dravid's opening game performance.

Have seriously begun to wonder about the Mumbai Indians' strategy. Now that they have got Ponting and have appointed him captain, they have to play him in every game thus also occupying a foreign player slot.  There are other questions as well.Why are they wasting Pollard by playing him so low? Why only one game for Jasprit Bumrah after a good opening performance? Why no Maxwell thus far? And is the Tendulkar-Ponting opening partnership worth any more than nostalgia value? In fact the earlier these two get out the better it seems for the teams' prospects.

Some of the Million dollar babies have seemingly gone into hiding. There has been no sign thus far of this year's big purchases - Glen Maxwell (MI), Chris Morris (CSK), Sachitra Senanayake (KKR), Kane Richardson (PWI)? Where is the 1.6 million dollar retention Saurabh Tiwary? Why do the teams make such big purchases and do not even play them?

Pune & Delhi have had bad starts while Rajasthan have been to their usual good start. But its a long tournament. And many, many more games still to be played. So not much needs to be read into this.

It was interesting to see Rajasthan Royals play 5 seamers in their home encounter. And the strategy worked to perfection. Although there was a minor issue of Dravid getting fined for the slow over rate.

There was one Super Over played. It may add to the drama but otherwise is it of no real use. Whats wrong with having a tied game in the League stage? Teams do split points when some games are abandoned due to rains so why not in case of tied games as well.

Every IPL has a tendency of throwing up an unknown name as a star for a day. Kamran Khan, Paul Valthaty, Manish Pandey immediately come to mind. And continuing this trend is Jasprit Bumrah. 3 wickets in the opening game followed by getting dropped for the next two games.

And off-the-field Dhoni has been trolling Sir Jadeja on twitter. Far better than the other non-cricketing controversies which had been going on thus far.

Now to sit back and enjoy the further episodes of the best show on prime-time TV.

IPL5 - Post2

Not following the IPL much this time around. Sign of cricketing overdose. But still switch on to SET Max every night because it is the best thing on air. Random observations on the IPL so far.

• Too many last over finishes making things seem a bit fishy.
• Add the messed up points table where almost every team except the Chargers is near to the top of the table. Things become fishier
• Indian performances going backwards compared to the foreign contingent. Not good signs for the future. Where is this year's Paul Valthaty or Manish Pandey? Shahbaz Nadeem is the only domestic player who has made some name for himself.
• Saurav Ganguly still HAS the passion. And thats why he keeps coming back. And thats why I admire him.
• IPL 5 certainly seems to be the last time we will be we seeing Gilchrist and Murali. 
• Dravid & Rahane - what an elegant combo. Period.
• Wondering if the drama & hoopla behind IPL will last longer with the sponsors reducing (most of the ads are for Sony SIX, MIX, MAX & PIX and Indian Idol), owners in trouble (Mallya's airlines), and stars fading away.