Fantastic Fantasy!!

      During the recently held IPL, watching the great Wasim Akram on the sidelines got me thinking. What a great asset he would have been to his team in the T20 format. Continuing with the same fantasy, I present to you my Dream 11. 11 players who played in an era when T20 had not yet arrived, and had they been present today, would have been the top picks in the shortest format of the game.


Garfield Sobers: A cricketer who would be the first pick in any Dream 11, Sir Garfield Sobers is cricket's greatest and most complete all rounder. Sobers could bat at any position, bowl orthodox left arm spin or take the new ball and swing it, and was a very good fielder. In T20 cricket, he would have simply been his team's MVP.                

                                                                                             

Andy Flower: T20 teams need wicket-keepers who can bat, and not many have come who did it better than Flower. The former Zimbabwe captain was a fine exponent of the reverse sweep. With spinners opening the bowling regularly in T20s, Flower's wrist play would not have let the spinners keep a stranglehold on the batsmen.

Vivian Richards: Sir Vivian Richards is widely regarded as the best batsmen ever in the shorter format of the game. The constant chewing of the gum, playing without a helmet all through his 17 years of international cricket is symbolic of the typical Viv swagger. While Viv's destructive batting is reason enough to put him in this list, he was also a decent bowler and a very good fielder.

Brian Lara: The holder of the highest individual score in Test cricket, Brian Charles Lara was a player even the opposition loved watching score. With his trademark high backlift, Lara was particularly destructive against the spinners. When in mood, he would make world class bowlers look mediocre.

Jonty Rhodes: Even today, Jonty would be picked up by any T20 team purely on the merits of his fielding. The greatest fielder of all time, Jonty was the ideal team man. Hecould keep the scoreboard ticking in a crisis, or push the accelerator in the death overs. 

Michael Bevan: Nothing was impossible till you had Bevan at the crease. The hero of many a fairy tale run  chases for his Australian team, Bevan's USP was to soak of all the pressure and guide his side home. An unorthodox china man with the ball, Bevan was deceptively quick between the wickets and thus was seldom dismissed via a run-out.

Lance Klusner: Lance 'Zulu' Klusner was a volatile cricketer and an even more volatile personality. A more than handy seam bowler with the ability to bowl cutters, Zulu was more renowned for his explosive lower order hitting. With just 20 overs, Zulu would have also been an ideal floating batsman for his team.

Kapil Dev: India's finest all rounder and World Cup winning captain, Kapil Dev was excellent with the new ball. Other than having the gift to bowl those perfect banana out-swingers in his sleep, Dev was a very aggressive batsman. Even in his era, he maintained a strike rate of 95, which speaks of his attacking mindset.

Wasim Akram: The most complete fast bowler of his generation, Wasim could bowl swing, seam, short or a yorker at will. Akram was lethal with the new and the old ball. To add to it, he was an excellent slip fielder and destructive slog sweeper against the spinners

Waqar Younis: The second of the two W's, Waqar was a viewer's dream with his long run up. This run-up, his slinging action, ability to swing both ways at fierce pace, Waqar Younis was born to simply ball toe crushers. Also not many can boast to be better that him at reverse swing.

Saqlain Mushtaq: In spite of being an orthodox finger spinner, Mustaq was a strike bowler. His greatest contribution to the game was the invention of  'Doosra'. The fastest bowler to reach 200 wickets in ODIs, Saqlain was a confident bowler in the death overs. 

Most of my 11 is restricted to cricketers I have seen play live. You will find 3 exceptions to that, Gary Sobers, Vivian Richards and Kapil Dev. Lara, Bevan and Klusner were part of the Indian Cricket League, but am not considering that as official cricket.

Special mention for Dennis Lilli and  Dean Jones, whom I wanted to but could not include in my 11.

No two people can have the same fantasy, and the same applies here. Who would you have wanted to see play T20 cricket?


Sanjay

No more the ever Optimist

      The ICC has just helped the Indian selectors. While the Indian selectors are simply not brave enough to drop any of the so called ICONIC players, the ICC has banned Dhoni from the Adelaide Test for slow over-rate. We as all Indian fans should thank them for this much needed favour. Dhoni is simply not skilled enough to bat in overseas conditions. Had he not been the captain of the team, he would not have found a place in the Test squad. Even as a skipper, the lack of fight his team has shown should bother him. He may be a legend of One day cricket, but may be it would serve the nation better if a wicket-keeper who is technically sound replaces him in the longer format of the game.
      Unfortunately the problem does not end there. Sehwag has always played with a sense of freedom, and it did work for him all these years. However now that it is not, it does not seem to bother him and he continues in his same casual approach. He might leep his place in the team because he is a proven match winner, but if he does not turn his form around quickly, that tag could very well become the opposite for him. Gambhir on the other hand should be counting his days in Test cricket. It's been almost 2 years since he last scored a hundred, and his tentative batting is putting the middle order under constant pressure.
      The turnaround in Dravid's form has been both remarkable and shocking. From being the highest run getter in England to letting straight deliveries seek through his defence, Dravid is in danger of surrendering his 'WALL' tag. The fact that he turned 39 on this tour and given is poor form, its time he considers quitting the game rather than embarrass himself and let go his famous reputation. Moving on the other great one, while Sachin has looked in sublime touch in most of his innings, the weight of the 100th 100 is clearly bogging him down. For somebody who has done it so often, this clearly was not expected. Now more for the sake of the team than for himself, he should try and get this milestone away. The 3rd person of this famous trio should immediately quit the game. VVS Laxman was never an athletic person, but now with old age, that has become a serious drawback for him. If not standing in slips, he is a big liability to the team. When he is at the crease, the only way his partner can score is through boundaries. Even if a 100m dash is organized among the  50 something cricket commentators and VVS is asked to compete with them, he would come last. It would be ridiculous if we find him on our next Test squad.
       While the players should take most of the blame, the BCCI should not be spared either. Their scheduling of tours remains ridiculous as always. IPL seems to be the only thing that matters to them. We need good cricketing brains on that board, not people who fight over the Jan Lokpal in the Lok Sabha and then manage the BCCI as a hobby. People like Harsha Bhogle, Saurav Ganguly and Anil Kumble are few names who should occupy those places. Rajiv Shukla says, winning and losing is part and parcel of the game. But Sir, losing and losing is definitely not part of it.
       It's time to take some hard decisions, look at the system(if there is any) and bring in the changes. I was once the ever optimist about Indian Cricket, but for the first time in my life, a sense of pessimism has drawn over me. A turn around has to happen, and it has to happen very soon.