Indian Players Pack The ICC Team Of The Decade For T20, ODI, and Tests
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has carried out its research into cricket during the last decade to develop its ICC Playing XI Team of the Decade for T20, ODI, and Test cricket formats.
Cricket lovers worldwide will be eager to see which players have made the shortlist and which players have been left out. Indian cricket fans will be really happy as several top Indian players feature in all three formats.
We leave it up to our readers to judge whether this ICC Playing XI Team of the Decade will be able to beat any of the top ICC member squads in any conditions.
T20I Team of the Decade
The ICC has named four Indian players in the eleven for the T20I of the decade. Very few will debate with MS Dhoni being selected the captain of the team of the decade. His pedigree as captain cool and the fact that all cricketing nations widely respect him made him the automatic choice.
The openers will be the dashing R Sharma and the hard-hitting Christopher Gayle. The Australian T20 captain Aaron Finch makes his way in at number three, which is a bit of a surprise. Virat Kohli takes the number four slot, and AB Devilliers slots in at number five.
Australian Glenn Maxwell comes in at number six, which might surprise Indian fans as the Big Show has never done really well in T20 cricket when he has played in India. MS Dhoni is the wicket-keeper batsman and number 7.
Kieron Pollard is the all-rounder at 8, and the three bowlers that follow are top leggies from Afghanistan, Rashid Khan, J Bumrah, and L Malinga, who are the best death bowlers in T20 cricket.
Our Take
We would definitely have had D Warner in place of A Finch, Ben Stokes in place of Glenn Maxwell. The fact that the ICC picked a T20 team of the decade with only three frontline bowlers is hard to understand. Getting Stokes in as a genuine all-rounder gives you the fourth bowling option.
ODII Team of the Decade
When it comes to the ODI international team of the decade, the ICC has named three Indian players with MS Dhoni, once again chosen as the ODI format captain.
The two openers will be Rohit Sharma and David Warner. Virat Kohli automatically takes the number three spot to establish himself as the best number 3 in ODI cricket. Once again, AB Devilliers follows Kohli and takes the number four spot. The selectors decided that Shakib Al Hasan will come in at 5 and MS Dhoni at 6.
Ben Stokes gets the nod for the ODI team and slots in as the all-rounder at number 7. The four bowlers come in the form of Mitchell Starc, Trent Boult, Imran Tahir, and Lasith Malinga.
Our Take
We are totally in agreement with this squad as it looks a lot more balanced than the T20 squad. Shakib at five is good as he can bowl his full quota of 10 overs of left-arm spin. We would change the only thing to substitute I Tahir with R Khan as they are both good leggies, but Khan gives you the little extra padding in the batting department.
TestI Team of the Decade
There are only two players from India who have made the playing XI for the TestI team of the decade. Virat Kohli has been chosen as the captain of the test team.
Alistair Cook and David Warner get the openers’ slots, Kane Williamson comes in at three, Kohli at four, and Steve Smith at five. Kumar Sangakkara takes the gloves and is a great option at six. Ben Stokes is the all-rounder at seven.
When it comes to the bowlers, R Ashwin is the lone spinner. The three fast bowlers are the English duo of James Anderson and Stuart Broad, with South African Dale Steyn being the third fast bowler.
Our Take
It is pretty hard to argue with the batting department and the all-rounder choice. However, we would make a few changes to the bowling line-up. R Ashwin as a spinner in India is a great choice, but R Ashwin isn’t a good choice in overseas conditions. We would play Nathan Lyon in overseas conditions and R Ashwin in the sub-continent.
Dale Steyn and James Anderson would make our cut, but we would take out Stuart Broad and replace him with Mitchell Johnson. We would also not have V Kohli captain this side but have Steve Smith take the leadership role.
