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Wisden names it’s greatest ODI player of each decade

Not sure why folks are making out Murali to be some controversial pick.

He took 335 ODI wickets at 20 in the 2000s - more than any other bowler. And this was the time when ODI pitches were becoming increasingly flat.

Unfortunately he doesn't have the shrill, obnoxious 24/7 hype machines of Pakistani and Indian media so he doesn't get his due. If we had a bowler with figures like that we'd never shut up about it.
 
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The top 15 ODI wicket-takers of the 2000s.

Clearly Murali is nowhere near, there are 500 names ahead of him etc. Anyway these lists are all subjective, no point taking Wisden so seriously.
 
Napa said:
In comparison Pakistan didn't have any significant tournament wins in the 1980s, hence probably Kapil Dev getting the nod from Wisden.
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Napa said:
Apparently not many remember the Nehru Cup.

The 1983 WC and the 1985 World Championships were proper tournaments.
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The 1986 Australasia Cup and the 1989 Nehru Cup (featuring every Test nation except NZL) say hello.

Whether you or Matthew Engel remember it or not is beside the point.
 
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Markhor said:
Not sure why folks are making out Murali to be some controversial pick.

He took 335 ODI wickets at 20 in the 2000s - more than any other bowler. And this was the time when ODI pitches were becoming increasingly flat.

Unfortunately he doesn't have the shrill, obnoxious 24/7 hype machines of Pakistani and Indian media so he doesn't get his due. If we had a bowler with figures like that we'd never shut up about it.
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Murali is also a bit of a controversial figure in Sri Lanka due to his support for the incumbent government and alleged comments in favour of quashing the rebel movement. He is perceived as having betrayed his roots.

The issue with the action was always going to taint his legacy, that's the ICC's fault more than his own. Political expediency never goes down well in history.
 
Viv still dominated the 80’s and Ponting the 00’s.

Waz also deserves a mention for the 90’s as Tendulkar was far better in the 00’s than in the 90’s.
 
Subjectively, I'd have gone for the following:

70s - Viv
80s - Kapil
90s - Wasim
2000s - Ponting
2010s - Kohli
 
Markhor said:
View attachment 108666

The top 15 ODI wicket-takers of the 2000s.

Clearly Murali is nowhere near, there are 500 names ahead of him etc. Anyway these lists are all subjective, no point taking Wisden so seriously.
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Because we don't remember Murali having any significant impact in any world tournaments or matches in the 2000s that would turn heads. He never struck any fear in hearts when he came on to bowl for some reason.
 
Markhor said:
Not sure why folks are making out Murali to be some controversial pick.

He took 335 ODI wickets at 20 in the 2000s - more than any other bowler. And this was the time when ODI pitches were becoming increasingly flat.

Unfortunately he doesn't have the shrill, obnoxious 24/7 hype machines of Pakistani and Indian media so he doesn't get his due. If we had a bowler with figures like that we'd never shut up about it.
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No issue with Murali but McGrath took 234 wickets at a slightly lower average and was directly responsible for both World Cup wins as he was the best bowler in both tournaments. That's a stronger argument for me and I'm only talking about bowlers
 
Last Monetarist said:
Murali is also a bit of a controversial figure in Sri Lanka due to his support for the incumbent government and alleged comments in favour of quashing the rebel movement. He is perceived as having betrayed his roots.

The issue with the action was always going to taint his legacy, that's the ICC's fault more than his own. Political expediency never goes down well in history.
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This bowling action thing annoys me, and I see it parroted by Mamoon and co on Page 1. If I recall correctly, ICC ran tests on every bowler before the 2004 Champions Trophy.

It turned out everyone except Ramnaresh Sarwan had a degree of straightening, hence the 15° law came in. He also had a congenital deformity, unlike Saeed Ajmal's phoney medical excuse.

If controversies are why his legacy his tainted - we should apply the same standards to the legendary bowler, and legendary match-fixer Wasim Akram who should thank Justice Qayyum every day of his life. I consider match-fixing to be a far worse offence than alleged throwing.

It just seems many Pakistani and Indian fans view Sri Lanka as a little brother, a mere sideshow to the "real cricket teams" on the subcontinent Pakistan and India. That's despite SL winning the same number of WCs as Pakistan, and being easily the better ODI outfit than Pakistan between 2000-2014. Kumar Sangakkara is arguably a better batsman than anyone we've ever produced. Not to mention, they toured Pakistan in its darkest hour, and got shot at for their troubles, yet still were the first Test nation to tour us in 2019.

I think their cricket, and their iconic figures deserve to be shown a bit more respect.
 
TheNightWatchman said:
Because we don't remember Murali having any significant impact in any world tournaments or matches in the 2000s that would turn heads. He never struck any fear in hearts when he came on to bowl for some reason.
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More ODI wickets than anyone else in the decade >>> this mythical "fear in hearts".

Also I don't believe you watched much cricket in the 2000s if you think Murali didn't have an aura. SL were famous for strangling teams in the middle overs with their spinners. Mohammad Yousuf for a start once asked Shoaib Akhtar to break Murali's fingers "as I can't play his spin".

There are more legendary cricketers in the subcontinent than just those who reside in India and Pakistan.
 
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Markhor said:
This bowling action thing annoys me, and I see it parroted by Mamoon and co on Page 1. If I recall correctly, ICC ran tests on every bowler before the 2004 Champions Trophy.

It turned out everyone except Ramnaresh Sarwan had a degree of straightening, hence the 15° law came in. He also had a congenital deformity, unlike Saeed Ajmal's phoney medical excuse.

If controversies are why his legacy his tainted - we should apply the same standards to the legendary bowler, and legendary match-fixer Wasim Akram who should thank Justice Qayyum every day of his life. I consider match-fixing to be a far worse offence than alleged throwing.

It just seems many Pakistani and Indian fans view Sri Lanka as a little brother, a mere sideshow to the "real cricket teams" on the subcontinent Pakistan and India. That's despite SL winning the same number of WCs as Pakistan, and being easily the better ODI outfit than Pakistan between 2000-2014. Kumar Sangakkara is arguably a better batsman than anyone we've ever produced. Not to mention, they toured Pakistan in its darkest hour, and got shot at for their troubles, yet still were the first Test nation to tour us in 2019.

I think their cricket, and their iconic figures deserve to be shown a bit more respect.
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I don't necessarily agree on Murali's legacy, the ICC brushed things under the carpet for a long while till it became convenient to actually apply the law once Murali had retired. His record will always have that asterisk because the ICC took a political decision to protect him.

I tend to agree that match-fixing is worse than chucking and the likes of Akram should have been banned for life as soon as the Cronje thing blew up. It sent a horrible message to everyone involved in the game, and we saw the culmination at Lord's a decade later. It's obviously still going on because the organization is too weak to impose on individual boards to do the right thing.

I wholeheartedly agree on Sri Lankan cricket not being given their due by Indian and Pakistani cricket fans, and that there's no doubt in my mind also that they have produced batsmen far superior to our own.
 
Nikhil_cric said:
No issue with Murali but McGrath took 234 wickets at a slightly lower average and was directly responsible for both World Cup wins as he was the best bowler in both tournaments. That's a stronger argument for me and I'm only talking about bowlers
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Which is fair enough and everyone is entitled to their opinion.

On the flipside one could argue McGrath never bowled to Ponting, Gilchrist, Hayden, Bevan as Murali, Pollock and the other candidates did. However McGrath as the player of the 2000s would be a perfectly reasonable choice. Such debates is why Wisden publishes these lists.

But to say the likes of Murali doesn't deserve to even be in the conversation, there are so many names ahead of him etc kinda highlights the Indo-Pak centric bias in discussing subcontinental greats on this forum - BUT moreover how the countries with smaller media markets, who don't have the means to generate 24/7 hype for their heroes, are always disadvantaged in these debates in world cricket generally.
 
Markhor said:
More ODI wickets than anyone else in the decade >>> this mythical "fear in hearts".

Also I don't believe you watched much cricket in the 2000s if you think Murali didn't have an aura. SL were famous for strangling teams in the middle overs with their spinners. Mohammad Yousuf for a start once asked Shoaib Akhtar to break Murali's fingers "as I can't play his spin".

There are more legendary cricketers in the subcontinent than just those who reside in India and Pakistan.
Click to expand...

On the contrary, I've watched more 2000s cricket than I have cricket from this decade. 2000s was a batsman's decade for sure. I just don't remember Murali having any standout performances. He would get those 3 wickets at a good economy rate every now and then but rarely would he bring in performances that would change the game. McGrath had an equal if not better case for being the ODI bowler of the decade.
And again this is not bowler of the decade. It's player of the decade...
Ponting on the other hand was not only the highest run scorer in the 2000s (above legends like Tendulkar, Kallis) with impactful innings, look how many trophies he won as captain, look at the number of man of the match awards in that decade alone.
 
Napa said:
Kapil was a great factor in India winning the WC in 1983, starting with his 175 against Zimbabwe and his match-turning catch of Richards in the final.

India also won the Benson and Hedges 1985 World Championship, totally decimating all other teams. It was possibly the greatest performance by a team in a tourney that featured the top 7 teams. In comparison Pakistan didn't have any significant tournament wins in the 1980s, hence probably Kapil Dev getting the nod from Wisden.
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Nehru cup 1989.
 
TheNightWatchman said:
On the contrary, I've watched more 2000s cricket than I have cricket from this decade. 2000s was a batsman's decade for sure. I just don't remember Murali having any standout performances. He would get those 3 wickets at a good economy rate every now and then but rarely would he bring in performances that would change the game. McGrath had an equal if not better case for being the ODI bowler of the decade.
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Well here's a just few examples:

- 5-44 against South Africa in the Singer Trophy final in 2000.
- 7-30 against India in Sharjah in 2000.
- 5-30 against NZL defending 213 in Napier in 2001.
- 5-9 against NZL in Sharjah in 2002.
- 5-23 against PAK defending 172 in the Dambulla tri-series in 2003.
- 3-41 against India in the 2007 WC.
- 4-31 against NZL in the 2007 WC SF.

Like I said there's a perfectly fair argument for McGrath, Ponting, Sachin, etc. Everyone's entitled to their opinions, and I probably agree with your list above with Sachin ahead of Wasim in 90s.

But the argument Murali doesn't even belong in the conversation, never made any decisive contributions is grossly unfair. We'd never stop talking about such performances if SL had the same media hype machine of Big 3 nations + Pak.
 
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80s stats:

Imran Khan 2653 runs @33.58 (SR 75.62) and 144 wkts @ 22.95 (ER 3.88)

Kapil Dev 2869 runs @26.81 (SR 101.91) and 168 wkts @ 26.25 (ER 3.68)

Neck in neck stats wise but I think Kapil edges Imran out due to leading his team to a WC win.
 
Extreme Pace said:
80s stats:

Imran Khan 2653 runs @33.58 (SR 75.62) and 144 wkts @ 22.95 (ER 3.88)

Kapil Dev 2869 runs @26.81 (SR 101.91) and 168 wkts @ 26.25 (ER 3.68)

Neck in neck stats wise but I think Kapil edges Imran out due to leading his team to a WC win.
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Imran had a better supporting cast of bowlers, which made it easier for him. Maybe Wisden took that into consideration.
 
If Sachin is there in 1990s without even winning a single world cup then surely Ponting deserved to be in 2000s? :inti
 
I think of all five decades, 1990s and 2000s were the closest and could have gone to anyone between Sachin/Wasim or between Ponting/Murali.

I personally consider Wasim as GOAT ODI bowler due to his artistry, skills-set and versatility with bowl, overall consistency, longevity and helping his team win the 1992 World Cup in the absence of Waqar Younis. That would also mean there is a strong case for Wasim to be considered as the best ODI cricketer of the 90s decade.

But Tendulkar too played some absolutely iconic knocks and was dominant in 1996 World Cup. Overall, I won't mind with either of them being selected for the decade.
 
Markhor said:
The 1986 Australasia Cup and the 1989 Nehru Cup (featuring every Test nation except NZL) say hello.

Whether you or Matthew Engel remember it or not is beside the point.
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miandadrules said:
Nehru cup 1989.
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Apparently only Pakistanis remember their Nehru Cup triumph. That's okay, as it seems that only I remember India's 1985 World Championship :))

Anyway, dropping all these other tournaments we are left with India's 1983 WC and Pakistan's 1992 WC (though I still think the 1985 WC was fantastic).
 
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Napa said:
Apparently only Pakistanis remember their Nehru Cup triumph. That's okay, as it seems that only I remember India's 1985 World Championship :))

Anyway, dropping all these other tournaments we are left with India's 1983 WC and Pakistan's 1992 WC (though I still think the 1985 WC was fantastic).
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There was a WC in 1985?
 
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Napa said:
Benson and Hedges World Championship of Cricket.

A World Championship not a World Cup.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Championship_of_Cricket

India and Pakistan played each other twice, once in the final.

Kapil's bowling figures were 9-1-23-3

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985_Benson_&_Hedges_World_Championship_of_Cricket_Final
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Ok thanks for sharing. Way before my time and never hear about it. Seems like champions trophy of its time but I guess didn’t get ICC adoption
 
Its better to select 2 players each and ignoring 70s

1980s
Kapil and Viv

1990s
Wasim and Sachin

2000s
no clear winners.
Dhoni and Mcgrath may be ( two other strong contenders are Ponting and Murali )

2010s
ABDV - Kohli
 
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