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Your greatest ever Asian ODI XI

Snatch

Snatch

Tape Ball Captain
Joined
Sep 2, 2016
Runs
1,019
First XI

Saeed Anwar
Sachin Tendulkar
Virat Kohli
Javed Miandad
MS Dhoni+
Imran Khan*
Kapil Dev
Wasim Akram
Waqar Younis
Muttiah Muralithran
Saqlain Mushtaq

So many good players missed out, I felt compelled to do a 2nd XI

Second XI

Sanath Jayasuriya
Tillakaratne Dilshan
Zaheer Abbas
Aravinda De Silva
Kumar Sangakkara+ *
Inzamam-ul-Haq
Abdul Razzaq
Chaminda Vaas
Anil Kumble
Saqlain Mushtaq
Shoaib Akhtar

Still couldn't find room for Srinath, Jayawardene, Sehwag, Dravid & Ganguly who could argue would be a better captain and replace Dilshan.
 
Same team as the first one in the OP, but Miandad to replace Inzamam.


It can also be argued that Kapil deserves ODI captaincy ahead of Imran. He won the World Cup at the age of 23 by beating arguably the greatest team of all time against all odds in the final.

On the contrary, Imran had to wait till the age of 41 to win the World Cup and lead Pakistan to a defeat in the 1987 semifinal in Lahore, where we were heavy favorites.

Not to mention, Imran is also responsible for starting the dreaded World Cup losing streak against India in 1992, which continues to curse us to this day.
 
Mamoon said:
Same team as the first one in the OP, but Miandad to replace Inzamam.


It can also be argued that Kapil deserves ODI captaincy ahead of Imran. He won the World Cup at the age of 23 by beating arguably the greatest team of all time against all odds in the final.

On the contrary, Imran had to wait till the age of 41 to win the World Cup and lead Pakistan to a defeat in the 1987 semifinal in Lahore, where we were heavy favorites.

Not to mention, Imran is also responsible for starting the dreaded World Cup losing streak against India in 1992, which continues to curse us to this day.
Click to expand...

However there's also the caveat that Kapil Dev did nothing for the next 12 years esp in world cups and needlessly extended his stay in the team for personal records at the expense of team success. And to top it all off he was a very irresponsible batsman and often failed to perform with the bat and got out in crucial matches playing reckless shots

This waiting until 41 argument is weak. Imrans legacy and greatness was already secured by then and it was just the cherry on top like the 2011 WC was for Sachin
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Snatch said:
First XI

Saeed Anwar
Sachin Tendulkar
Virat Kohli
Javed Miandad
MS Dhoni+
Imran Khan*
Kapil Dev
Wasim Akram
Waqar Younis
Muttiah Muralithran
Saqlain Mushtaq

So many good players missed out, I felt compelled to do a 2nd XI

Second XI

Sanath Jayasuriya
Tillakaratne Dilshan
Zaheer Abbas
Aravinda De Silva
Kumar Sangakkara+ *
Inzamam-ul-Haq
Abdul Razzaq
Chaminda Vaas
Anil Kumble
Saqlain Mushtaq
Shoaib Akhtar

Still couldn't find room for Srinath, Jayawardene, Sehwag, Dravid & Ganguly who could argue would be a better captain and replace Dilshan.
Click to expand...


Good first XI - I'll have 2 changes only

Zaheer to bat at 3 & Virat dropping at 4 (Javed misses out) &

Sanath to replace Waquar. 6 bowlers are not necessary as all other 5 were good enough to make it as specialist bowler + Tendulkar is also there.

Zed played 62 ODI in 15 years, hence people has very little idea of what Zaheer Abbas was in ODI - he matched Viv stat by stat, and that's after playing several matches against Viv's team mates with ball!!!!
 
Snatch said:
First XI

Saeed Anwar
Sachin Tendulkar
Virat Kohli
Javed Miandad
MS Dhoni+
Imran Khan*
Kapil Dev
Wasim Akram
Waqar Younis
Muttiah Muralithran
Saqlain Mushtaq

So many good players missed out, I felt compelled to do a 2nd XI

Second XI

Sanath Jayasuriya
Tillakaratne Dilshan
Zaheer Abbas
Aravinda De Silva
Kumar Sangakkara+ *
Inzamam-ul-Haq
Abdul Razzaq
Chaminda Vaas
Anil Kumble
Saqlain Mushtaq
Shoaib Akhtar

Still couldn't find room for Srinath, Jayawardene, Sehwag, Dravid & Ganguly who could argue would be a better captain and replace Dilshan.
Click to expand...

Saqlain Mushtaq is in both XI .
 
  1. Anwar
  2. SRT
  3. Jayasuriya
  4. Kohli
  5. Abbas
  6. Dhoni (Captain + Keeper)
  7. IK
  8. Kapil
  9. Wasim
  10. Murali
  11. Saqlain
 
Sachin
Saeed Anwer
Virat Kohli
Sangakara
Inzamam
MS Dhoni (wk)
Imran Khan (c)
Wasim Akram
Waqar Younis
Murali
Shoaib akhtar

If it's a spinning pitch then I'd replace Shoaib akhtar with Abdul qadir
 
Openers -
Saeed Anwar
Sachin Tendulkar

Middle Order -
Virat Kohli
Inzimam (Bilaterals)/Aravinda (ICC)
Saurav Ganguly

Keeper -
MS Dhoni

All-Rounders -
Imran Khan
Kapil Dev
Wasim Akram

Bowlers -
Waqar Younus
Muralitharan
 
No way Imran gets the Odi Captaincy ahead of both Kapil and Dhoni. Both the Indian WC winning captains achieved the pinnacle of the format well before Imran who was on his last legs in 1992.

It was Kapil Eleven who broke the hegemony of West Indies team and lead the way for other teams to win.
 
Last edited:
For a period of about 3 years (1999-2002) Ganguly was a better ODI opener than Sachin. He would attack at the top, consolidate in the middle and then take apart both spinners and Pacers towards the end. Very few batsmen constructed ODI innings better than him. However, this peak did not last too long. Nevertheless, I think it's a tight race between Anwar, Ganguly and Jayasuriya for the 2nd opener's spot.
 
Saeed Anwar
Tendulkar
Zaheer Abbas
Javed Miandad
Virat Kohli
Dhoni
Imran
Kapil
Wasim
Waqar / Qadir
Saqlain.
 
Would easily take Ganguly over Anwar because the former could even roll his arm and win matches with the ball ( Sahara Cups )

Saurav
Sachin
Virat
Aravinda
Yuvraj Singh
M S Dhoni ( WK )
Kapil Dev ( Captain )
Wasim Akram
Saqlain Mushtaq
Waqar Younis
Muttiah Muralitharan
 
anindo said:
For a period of about 3 years (1999-2002) Ganguly was a better ODI opener than Sachin. He would attack at the top, consolidate in the middle and then take apart both spinners and Pacers towards the end. Very few batsmen constructed ODI innings better than him. However, this peak did not last too long. Nevertheless, I think it's a tight race between Anwar, Ganguly and Jayasuriya for the 2nd opener's spot.
Click to expand...

Ganguly was fastest to 7000, 8000 runs in history of ODI cricket (Record surpassed by AB and Kohli). He still is fastest to 9000 at the moment. He is second fastest to 10,000 as well after Sachin.

He is a legendary ODI bat.
 
My team :

Sachin
Ganguly
Kohli
Sangakkara
Miandad
Dhoni
Kapil
Imran
Wasim
Saqlain
Muttaiah.
 
Tera Gawaandi said:
Openers -
Saeed Anwar
Sachin Tendulkar

Middle Order -
Virat Kohli
Inzimam (Bilaterals)/Aravinda (ICC)
Saurav Ganguly

Keeper -
MS Dhoni

All-Rounders -
Imran Khan
Kapil Dev
Wasim Akram

Bowlers -
Waqar Younus
Muralitharan
Click to expand...

More or less this team, but with Ganguly moved to the top and Zaheer coming in the middle order.

Dhoni gets the ODI captaincy.


Second xi will be

Anwar
Jayasuriya

Inzamam/Aravinda
Sangakkara
Miandad

Raina
Yuvraj
Razzaq

Vaas
Srinath
Saqlain Mushtaq
 
Last edited:
1. Jayasuriya
2. Tendulkar
3. Kohli
4. Abbas
5. Yuvraj
6. Dhoni
7. Imran
8. Afridi
9. Dev
10. Akram
11. Saqlain

There is no tailender in this team.
Aggressive openers
Solid middle order
Finishers
Late order sloggers
3 Pacers and 2 spinners
2 backup spinners
 
Sehwag
Sachin
Jayasurya
Kohli
Dilshan
Yuvraj
Dhoni (Captain)
Kapil
Imran
Akram
Saqlain
Murali

Ganguly and Anwar miss out because they were poor fielders.
 
Sehwag
Sachin
Zaheer
Kohli
Dhoni * +
Yuvraj
Kapil
Wasim
Waqar
Saqlain
Murali
 
Saeed Anwar
Sourav Ganguly
Virat Kohli/SRT
Sunil Gavaskar
Javed Miandad
Inzamam-Ul-Haq/Misbah-ul-Haq
MS Dhoni*
Imran Khan
Wasim Akram
Waqar Younis
Abdul Qadir/Anil Kumble
 
Saeed Anwar
Sachin Tendulkar
Virat Kohli
Javed Miandad
Kumar Sanggakara+
Imran Khan*
Shakib AL Hasan
Wasim Akram
Waqar Younis
Muttiah Muralithran
Saqlain Mushtaq

12th- Sanath Jayasuria
 
If it is played on asian pitches saqlain / qadir both should be played.

If its outside Imran , Waqar , wasim , kapil Dev and saqlain will be bowlers.
 
Saeed Anwar
Sanath Jayasuria
Virat Kohli
Javed Miandad
Kumar Sangakkara+
Inzamam-ul-Haq
Imran Khan*
Wasim Akram
Waqar Younis
Muttiah Muralithran
Saqlain Mushtaq

The bench:
Sachin Tendulkar
Kapil Dev
Abdul Razzaq
Anil Kumble
 
Slog said:
However there's also the caveat that Kapil Dev did nothing for the next 12 years esp in world cups and needlessly extended his stay in the team for personal records at the expense of team success. And to top it all off he was a very irresponsible batsman and often failed to perform with the bat and got out in crucial matches playing reckless shots

This waiting until 41 argument is weak. Imrans legacy and greatness was already secured by then and it was just the cherry on top like the 2011 WC was for Sachin
Click to expand...

Since it is strictly an ODI comparison, I will have to lean towards Kapil here because IMO, he was a better ODI all-rounder than Imran. World Cup was a cherry on top but Imran's ODI legacy would have been incomplete without the World Cup win and majority of the casual fans in Pakistan today remember him for winning the World Cup and not the successful Test captain that he was.

For the casual fans, World Cups matter a lot.

Imran was of course the better bowler, but Kapil was a more impactful ODI batsman because his SR was incredible for his era, which in my view makes up for the low average in comparison to Imran.

We have had this discussion in depth before, so there is no point in revisiting it because we will be repeating ourselves.

To add to the original post, I somehow missed Dhoni in there. There is no way Imran or Kapil leads the ODI team ahead of him.

So same team with Inzamam replacing Miandad and Dhoni leading the team. Jayasuriya for Anwar is also a very legit call, but I would go for Anwar by a nose.
 
Greatest Ever

1. Sachin Tendulkar
2. Saeed Anwar
3. Virat Kohli
4. Kumar Sangakara
5. MS Dhoni (WK)
6. Imran Khan (C)
7. Shakib Al Hasan/ Yuvraj Singh (Preferably Yuvraj)
8. Wasim Akram
9. Waqar Younis
10. Muttaih Murlitharan
11. Saqlain Mushtaq


Currently

1. Rohit Sharma
2. Sharjeel Khan
3. Virat Kohli
4. Babar Azam
5. Shakib Al Hasan
6. MS Dhoni (WK) (C)
7. Imad Wasim
8. Ravi Ashwin
9. Mohammad Amir
10. Mustafizur Rahman
11. Hasan Ali
 
Mine would be
Jayasurya
Tendulkar
Virat Kohli
Miandad
Yuvi
Dhoni *+
Kapil
Razzaq
Wasim
Waqar
Murli
Reason Jayasurya galvanised the openers role, a more impactful opener and a very good all rounder, tendulkar the greatest odi bat, with kohli,Miandad, yuvi and Dhoni chases everything, Kapil the impact he creates with bat is immense also a very potent bowler, I could have gone for imran or kumble, but razzaq, was a much powerful hitter, also Jayasurya, yuvi and murli give me 3 spinning option why opt for more, i'll open with Kapil and wasim, reason Kapil swings the new bowl and is very accurate and wasim provides the left arm angle,i'll use Waqar and wasim in short bursts to keep them afresh.
 
Also my team gives me 7 bowling option and batting upto 9,a left right opening combo,2 guys in virat and Miandad, controlling innings and 5 powerful strikers of the ball in yuvi, Dhoni, Kapil, razzaq and akram all bases covered.
 
whatever XI you come up with , will miss some good players , one cannot fit in all into one.
 
Sachin
Saeed
Dravid
Jayawardene
Kohli
Imran
Kapil
Wasim
Kumble
Waqar
Murali

Think Kumble has to play because i don't like the idea of 2 off spinners.
 
Mamoon said:
Since it is strictly an ODI comparison, I will have to lean towards Kapil here because IMO, he was a better ODI all-rounder than Imran. World Cup was a cherry on top but Imran's ODI legacy would have been incomplete without the World Cup win and majority of the casual fans in Pakistan today remember him for winning the World Cup and not the successful Test captain that he was.

For the casual fans, World Cups matter a lot.

Imran was of course the better bowler, but Kapil was a more impactful ODI batsman because his SR was incredible for his era, which in my view makes up for the low average in comparison to Imran.

We have had this discussion in depth before, so there is no point in revisiting it because we will be repeating ourselves.

To add to the original post, I somehow missed Dhoni in there. There is no way Imran or Kapil leads the ODI team ahead of him.

So same team with Inzamam replacing Miandad and Dhoni leading the team. Jayasuriya for Anwar is also a very legit call, but I would go for Anwar by a nose.
Click to expand...

Kapil had indeed a better career in ODIs. But he hardly came across as tactically astute. Imran, on the other hand, was more of a player who motivated his team to do more. But I'm not sure if he was tactically great either. Anyway I'm not sure if making the player who was the better one in the format as the captain is the right way to go about things. Ponting won a truck load of tournaments but I would wager Warne is more tactically astute than Punter. Dhoni beats both by a mile when it comes to LOI captaincy. He was one of the most tactically clever leaders I ever saw in the game.
 
Mamoon said:
Since it is strictly an ODI comparison, I will have to lean towards Kapil here because IMO, he was a better ODI all-rounder than Imran. World Cup was a cherry on top but Imran's ODI legacy would have been incomplete without the World Cup win and majority of the casual fans in Pakistan today remember him for winning the World Cup and not the successful Test captain that he was.

For the casual fans, World Cups matter a lot.

Imran was of course the better bowler, but Kapil was a more impactful ODI batsman because his SR was incredible for his era, which in my view makes up for the low average in comparison to Imran.

We have had this discussion in depth before, so there is no point in revisiting it because we will be repeating ourselves.

To add to the original post, I somehow missed Dhoni in there. There is no way Imran or Kapil leads the ODI team ahead of him.

So same team with Inzamam replacing Miandad and Dhoni leading the team. Jayasuriya for Anwar is also a very legit call, but I would go for Anwar by a nose.
Click to expand...

Imran till he was 37 averaged 23 with the ball in ODIs. Also, Imran has performed better in world cups. Just because Afridi has higher SR than let's say Watson, it does not make Afridi a better batsman.
 
Sanath Jayasuriya/Saeed Anwar
Sachin Tendulkar
Zaheer Abbas/ Virat Kohli
Saurav Ganguly/Sangakkara
Inzamam Ul~Haq
M.S.Dhoni (c & wk)
Imran Khan
Kapil Dev/Shakib Al Hasan/any spinner
Wasim Akram
Waqar Younis
Muralidharan/Saqlain

Difficult to choose between so many greats....
 
Why is Afridi missing from so many lists? If people can have Dilshan in their all time best XI then why not :afridi !! He played for 20 years and has won more MoM awards to Saqlain, Waqar, Inzi, et al. In his prime Afridi definitely warrants a place in the XI as an all rounder.
 
Saurav Ganguly
Sachin Tendulkar
Virat Kohli
Sangakarra
Yuvraj Singh
MSD (WK, Captain)
Kapil Dev
Imran Khan
Wasim Akram
Anil Kumble
Muralitharan

Sanath Jayasuriya misses out although would want him instead of Yuvi, but lower middle order is not his natural position. Kumble was the best leggie, toss up between Saqi and Murali...went with Murali. Wasim Akram, Imran Khan and Kapil Dev form a good pace attack with the ability to bat. Sehwag loses out to SCG as he did underachieve in ODIs.

Realized that I have 5 captains in my side (SG, MSD, KD, IK, Waz). Not sure if that's a good or a bad thing.
 
Anwar (My Favorite Pakistani Opener - I am Biased Towards Anwar so don't ask me Why)
Tendulkar (Obvious Reasons)
Kohli (A ODI Great + The greatest Chaser in the History of the Game)
Inzi (Someone who can decimate a Spinner without mercy and would walk into Most XIs during his peak)
Dhoni (GOAT ODI WK, yes he's ahead of Gilly for me)
Imran (KAPTAAAN !!!!!)
Kapil (Probably the only guy in the lineup that could match Imran Blow for Blow in Limited Overs Cricket)
Ashok Dinda (I am biased Towards him - My favorite Indian Player EVER !!!)
Muhammad Amir (For Having a Perfectly Bio Mechanical Action)
Wasim (Obvious Reasons)
Saqlain (Greatest ODI Spinner to Walk Planet Earth)
 
Hitman said:
What!!!!!!
Click to expand...

Yes he is my favorite Indian Player of all times - This is not satire / sarcasm ! He is genuinely my favorite Indian player of all times.

Love his jump and that action, I myself have a similar one. :D
 
ahmedwaqas92 said:
Yes he is my favorite Indian Player of all times - This is not satire / sarcasm ! He is genuinely my favorite Indian player of all times.

Love his jump and that action, I myself have a similar one. :D
Click to expand...

I am at a loss for words. But I do respect your choice and opinion :D

P.S. Some posters here call him the 'Jumping Jack' :))
 
AamchiMumbaikar said:
Why is Afridi missing from so many lists? If people can have Dilshan in their all time best XI then why not :afridi !! He played for 20 years and has won more MoM awards to Saqlain, Waqar, Inzi, et al. In his prime Afridi definitely warrants a place in the XI as an all rounder.
Click to expand...
Afridi had a prime?
 
Ellipsism said:
Afridi had a prime?
Click to expand...
Afridi never had prime , Only in 3 out of 20 years his batting average was higher than bowling average.
[table=width: 500, class: grid, align: center]
[tr][td]Span [/td][td]Mat [/td][td]Runs [/td][td]Bat Av [/td][td]100 [/td][td]Wkts [/td][td]Bowl Av [/td][td]Ave Diff [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]year 1996 [/td][td]16 [/td][td]288 [/td][td]22.15 [/td][td]1 [/td][td]16 [/td][td]35.81 [/td][td]-13.65 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]year 1997 [/td][td]35 [/td][td]867 [/td][td]26.27 [/td][td]0 [/td][td]17 [/td][td]66.47 [/td][td]-40.19 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]year 1998 [/td][td]20 [/td][td]449 [/td][td]22.45 [/td][td]1 [/td][td]12 [/td][td]61.33 [/td][td]-38.88 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]year 1999 [/td][td]22 [/td][td]465 [/td][td]22.14 [/td][td]0 [/td][td]11 [/td][td]35.63 [/td][td]-13.49 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]year 2000 [/td][td]27 [/td][td]604 [/td][td]24.16 [/td][td]0 [/td][td]22 [/td][td]28.04 [/td][td]-3.88 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]year 2001 [/td][td]16 [/td][td]455 [/td][td]30.33 [/td][td]0 [/td][td]17 [/td][td]27.29 [/td][td]3.03 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]year 2002 [/td][td]37 [/td][td]743 [/td][td]21.85 [/td][td]1 [/td][td]33 [/td][td]33.18 [/td][td]-11.32 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]year 2003 [/td][td]3 [/td][td]16 [/td][td]5.33 [/td][td]0 [/td][td]3 [/td][td]48 [/td][td]-42.66 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]year 2004 [/td][td]15 [/td][td]238 [/td][td]21.63 [/td][td]0 [/td][td]22 [/td][td]20.27 [/td][td]1.36 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]year 2005 [/td][td]25 [/td][td]640 [/td][td]27.82 [/td][td]1 [/td][td]26 [/td][td]33.34 [/td][td]-5.52 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]year 2006 [/td][td]18 [/td][td]115 [/td][td]7.66 [/td][td]0 [/td][td]14 [/td][td]40.14 [/td][td]-32.47 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]year 2007 [/td][td]15 [/td][td]359 [/td][td]29.91 [/td][td]0 [/td][td]19 [/td][td]31.73 [/td][td]-1.82 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]year 2008 [/td][td]19 [/td][td]278 [/td][td]25.27 [/td][td]0 [/td][td]30 [/td][td]28.36 [/td][td]-3.09 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]year 2009 [/td][td]20 [/td][td]313 [/td][td]19.56 [/td][td]0 [/td][td]27 [/td][td]29.88 [/td][td]-10.32 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]year 2010 [/td][td]18 [/td][td]601 [/td][td]33.38 [/td][td]2 [/td][td]19 [/td][td]45.05 [/td][td]-11.66 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]year 2011 [/td][td]27 [/td][td]462 [/td][td]22 [/td][td]0 [/td][td]45 [/td][td]20.82 [/td][td]1.17 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]year 2012 [/td][td]16 [/td][td]182 [/td][td]15.16 [/td][td]0 [/td][td]15 [/td][td]43.13 [/td][td]-27.96 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]year 2013 [/td][td]24 [/td][td]441 [/td][td]23.21 [/td][td]0 [/td][td]27 [/td][td]31.92 [/td][td]-8.71 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]year 2014 [/td][td]16 [/td][td]354 [/td][td]27.23 [/td][td]0 [/td][td]16 [/td][td]41.56 [/td][td]-14.33 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]year 2015 [/td][td]9 [/td][td]194 [/td][td]27.71 [/td][td]0 [/td][td]4 [/td][td]94.5 [/td][td]-66.78 [/td][/tr]
[/table]
 
ahmedwaqas92 said:
Yes he is my favorite Indian Player of all times - This is not satire / sarcasm ! He is genuinely my favorite Indian player of all times.

Love his jump and that action, I myself have a similar one. :D
Click to expand...

I am shocked. Personal favorite should not be in XI,unless they deserve.
 
Jayasuria
Saeed Anwar
Tendulkar
Virat Kohli
Inzi
De Silva
Dhoni
Kapil
Murali
Waqar
Wasim
 
Anwar
Sachin
Kohli
Arvinda desilva
Yuvraj or Javed ( I am not sure of this position)
Dhoni(C)
Imran
Kapil
Akram
Saqi
Akhtar or Murli( for dast pitches Akhtar, for turners Murali).
 
I'll go with

Sachin
Sana
Sanga
Kohli
Yuvraj
Dhoni (wk/c)
Kapil
Imran
Wasim
Saqlain
Murali
 
street cricketer said:
Kapil had indeed a better career in ODIs. But he hardly came across as tactically astute. Imran, on the other hand, was more of a player who motivated his team to do more. But I'm not sure if he was tactically great either. Anyway I'm not sure if making the player who was the better one in the format as the captain is the right way to go about things. Ponting won a truck load of tournaments but I would wager Warne is more tactically astute than Punter. Dhoni beats both by a mile when it comes to LOI captaincy. He was one of the most tactically clever leaders I ever saw in the game.
Click to expand...

Who told you he was not tactically astute, that 175 no innings was enough to motivate the whole team, Kapil motivated not just team but whole nation, beside in odi's you need allrounders who are good fielders, are huge strikers and very good bowlers, Kapil has ticks on that, imran was a gun bowler, but Kapil was a brilliant fielder and powerful striker with amazing bowling skills, and besides Dhoni beats both imran and Kapil hands down as captain.
 
An ODI XI should have players that can perform their role in the position they play and not necessarily the best 11 ODI players from Asia.

1. Very aggressive opener who doesnt mind throwing caution to the wind
2. Anchor opener capable of brisk scoring
3. Dynamic player who can stabilize the inninngs in case of early wickets and dictate terms when the start is good.
4. Like 3 or 5 depending on conditions
5. Someone good at rotating strike in the middle overs and playing big shots at the end.
6. Batsman who can use the long handle
7. Dynamic all rounder who can use the long handle
8. Bowler who can use the long handle
9. Best Bowler1
10. Best Bowler2
11. Best Bowler3

Based on above, I will have the following
Sanath
SRT
Kohli
Sanga/Inzamam
Dhoni
Yuvraj
Kapil
Imran
Wasim
Saqlain
Murali
 
Greatest asIan x1 should it not incl players from Bangladesh aswell . Say a max of 3 Min of 2 players from eachcountry. 12 in total inc Sub . For both 1st and 2nd teams
 
AamchiMumbaikar said:
Why is Afridi missing from so many lists? If people can have Dilshan in their all time best XI then why not :afridi !! He played for 20 years and has won more MoM awards to Saqlain, Waqar, Inzi, et al. In his prime Afridi definitely warrants a place in the XI as an all rounder.
Click to expand...

I think a lot of people did not include Afridi in their team because he is the most overhyped cricketer in the history. The truth is he was an excellent utility cricketer. He was someone who could bowl 10 overs for 45 runs with a wicket, was a very safe fielder, and a slogger down the order who would score 23 of 20 balls but he must bat at #8.
 
AamchiMumbaikar said:
Why is Afridi missing from so many lists? If people can have Dilshan in their all time best XI then why not :afridi !! He played for 20 years and has won more MoM awards to Saqlain, Waqar, Inzi, et al. In his prime Afridi definitely warrants a place in the XI as an all rounder.
Click to expand...

Lala is the only player who can bat successfully from opener to tailender position. And bowl at start to the death of the inning.

Thread should be titled Lala + 10 other best ODI players from Subcontinent.
 
Mamoon said:
Same team as the first one in the OP, but Miandad to replace Inzamam.


It can also be argued that Kapil deserves ODI captaincy ahead of Imran. He won the World Cup at the age of 23 by beating arguably the greatest team of all time against all odds in the final.

On the contrary, Imran had to wait till the age of 41 to win the World Cup and lead Pakistan to a defeat in the 1987 semifinal in Lahore, where we were heavy favorites.

Not to mention, Imran is also responsible for starting the dreaded World Cup losing streak against India in 1992, which continues to curse us to this day.
Click to expand...


For the Captaincy part, we can conveniently ignore that Imran had a 5-1 (should have been 6-0) against Kapil's IND, in IND with a far inexperienced team & couple of years later won Neheru Cup - again in Kapil's home :)
 
MMHS said:
For the Captaincy part, we can conveniently ignore that Imran had a 5-1 (should have been 6-0) against Kapil's IND, in IND with a far inexperienced team & couple of years later won Neheru Cup - again in Kapil's home :)
Click to expand...

The match was shortened and India won according to the rules.

You can't judge captaincy by just comparing the record against each other.

"Far inexperienced team" that included Saleem Malik, Ramiz, Miandad, Imran, Qadiq and Wasim.
 
Mamoon said:
Since it is strictly an ODI comparison, I will have to lean towards Kapil here because IMO, he was a better ODI all-rounder than Imran. World Cup was a cherry on top but Imran's ODI legacy would have been incomplete without the World Cup win and majority of the casual fans in Pakistan today remember him for winning the World Cup and not the successful Test captain that he was.

For the casual fans, World Cups matter a lot.

Imran was of course the better bowler, but Kapil was a more impactful ODI batsman because his SR was incredible for his era, which in my view makes up for the low average in comparison to Imran.

We have had this discussion in depth before, so there is no point in revisiting it because we will be repeating ourselves.

To add to the original post, I somehow missed Dhoni in there. There is no way Imran or Kapil leads the ODI team ahead of him.

So same team with Inzamam replacing Miandad and Dhoni leading the team. Jayasuriya for Anwar is also a very legit call, but I would go for Anwar by a nose.
Click to expand...


Regarding Captaincy, I am a big fan of MS, but I won't put him Captain ahead of even Kapil, let alone Khan. This is purely based on Cricket reason, which I can explain with the team composition here.

MS was a master of squeezing teams - he & Arjuna are two great Captains who were genius of strangling teams with limited bowling attacks to a manageable total - either to chase or defend. In that regard, for 3/4 years Arjuna was probably even better - won a WC, made a WSC final (which he would have won against 11 Aussies) with basically 1 strike bowler; because he knew how to stop teams for 243-4 sort of total with Dharmasena, Wikramasingha, Kalpage, Chanda, Murali. Same thing MS did with overs from Raina, Sehwag, Jaddu....

Now, the team that more or less every one has selected has at least 5 strike bowlers - Imran, Wasim, Kapil, Saq & Waquar/Murali. I can tell you that, MS will struggle big time with this bowling unit - he is just not tuned to operate with 4/5 strike bowlers. One of the main reason MS had been exposed in Test with his tactics. He is is a brilliant Captain with the players he picks & conditions that suits his game plan, for that he has tried to keep as many CSK player in team India (Or other-way, has picked players from IND team for CSK) - here, he'll be given a set of players; none of whom he had managed ever.



I am a bit surprised with your comment here regarding Captaincy, because there was a similar discussion in one of my post - ODI Teams by month (players' birth month) & July team came out as one of the best (I put that as best) with a XII of

Gooch, Ganguly, Zaheer, Border, Jhonty, MDS, Polly, Hadlee, Harbhajan, Lillee, Makhya; Wasim Raja - and in that team, I picked Border over MS as Captain simply because I didn't back MS to lead a bowling attack of Hadlee, Lillee, Pollock & Makhya in it; which you accepted. I wonder, why it should be different with a similar combination of Imran, Wasim, Waquar & Kapil - on top of that, unlike Border, Imran him-self is a fast bowler.
 
Sachin136 said:
The match was shortened and India won according to the rules.

You can't judge captaincy by just comparing the record against each other.

"Far inexperienced team" that included Saleem Malik, Ramiz, Miandad, Imran, Qadiq and Wasim.
Click to expand...

Yes, it was 1987 - team IND was -

Srikkanth, Gavasker, Azhar, Vengsarkar, Amarnath, Shastri, Kapil, Bishwanath, Madan Lal, Binney, Manindar & Shivlal Yadav :)


That match wasn't shortened - IND scored 214/6 (don't go by exact stats, for that please check CI), with 100 or so after 25 overs. After 46'5 overs, PAK's score was 213/6 with score after 25 overs 101 - that time rule was, on tie, team with lower wicket lost wins - if the wicket lost is same, team ahead at 25 over's end wins.

Now, Manzoor Elehi knew the rule & Abdul Qadir didn't - on last ball, Elahi pushed the ball to long on & walked for a single knowing they'll win for 25th over rule, because Imran sent 12th man with water bottle just before that ball to explain - Abdul Qadir, as usual thought he knew better than Khan, so he decided to try the impossible second & when Bishwanth took off the bails, Qadir was arguing with Elahi on why he didn't run - he kept arguing till they reached dressing room (after that, I don't know what went there). At the end (47 overs), PAK's score was 214/7, against 214/6.
 
No Indian bowlers in it for sure.

Gavaskar
Anwar
Sanga
Tendu
Miandad
Dravid
Imran
Kapil Dev
Akram
Murli
Waqar
 
Sachin
Saeed Anwar
Virat Kohli
Miandad
Inzimam
Sangakara
Imran Khan C
Wasim Akram
Kapil Dev
Waqar younis
Murli
 
MMHS said:
Yes, it was 1987 - team IND was -

Srikkanth, Gavasker, Azhar, Vengsarkar, Amarnath, Shastri, Kapil, Bishwanath, Madan Lal, Binney, Manindar & Shivlal Yadav :)


That match wasn't shortened - IND scored 214/6 (don't go by exact stats, for that please check CI), with 100 or so after 25 overs. After 46'5 overs, PAK's score was 213/6 with score after 25 overs 101 - that time rule was, on tie, team with lower wicket lost wins - if the wicket lost is same, team ahead at 25 over's end wins.

Now, Manzoor Elehi knew the rule & Abdul Qadir didn't - on last ball, Elahi pushed the ball to long on & walked for a single knowing they'll win for 25th over rule, because Imran sent 12th man with water bottle just before that ball to explain - Abdul Qadir, as usual thought he knew better than Khan, so he decided to try the impossible second & when Bishwanth took off the bails, Qadir was arguing with Elahi on why he didn't run - he kept arguing till they reached dressing room (after that, I don't know what went there). At the end (47 overs), PAK's score was 214/7, against 214/6.
Click to expand...
how do you rate dada as a captan?
 
my team
sachin
sanath
ganguly(C)
kohli
de silva
yuvraj
dhoni
wasim
saqlain
chaminda vaas
shoaib
 
The_Odd_One said:
Imran till he was 37 averaged 23 with the ball in ODIs. Also, Imran has performed better in world cups. Just because Afridi has higher SR than let's say Watson, it does not make Afridi a better batsman.
Click to expand...

Watson was at a different level to Afridi in ODIs. He is an ATG ODI all-rounder while Afridi was only decent at best.

Imran was at a different level in Tests but in ODIs, they were pretty much at the same level. I agree that Imran is underrated as an ODI player, because statistics do not do him justice. He was better than what his bowling and batting averages show because his versatility, although I think his innings in the 92 semifinal was a torrid one, but he played a great knock in the final.

On the same note, Kapil is heavily undersold as an ODI all-rounder on PP.
 
[MENTION=79064]MMHS[/MENTION]

For me, beating the (arguably) greatest team of all time in a World Cup final, who won the last two World Cups and were heavy favorites most certainly negates any battering Kapil suffered at the hands of Imran in Nehru Cups.

In addition, as far as giving the captaincy to Dhoni is concerned, you make a valid point about him choking the opposition with spinners, but you cannot compare the strike bowlers that he had with the strike bowlers in this proposed team.

You cannot dismiss Dhoni as someone who will not be able to get the best out of an attack of Wasim, Waqar, Imran and Kapil based on the fact that he struggled with Ishant, Praveen Kumar, Dinda, RP Singh, Yadav, Aaron etc. etc.

His achievements in Limited Overs cricket are simply too much for him to be ignored as an ODI captain if we are talking about the all-time Asian XI.
 
MMHS said:
Regarding Captaincy, I am a big fan of MS, but I won't put him Captain ahead of even Kapil, let alone Khan. This is purely based on Cricket reason, which I can explain with the team composition here.

MS was a master of squeezing teams - he & Arjuna are two great Captains who were genius of strangling teams with limited bowling attacks to a manageable total - either to chase or defend. In that regard, for 3/4 years Arjuna was probably even better - won a WC, made a WSC final (which he would have won against 11 Aussies) with basically 1 strike bowler; because he knew how to stop teams for 243-4 sort of total with Dharmasena, Wikramasingha, Kalpage, Chanda, Murali. Same thing MS did with overs from Raina, Sehwag, Jaddu....

Now, the team that more or less every one has selected has at least 5 strike bowlers - Imran, Wasim, Kapil, Saq & Waquar/Murali. I can tell you that, MS will struggle big time with this bowling unit - he is just not tuned to operate with 4/5 strike bowlers. One of the main reason MS had been exposed in Test with his tactics. He is is a brilliant Captain with the players he picks & conditions that suits his game plan, for that he has tried to keep as many CSK player in team India (Or other-way, has picked players from IND team for CSK) - here, he'll be given a set of players; none of whom he had managed ever.



I am a bit surprised with your comment here regarding Captaincy, because there was a similar discussion in one of my post - ODI Teams by month (players' birth month) & July team came out as one of the best (I put that as best) with a XII of

Gooch, Ganguly, Zaheer, Border, Jhonty, MDS, Polly, Hadlee, Harbhajan, Lillee, Makhya; Wasim Raja - and in that team, I picked Border over MS as Captain simply because I didn't back MS to lead a bowling attack of Hadlee, Lillee, Pollock & Makhya in it; which you accepted. I wonder, why it should be different with a similar combination of Imran, Wasim, Waquar & Kapil - on top of that, unlike Border, Imran him-self is a fast bowler.
Click to expand...

A bit harsh to pass judgement that Dhoni wouldn't have had the knowledge to use Hadlee, Lillee, Pollock et al when all he was blessed with was the likes of Vinay Kumar, Dinda, Ishant, Aaron, Yadav, Kulkarni, etc.
 
Tough to explain but Dhoni has that rare midas touch as captain in ODis. Right up there with the very best of em for mine.
 
Mamoon said:
[MENTION=79064]MMHS[/MENTION]

For me, beating the (arguably) greatest team of all time in a World Cup final, who won the last two World Cups and were heavy favorites most certainly negates any battering Kapil suffered at the hands of Imran in Nehru Cups.

In addition, as far as giving the captaincy to Dhoni is concerned, you make a valid point about him choking the opposition with spinners, but you cannot compare the strike bowlers that he had with the strike bowlers in this proposed team.

You cannot dismiss Dhoni as someone who will not be able to get the best out of an attack of Wasim, Waqar, Imran and Kapil based on the fact that he struggled with Ishant, Praveen Kumar, Dinda, RP Singh, Yadav, Aaron etc. etc.

His achievements in Limited Overs cricket are simply too much for him to be ignored as an ODI captain if we are talking about the all-time Asian XI.
Click to expand...


I think, it's about capacity of Captaining a side, not about achievements. One great win doesn't make someone better Captain, particularly if his following career is complete failure as Captain. For example, take about Afridi - he led PAK side that beat AUS after 12 years & probably 30+ consecutive wins in WC, including 3 WC titles - what does that mean? I even can't recall who was our Captain in that '99 WC match or 18 June 2006 match against Aussies (I think Bashar). In contrast, I do rate Captains for winning series, where you have to lead for multiple matches & conditions.

Regarding MSD - I am not questioning his strategic intelligence; rather it's a question of how you are groomed to lead your attack. MS as a strategist, I haven't find him to be comfortable to lead a 4 men pace attack - it's not about what he did with which bowlers (or the quality of his pacers) as I explained in initial post with Ajruna. Arguably, Arjuna had a better attack in 1999 WC - he simply couldn't use them in a different condition, where you need to strike with bowlers, rather than contain. MS played in an era when, his strategy & players suit the condition (& rules) of the game - to his credit, he maximized his limited resources; but by tactics, he in not the Captain to lead a 4 men pace attack. Drop couple of pacers & take Saq, Murali, Kumble in playing XI - Imran'll struggle more than MS with 4 pacers.

Regarding MS's achievements, I think, you are going by volume - these days, there are so many ICC ODI/T20 tournaments are played that number will always favor the recent Captain. In late 80s, early 90s - among major ODI tournaments, Imran won a WC in ANZ, a 6 nation mini WC in IND; and he took a very young PAK side to Perth Challenge Final (Jan '87) ahead of the other 2 top sides of that era AUS & WI - anyone will accept that, those 2 are the toughest place for any visiting team, particularly, if 75% of your squad is touring 1st time. Among the major ODI tournaments (4 or more teams) - he did win AustralAsia cup twice (?) & beat IND in IND in ODI series. On top of that, twice PAK-WI Series in 1985 & 1986 ended 3-2 in favor for WI which was a remarkable achievements. One critical aspect you are missing that, after WC, Imarn played ODI tournaments selectively - didn't play in Asia Cup, against AUS, NZ at home. His ODI involvements were major events - Sharjah Cup (which was again, mostly against top 2 sides of that era in UAE condition - WI & IND).

As I said at first, I am a big fan of MS, and that's not for this particular thread - you can check my posts on MS for last 5 years; but he doesn't Captain this Asian XI, neither Arjuna (had he made the team) - different combination, different trait, different Captain.

[MENTION=139664]street cricketer[/MENTION]

Hope it explains - it's not about Lillee vs Umesh; it's about the culture that creates the best environment for Lille, Umesh, Kumble & Murali to perform. Even withot any Captain - DK Lillee is DK Lillee & Ishant Sharma is Ishant Sharma.
 
Last edited:
MMHS said:
I think, it's about capacity of Captaining a side, not about achievements. One great win doesn't make someone better Captain, particularly if his following career is complete failure as Captain. For example, take about Afridi - he led PAK side that beat AUS after 12 years & probably 30+ consecutive wins in WC, including 3 WC titles - what does that mean? I even can't recall who was our Captain in that '99 WC match or 18 June 2006 match against Aussies (I think Bashar). In contrast, I do rate Captains for winning series, where you have to lead for multiple matches & conditions.

Regarding MSD - I am not questioning his strategic intelligence; rather it's a question of how you are groomed to lead your attack. MS as a strategist, I haven't find him to be comfortable to lead a 4 men pace attack - it's not about what he did with which bowlers (or the quality of his pacers) as I explained in initial post with Ajruna. Arguably, Arjuna had a better attack in 1999 WC - he simply couldn't use them in a different condition, where you need to strike with bowlers, rather than contain. MS played in an era when, his strategy & players suit the condition (& rules) of the game - to his credit, he maximized his limited resources; but by tactics, he in not the Captain to lead a 4 men pace attack. Drop couple of pacers & take Saq, Murali, Kumble in playing XI - Imran'll struggle more than MS with 4 pacers.

Regarding MS's achievements, I think, you are going by volume - these days, there are so many ICC ODI/T20 tournaments are played that number will always favor the recent Captain. In late 80s, early 90s - among major ODI tournaments, Imran won a WC in ANZ, a 6 nation mini WC in IND; and he took a very young PAK side to Perth Challenge Final (Jan '87) ahead of the other 2 top sides of that era AUS & WI - anyone will accept that, those 2 are the toughest place for any visiting team, particularly, if 75% of your squad is touring 1st time. Among the major ODI tournaments (4 or more teams) - he did win AustralAsia cup twice (?) & beat IND in IND in ODI series. On top of that, twice PAK-WI Series in 1985 & 1986 ended 3-2 in favor for WI which was a remarkable achievements. One critical aspect you are missing that, after WC, Imarn played ODI tournaments selectively - didn't play in Asia Cup, against AUS, NZ at home. His ODI involvements were major events - Sharjah Cup (which was again, mostly against top 2 sides of that era in UAE condition - WI & IND).

As I said at first, I am a big fan of MS, and that's not for this particular thread - you can check my posts on MS for last 5 years; but he doesn't Captain this Asian XI, neither Arjuna (had he made the team) - different combination, different trait, different Captain.

[MENTION=139664]street cricketer[/MENTION]

Hope it explains - it's not about Lillee vs Umesh; it's about the culture that creates the best environment for Lille, Umesh, Kumble & Murali to perform. Even withot any Captain - DK Lillee is DK Lillee & Ishant Sharma is Ishant Sharma.
Click to expand...

I understand your point of view, but my only objection was extrapolating Dhoni's use of the Indian pacers to some of the greatest pacers of all time.

Maybe I'm going by volume, but I have never seen a better a Limited Overs captain than Dhoni and probably never will. Since you have seen Imran captain, I will take your views into consideration.
 
Mamoon said:
I understand your point of view, but my only objection was extrapolating Dhoni's use of the Indian pacers to some of the greatest pacers of all time.

Maybe I'm going by volume, but I have never seen a better a Limited Overs captain than Dhoni and probably never will. Since you have seen Imran captain, I will take your views into consideration.
Click to expand...

Arjuna was equal if not better than Dhoni. Just see the team with which he won the world cup. Most of them won't even make the SL all time XI.
 
Winning a world cup with Kalu, Gurusinha, Mahanama, Hashan, Dharmasena, and Vikramasinghe was a miracle that only Arjuna could make it happen.
 
anikrc1 said:
how do you rate dada as a captan?
Click to expand...

Very good Captain - he was the first to challenge the status Co of Indian team - no more personal mile stone ahead of team - declared twice with ST in 180s, which would have been blasphemous. He was arguably better Captain with his bowling usage than MSD, which reflects his wins against ENG, WI, PAK & AUS in away Test tours. And, he was someone, who would take risk for a win.

It's very tough call, as I am fan of both; but probably my All - time IND ODI XI will be led by MSD; as his game suits the core of Indian cricket legacy - batting dominance & slow burning with ball. Only time Kapil got the chance to lead an Indian side with 4 pacers - he did won a WC; but for that particular reason (core of your cricket), he had to leave unceremoniously.
 
Mamoon said:
I understand your point of view, but my only objection was extrapolating Dhoni's use of the Indian pacers to some of the greatest pacers of all time.

Maybe I'm going by volume, but I have never seen a better a Limited Overs captain than Dhoni and probably never will. Since you have seen Imran captain, I will take your views into consideration.
Click to expand...

Also, the game changed drastically in 25 years - Imran led his side when the strategy was to get 10 wickets - teams with better attack (& attacking Captain) will dominate matches where 245/9 was match winning. The leadership style was to penetrate through batsmen's defense. But, Imran was a genius in defensive game as well - I give a classic example, in Neheru Cup Final; once WI put 150+, Imran knew that there was no point trying to get them all-out. He changed his bowling strategy - kept himself for last 20 overs (bowled 8/9 in one spell) & kept 5 overs of Wasim - he did get the most aggressive team off-guard that day, WI ended 278/5 & suddenly found they were 20 short - PAK can win by playing out 50 overs, which Imran did with his 71*.

MS has led his side, when the game has shifted to damage control with ball - teams don't go for 3 wickets in first 15 overs, because often that will back fire - now the strategy is to restrict teams to a chase-able proportion, for which MS is fantastic - but I can tell you Arjuna was a master of that even in an era when everyone was for wickets. And, he caught teams embarrassingly out-smarted - you'll see many times, teams ending 222/3, 240/4, 234/5 against SRL & losing in last over - Arjuna would have been a monster with current context, if he had one Hari & one Sanath in his team.
 
MMHS said:
Also, the game changed drastically in 25 years - Imran led his side when the strategy was to get 10 wickets - teams with better attack (& attacking Captain) will dominate matches where 245/9 was match winning. The leadership style was to penetrate through batsmen's defense. But, Imran was a genius in defensive game as well - I give a classic example, in Neheru Cup Final; once WI put 150+, Imran knew that there was no point trying to get them all-out. He changed his bowling strategy - kept himself for last 20 overs (bowled 8/9 in one spell) & kept 5 overs of Wasim - he did get the most aggressive team off-guard that day, WI ended 278/5 & suddenly found they were 20 short - PAK can win by playing out 50 overs, which Imran did with his 71*.

MS has led his side, when the game has shifted to damage control with ball - teams don't go for 3 wickets in first 15 overs, because often that will back fire - now the strategy is to restrict teams to a chase-able proportion, for which MS is fantastic - but I can tell you Arjuna was a master of that even in an era when everyone was for wickets. And, he caught teams embarrassingly out-smarted - you'll see many times, teams ending 222/3, 240/4, 234/5 against SRL & losing in last over - Arjuna would have been a monster with current context, if he had one Hari & one Sanath in his team.
Click to expand...

However, this is why I believe that in cross-era comparisons, certain players are sold short. Dhoni's strategy is influenced by how the game has changed/evolved, but why must we assume that he would not have adapted to the strategies and tactics of the 70's and 80's?

As a result of this logic, it has become almost impossible for a modern day player to be considered better than his equivalent from the prehistoric eras.
 
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