Greatest ODI Team

The One Day International (ODI) is celebrating its 40^th anniversary. And, on this auspicious occasion 48 players were short listed in the fray of forming a dream team. The official  ICC’s website is asking for supporters all over the globe for voting their favorite players to get them in the team. It’s also asking for picking up their favorite game from a given choice of 10 memorable matches.

In the list seven Indians have made it in! The master Sachin is indubitably in. The current skipper MS Dhoni will be in competition against 7 others for the wicket keeping position. India’s world cup winning captain Kapil Dev is in the running for the all rounder’s slot. Former Indian great captain Sourav Ganguly and the smashing Indian opener Virender Sehwag are in contention for the opening slots. They nominated and will compete with 8 other openers.

And for the spinners spot unquestionably Muralidaran, Warne, Kumble and Bhajji stand tall. They are all reckoning for the lone spinner spot in the team from a group of 9 short listed. It will be interesting to see who makes it in!  The International Cricket Council said, “Supporters can vote on www.icc-cricket.com until Jan 2 to make their selections. They can also send in their dream teams and favourite matches via www.facebook/cricketicc or www.twitter.com/cricketicc.”

The first ODI was played on5 Jan between England and Australia. And, this is the day when the 40^th anniversary will be celebrated by cricket fans all over the globe. The final XI will also be announced on the same date.

Cricket Australia has even planned some events which includes introduction of the players of the first Australia ODI team from 1971 to the crowd. This is scheduled to happen on 16 Jan at Sydney in the first ODI of the ODI series between Australia and England kicking off there.

Let’s have a look at all the short listed players with their slots:

Opening batsmen (2) – Saeed Anwar, Sourav Ganguly, Gordon Greenidge, Matthew Hayden, Sanath Jayasuriya, Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Glenn Turner.

Middle-order batsmen (3) – Michael Bevan, Martin Crowe, Aravinda de Silva, Inzamam-ul Haq, Brian Lara, Javed Miandad, Ricky Ponting, Viv Richards.

All-rounder (1) – Ian Botham, Kapil Dev, Andrew Flintoff, Richard Hadlee, Jacques Kallis, Imran Khan, Lance Klusener, Shaun Pollock.

Wicket-keeper (1) – Mark Boucher, M.S. Dhoni, Andy Flower, Adam Gilchrist, Romesh Kaluwitharana, Moin Khan, Alec Stewart, Kumar Sangakkara.

Fast bowlers (3) – Wasim Akram, Allan Donald, Joel Garner, Michael Holding, Dennis Lillee, Glenn McGrath, Chaminda Vaas, Waqar Younis.

Spinner (1) – Shahid Afridi, Carl Hooper, Anil Kumble, Muttiah Muralitharan, Saqlain Mushtaq, Harbhajan Singh, Shane Warne, Daniel Vettori.

Tags: Australia, Cricket, England, Greatest ODI Team, ICC, ODI, ODI Series, One Day International, Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, www.icc-cricket.com