Sachin Tendulkar
The Maestro Sachin Tendulkar was the only current cricketer named in ESPN Cricinfo’s all time Test World XI which surprisingly did not include Aussie skipper Ricky Ponting and the likes of the Caribbean hero Brian Lara, Glenn McGrath and the former Little Master Sunil Gavaskar.
Sachin has been chosen at the No. 4 batting position along with legends like Sir Don Bradman, Vivian Richards, Garfield Sobers and Shane Warne. Others in the World XI, dominated by Aussies and West Indians, were Jack Hobbs, Len Hutton, Adam Gilchrist, Malcolm Marshall, Wasim Akram and Dennis Lillee.
Sunil Gavaskar and BrianLara found themselves in the second World XI team along with Aussies Barry Richards, George Headley, Wally Hammond, Pakistani Imran Khan, Englishmen Alan Knott, Bill O’Reilly, Fred Trueman, and Sri Lankan Muttiah Muralitharan and SF Barnes. Ricky Ponting could not find a spot in any of the 2 teams, the same as Glenn McGrath and India’s world Cup winning captain Kapil Dev.
The jury comprised of one former captain from each of the top Test playing nations – Ian Chappell, Sir Clive Lloyd, Tony Greig, Duleep Mendis, Ajit Wadekar, Intikhab Alam, Ali Bacher, John Wright and 4 prominent cricket historians and writers.
Warne, Gilly and Wasim Akram were the other players from the last two decades to make it to the XI, which featured seven players who made their debuts after 1970. 4 Australians, 3 West Indians, 2 Englishmen, an Indian and a Pakistani make up the XI.
3 players were the jury’s unanimous choices, figuring in the first XIs of each of the 12 members of the jury – Sir Donald Bradman, Garfield Sobers and Shane Warne, each of whom got the maximum point’s possible i.e 60. Tendulkar followed up second with 51 points.
The biggest surprise the XI threw up was the gap between Warne and Muralitharan, the 2 leading wicket-takers in cricket history. Muralitharan made it to the Second World XI, tallying 34 points fewer than Warne. The closest of battles were for one for the opening spots and for no.5. Gavaskar lost out to Hobbs by 1 point and George Headley by 2 points to Barry Richards.
Hutton with 47 points joins Hobbs at the top. They are followed by Sir Don Bradman, Sachin Tendulkar, Vivian Richards and Gary Sobers. While there was no competition to Sobers for the all-rounder’s spot, Imran on 19 points to knock out narrowly Keith Miller to make it to the Second XI. Gilchrist beat Alan Knott to the wicketkeeper’s spot by 8 points. The next closest contender was Sri Lankan Kumar Sangakkara, who got 9 points.
The bowling positions were all decided by handsome margins. Three of cricket’s fastest bowlers ever – Dennis Lillee, leading with 48 points, Wasim Akram and Malcolm Marshall accompanied Warne.
Tags: Adam Gilchrist, Cricket, Dennis Lillee, ESPN-Cricinfo, Garfield Sobers, Jack Hobbs, Len Hutton, Malcolm Marshall, Sachin Tendulkar, Shane Warne, Sir Don Bradman, Test Cricket, Test World XI, Vivian Richards, Wasim Akram
