World Xi To Face Aussies Options

[princeali]

Pakistan were up in both the tests at Perth and Melbourne and both the times they lost because they failed to capitalize on the situations. Australia can be beaten, its not that they are so invicible that they are cleaning up every team on the cricket field. Pakistan's bowling attack is the only attack in the world that has the ability to trouble the Australian batsmen and they showed that in the two tests. The only reason why India did well in Australia is because of their awesome batting lineup whereas their bowling still has a long way to go for it to be compared to Pakistan. Anyways, Australia are still the number one side in the world, and Pakistan has a chance to come good against them in the VB Series along with the West Indies.

My World X1 would be :

S. Fleming (I would make him the captain of this side, a good batsman who can also open as well as bat in the middle order)
S. Tendulkar (no explanation needed for the master blaster, his record and talent speaks for itself)
J. Kallis (he is SA's best batsman and a capable bowler, though he is not bowling that much these days as he used too)
B. Lara (again like Tendulkar his talent and charisma find him a place automatically, as they say, form is temporary and class is permanent)
I. Haq (probably the best player of pace bowling in the world, I rate him along side Lara and Tendulkar in sheer precision and talent, a talent that has not been used to his full potential)
C. Cairns (world class all-rounder, can do damage with both the bat and the ball)
K. Sangakarra (this year has been an eventful year for him in both Tests and One-dayers, very good batsman when he gets going, quite a safe keeper as well)
S. Pollock (one of the best all-rounders in the world along with Cairns and Kallis, his record speaks for itself)
S. Akhtar (any side would love to have him, the world's fastest bowler can rip through any side on his day)
S. Bond (one of the fastest bowlers in world cricket, he has the skill, variety and pace to trouble many batsman. He’s a good new-ball bowler to partner Shoaib)
M. Muralitharan (when he's in good form, he is hard to stop, a world class spinner. Personally I would have picked Saqlain since he has more variety than Murali and his record is better in one-dayers, but he’s recovering from injury at the moment)

Cheers

[Akhtar]

Ali bhai

Cairns retired from test cricket last year, and Bond is badly injured.

[princeali]

Oh ok Akhtar bhai......I remember him retiring from Test cricket, I was mixing one-day cricket when I chose him . In that case since there are already four primary good bowlers with Kallis to support I would bring in Rahul Dravid in place of Flintoff to make the batting stronger.

Actually Shane Bond is undergoing treatment for his action and he hopes to return when New Zealand take on Australia later this year. He has pretty much recovered from his injury.

[jayant]

hmmm.......
saqi getting a consideration prince bhai.
I dn't think its the injury....he is badly out of form also.He is now facing stiff competition frm shoaib malik.Lost his rhythym,Also becoming too religious may also hv taken its toll.But waht a talent he is & with the bat also he played some match winning innings.
Now 1 more info guys.PPl talk so much abt "DOSRA" as if the ball has been invented or patented by saqi.But actually its not so,.I hv seen pras(prasanna) bowli this ball with ease & precision which used 2 turn across 2wards the slip with the same action.A real master he was.
But i wld love 2 see saqi back.Another favourite whom i miss a lot is "mussie".
js

[Akhtar]

Jayant,

Keep your fingers crossed - he could be back for the Indian tour. Apparently a freind of mine saw him at Jumaah Namaaz. He has lost a lot of weight and looks fit. Saqlain has bowled the Doosra all over the world with great effect - and remains the only bowler to be able to bowl that particular delivery legitimately.

[princeali]

hmmm.......
saqi getting a consideration prince bhai.
I dn't think its the injury....he is badly out of form also.He is now facing stiff competition frm shoaib malik.Lost his rhythym,Also becoming too religious may also hv taken its toll.But waht a talent he is & with the bat also he played some match winning innings.
Now 1 more info guys.PPl talk so much abt "DOSRA" as if the ball has been invented or patented by saqi.But actually its not so,.I hv seen pras(prasanna) bowli this ball with ease & precision which used 2 turn across 2wards the slip with the same action.A real master he was.
But i wld love 2 see saqi back.Another favourite whom i miss a lot is "mussie".
js

Jayanth, I don't think Shoaib Malik is as good a bolwer as Saqlain. Saqlain's in a class of his own and is one of the best spinner's in the world. Malik's a good all-rounder, but his match winning performances have come mostly with the bat than with the ball, and you can't replace a world class spinner with a good batsman/okay spinner, even if Malik can bat. I would rather have an excellent match-winning, turn the game around bowler, than an all-rounder (There's already Afridi, Razzaq and Azhar as all-rounders at the moment). Malik needs to improve his bowling to be considered a match-winning bowler. The variety Saqqy has is only matched by a few. Even if others can also bowl the "doosra" like him, his variety makes him stand apart from the rest. Also, Saqqy can bowl in the death overs in one-dayers and bowl really long spells in test cricket which also shows his quality. It would be nice if he could return to the team.