The Twenty20 Cricket Dream Team - Players that the shortest version of the game misses the most!
Test cricket has been around for over a century, One-Day cricket will turn 40 next year, yet Twenty20 cricket, the latest format of the game, has become the most followed and the most popular of them all. Although former cricketers don’t see eye to eye in recognizing the format, this is nothing new. They had the same reaction when One-Day cricket was introduced, and now it has grown into something no one imagined.
In this article, we discuss those former cricketers who missed out on playing in the T20 international format, not because of their form but because of their age, and of being born in a separate era where Twenty20 cricket was not played.
The game of cricket has seen many superstars, yet none have been as classy and elegant as West Indian Brian Lara. Be it tests or one dayers, he was always at ease in dispatching the ball to the boundary. His back lift helped him strike the ball while the ball was travelling towards him, while his cover drive was always a sight to die for. He didn’t play a Twenty20 match during his career because it was introduced after the 2007 World Cup, and Lara retired during the tournament. Who knows how he might have fared in this form of the game.
Same is the case with http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755. Had he been in this era, he would have troubled fielders and bowlers with his lightning fast running between the wickets, and his wit as well.
Former Pakistan captain Imran Khan, English cricketer Ian Botham and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Kapil-Dev-c70234 formed the trio of all-rounders that ruled cricket in the 80s. They could take wickets as regular bowlers, were useful in the field and while having the bat in their hands were no less than regular batsmen. Imagine them playing cricket in the era of Twenty20 cricket and how they would have helped the game attain great heights.
West Indian great Sir Garry Sobers had been a class act in tests and first class circuit. He held the world record of most runs in a test innings for 35 years, which showed his ability to bat for longer periods. Yet he was also the first player in first class history to hit six balls (of an over) for six, showing he could adapt himself to the occasion as well. Add his left arm bowling to the credits and his marvellous fielding, and you have a cricketer that can devastate, consolidate and save runs as well. A true potential Twenty20 specialist who left the game at the wrong time!
Then there is former Pakistan captain http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Wasim-Akram-c96292, arguably the best left arm fast bowler in the history of the game. He was a good fielder, and was fond of hitting boundaries as well. He retired from the game after taking 400 test wickets and over 500 wickets in one dayers, and had he been playing now, Pakistan would have been world champions thrice, instead of just once.
No Twenty20 dream team can be complete without the inclusion of a master sorcerer, a spinner with a bag of tricks. Pakistan’s http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Anil-Kumble-c44737 would have helped their sides a lot had they played in the Twenty20 version of the game. While Saqlain has shown his genius in this format while playing for English counties, the others have mesmerised batsmen in the Indian Premier League. Had they played for their country, the game would not have turned out to be as one-sided as it is, where bowlers are merely used as bowling machines, and batsmen as run getters. With the doosra, flipper and the straighter on, the spin giants would have done more with the ball in their 4 overs than the batsmen could have imagined.
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