Mani's 11 Write up
1.Opening batsmen's
(S.Jayasurya / G.Gambhir )
This team got the complimentary opening partnership with ( S.Jayasurya & G.Gambhir ) Sanath would be more attacking while Gambhir would provide the support Jayasurya requires.Notable thing about these two openers is that they figured in the WC winning squad who had made tremoundous contributed to their success in the WC leading from the front.
G.Kristen would be joining Gambhir for pitch 4, Kristen's batting approach would suit here much better,who's cautious approach would give much needed support to the middle order.
2.MIddle and lower middle order
( Viv Richards / AB DeVilliers / MS.Dhoni /A.Symonds / Imran Khan )
AB De Villiers joining the squad for the final, MIddle order of Viv Richards /AB de Villers / MS Dhoni is the best we could see from any ODI side.Viv Richards/AB De Villers would provide the much needed stability in case of any early wickets at the same time keep the run rate at premium which will also help the batsmen lower down to go for aggressive approach in death overs.Top order got perfect nerve to pace the innings in such a way to chase it while batting second or put together a mammoth total when batting first.MS Dhoni / A.Symonds / Imran coming at 5, 6 & 7 shows the depth in the batting order, all three batsmen are hard hitter of cricket ball and can clear boundaries at ease.Dhoni /Symonds both with the strike rate close to 100 along with Imran at 7 is arguable the best LMO combination you can see in this draft.
3.Bowling :
5 Premium bowlers + 3 part timers.
( M.Marshall / Imran Khan / S.Warne / S.Bond / M.Morkel ) + Viv Richards + S.Jayasurya & A.Symonds
Team will be feilded with 5 bowlers, led by
M.Marshall & Imran Khan supported by
S.Bond and M.Morkel all four can swing the ball either ways which would be difficult to get away in those early overs,their pace would trouble any top batsmen these bowlers can bowl those Yorkers or slow balls at will during end overs which would be difficult to dislodge. Middle overs will be handled by
S.Warne,(best spin bowler the world had ever seen) will help in providing the team with his usual breaks in those middle overs which that team requires also would be supported by Viv Richards , A.Symonds and S.Jayasurya.
Team is well balanced with pacers and spinners (S.Warne) along with part time bowlers and remains confident of bowling in any type of pitches, team would remains same for all three pitches.
4.
MS.Dhoni -Captain / WK
Team marshalled by more efficient captain MS.Dhoni, he's not just the explosive batsmen, he improves batsmen's around him gives them much needed confident, which obviously translates to much better batting side while team decides to chase.Staying behind wickets helps him in set perfect fielding.Man had led country to two World Cup success.
5.
Leaders in team: ( Jayasurya / Viv Richards / Imran Khan / MS.Dhoni / S.Warne ) who will be valuable to the team in team of assisting for successful chase as well their inputs during team in fielding which can't be matched by any teams in this draft.
6.
AB De Villers -
De Villiers is a 360-degree batsman who can hit any ball, anywhere, against any bowler. Indeed, his range of inventive shots has grown as his career has unfolded. He has been ranked among the top Test and ODI batsmen in the world.
World Cup winners in the squad
1.S.Jayasurya - (Player of the tournament 1996 WC)
2.G.Gambhir - (Winner of WC 2011) Crucial 90 in final gave perfect platform for team to chase and win the WC.
3.Viv Richards ( Part of 2 World Cup winning squad and influential in 79 Wc win)
4.Imran Khan- ( Lead Pakistan to their first World Cup, contributed with both bat and ball)
5.MS.Dhoni -Winner of 2011 WC, captain's knock in final coming lower down the order.
6.A.Symonds - Part of two World Cup winning squad (2003 & 2007) contributed with both bat and ball.
7.S.Warne- Winner of 1999 WC, perfect bowling figure in SF and Final.
Why this team would win this tie..
1. Complementary batting order in the top and best Middle order among both team with perfect finishers.
2.Four genuine quickies and world class spin attack supported by three part times bowlers.
3.Unlike Samid's team this team is full of leaders with lot of match experience who can guide team at crucial period of the match against any kind of the attack.
4.Coming into Samid's team he had build quality side with batsmen's like Sachin at top and best finishers with Bevan and Zulu,but I had certain reservation against some of his player's,Babar Azam doesn't belong to this all time final team who had yet to prove in top stage.Saeed Ajmal didn't deserve place in the eleven considering his suspect action for which ICC had banned and with his corrected action he didn't prove anything followed by quick retirement, these things may look like minor but coming to the final these should've been corrected.
Team Samid
| Runs | Avg | SR | Wkts | Avg | SR | Eco |
Tendulkar | 18426 | 45 | 86 | 154 | 44 | 52 | 5.1 |
Dilshan | 10290 | 39 | 86 | 106 | 45 | 55 | 4.8 |
Babar | 3359 | 54 | 87 | | | | |
Root | 5922 | 51 | 87 | | | | |
Buttler | 3843 | 41 | 120 | | | | |
Bevan | 6912 | 54 | 74 | | | | |
Klusener | 3576 | 41 | 90 | 192 | 29 | 38 | 4.7 |
Starc | | | | 178 | 22 | 26 | 5.1 |
Ajmal | | | | 184 | 22 | 32 | 4.2 |
McGrath | | | | 381 | 22 | 34 | 3.8 |
Donald (P1,2,3,4) | | | | 272 | 21 | 31 | 4.1 |
Yadav (P5) | | | | 104 | 26 | 30 | 5.1 |
Batting:
Sachin Tendulkar. 18 000+ runs. Played in 4 different decades. Faced everything. Pace, swing, bounce, spin. Everything. Conquered it all. The best batsman in this final, and possibly ever in ODIs.
Tilakaratne Dilshan's overall numbers don't do him any justice. For the early part of his career he was wasted down the order. When he finally got the nod at the top of the order he became unstoppable, accumulating 7000+ runs in 7 calendar years. As an opener he averages 46 @ 89. During his peak years he was one of the best batsmen around. He was vital to Sri Lanka's World Cup campaign in 2011 with match winning displays in both the quarter and semi final. He was unorthodox and an innovator. Such big was his impact that he had a shot named after him. Jayasuriya may be SL's most entertaining batsman but Dilshan isn't far behind in second place.
Babar Azam and
Joe Root are two effortless batsmen that would dominate the game in any era. Excellent timers and rotators of the strike. Both are great players of spin, and Babar in particular thrives on bowling friendly pitches.
Jos Buttler is a modern day great. No one else has the ability to do what he does. Scoring at 120 while maintaining an average of 40+ is insane. He may still be in his 20s but the impact he already has had on the game has been extraordinary. England were a laughing stock in ODIs for decades. They were playing an outdated brand of cricket, were using test specialists in ODIs and always fell well short when it mattered. Buttler's emergence was a eureka moment for English cricket. They realised the importance of having white ball specialists, cracked the code of playing an expansive brand of cricket and Buttler was pretty much at the forefront of that revolution. It paid dividends when they finally got to lift the World Cup in 2019.
And despite his wild power hitting abilities, Buttler is by no means one dimensional. In 2018, chasing a modest score of 208, England found themselves 27/4 when Buttler walked out to bat. They were later 114/8 but Buttler led the way with a composed century and saw his side home with one wicket in hand. In the World Cup final he played a measured run a ball 59 at a vital part of the innings. Being able to play these measured innings while still maintaining a crazy strike rate makes him priceless in this format.
Michael Bevan is top 2 finishers of all time, possibly even the greatest. Despite batting down the order in those great Australian lineups, Bevan time after time found himself in a position where he had to rescue the team from tricky positions. And he was triumphant most of the times. His average of 54 is simply unheard of for a player from that era and that's a testament to his determination to remaining at the crease until the end and getting the team over the line. Bevan was a true master of all conditions.
Don't be fooled by his lowish strike rate. That's entirely down to the sheer amount of rebuilding jobs he had to partake in. When he had the licence to kill he was lethal. This, for me, is the most sensational one day innings ever. I have no idea why it wasn't classified as an ODI at the time.
Lance Klusener was just fantastic. He had the ability to be both calm and devastative, depending on what the match situation required at the time. He was the player of the tournament at he World Cup 1999. Zulu had an aura of invincibility at that tournament. Best player by a mile and would have deserved to get his hands on the trophy. In the late 90s he was probably the best cricketer in the world. Some may argue batting wasn't even his strongest suit. Yet he would absolutely rip bowlers apart and put up staggering batting numbers.
Bowling:
Glenn McGrath is the greatest ODI bowler imo. He rattled oppositions, took out their best batsmen and always delivered under pressure. Everything he did happened on his terms. Highly instrumental in all three of the World Cups he won and he even bowed out on his own terms by being named player of the tournament in 2007. A true master of psychological warfare.
Mitchell Starc is the dream partner for McGrath. While the latter will torment you mentally, Starc will torment you in all other ways. His strike rate of 26 is the best ever for players with more than 50 games. Just like his compatriot on the opposite end, Starc is also a big stage performer. He also has a World Cup player of the tournament to his name, as well as top wicket taker in both WCs he has played. His 49 wickets in 18 World Cup games (avg. 14, SR 19) is truly a mind blowing record. There is never any respite when Starc is bowling. He is relentless in every single spell. He takes wickets in his opening spell. He then bowls a couple of overs in the middle overs and constantly breaks partnerships. And at the death he is one of the most lethal bowlers around with his accurate yorkers. Deadly and accurate yorkers is a constant theme throughout his 10 overs.
Allan Donald is the perfect first change bowler. If facing McGrath and Starc wasn't hard enough, things don't become any easier when Donald comes on. The White Lightning was rapid. He had a phenomenal action and bowled with sustained aggression. Him and
Lance Klusener were outstanding at the 1999 WC, picking up 35 wickets between them in 9 games. In that tied semi, Donald broke Australia's middle order and picked up 4/32. As mentioned earlier, some may argue that Klusener was a better bowler than batsman, and they may well have a decent case. Early on in his career Zulu was outright fast. After his injury he tweaked his bowling and became a fantastic fast-medium bowler. He wasn't just an all rounder making up the numbers with the ball. An average below 30 and an economy of 4.7 shows he was a proper bowler.
Saeed Ajmal and
Kuldeep Yadav with their excellent averages and strike rates will strangle the opposition in the middle overs on pitch 5. Ajmal will provide deadly wicket to wicket accuracy. Kuldeep with his unorthodox chinaman bowling and variation will offer a different test altogether. In addition,
Sachin Tendulkar will be bowling some of Klusener's overs on pitches 3 and 5. A very underrated ODI bowler who could spin the ball both ways.
Overall this bowling lineup has everything. Three of the greatest seamers in ODIs. Left/right new ball combination. One will torment you outside the off stump. The other will torment you by bowling full and straight. First change bowler has lethal pace, and batsmen were genuinely frightened when they came up against him. The fourth seamer has to be one of the best fourth seamers ever. And the main spinner is an excellent and accurate bowler with a deadly doosra.
Why I win:
- My bowling attack is on a whole another level.
- Mani's bowling is underwhelming. Morkel/Streak have absolutely no business starting any games in the final of an all time draft. Marshall wasn't anything special in ODIs. It isn't Imran's best format either. Bond is the only real wicket taking threat in the seam department. He was an excellent bowler but also someone you couldn't build a team around because he would miss more games than he played. Being overly reliant on someone so fragile is asking for trouble.
- Sachin is better than Viv. Viv, as great as he was, rarely came up against bowling attacks as great as mine. The best bowlers in his era were on his own team. Compare that to Sachin, who came up against the best bowlers in decade after decade. Sachin won't face any problems dealing with the opposition bowling, Viv on the other hand will be seriously challenged every time he walks out to bat.
- I have the more effective late middle order with Buttler, Bevan and Klusener. AB and Dhoni are excellent no doubt but Imran Khan batting so low in the order is a waste. Mani's team structure is unbalanced.
- Mani's reinforcement for the final was extremely passive. Instead of putting out the glaring fires in his bowling department, he chose to invest in AB. He did this to stop me from getting him. If anything, his team is in a worse shape now. His batting lineup is now a clusterfeck to accommodate for AB, with several batsmen batting out of position. His bowling lineup still has major flaws. He spent his money on a top class player he didn't need. Meanwhile, I got two top class players in Buttler and Starc and sorted out any issues I had. I fixed my flaws. Mani didn't.