Poll 3: No 3 for the Best ODI XI from the Tendulkar Era

[hendrix]

Originally Posted by morgieb

Given he'll most likely be keeping, is it really that ridiculous?

nah it's not ridiculous, I just think that in an ATG team, you have an ATG opening pair. Gilchrist is an ATG wicketkeeper/batsman, but there are better openers out there

[stephen]

Originally Posted by hendrix

nah it's not ridiculous, I just think that in an ATG team, you have an ATG opening pair. Gilchrist is an ATG wicketkeeper/batsman, but there are better openers out there

In the history of the game there is what, two or three other choices which might be better than Gilchrist. But Gilchrist (forgetting his keeping) gives advantages over those batsmen (namely his strike rate). It is not difficult to see why Gilly has been selected as opener, especially when you throw in his keeping.

Gilchrist offers team balance (in that he provides the aggressive opener position) and is one of the best keepers ever as well, which means you don't HAVE to pick Dhoni if you don't want to (admittedly Dhoni should be there as a pure batsman, but if someone better than Dhoni comes along in the future picking Gilchrist gives you the option to pick the better bloke).