Firstly, I'm not Aussie.
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He arguably was, but it's that age old argument when picking an ATG XI of whether you pick the best players...or the best team. If I'm looking for my very best team, I'd def being considering whether the likes of Hadlee, Marshall & Lillee were all slightly better bowlers than Imran, then I'd look at my strong batting line-up and ask if I really need him at 7 or 8 with the bat, at the expense of the likes of a Hadlee, even though he was clearly a better batsmen than Hadlee. Not saying i'd definitely go that way, but I can see that could be a reason for omitting him.
Sehwag was more shaky against quality swing, which is why his record in England, NZ and SA is so poor.Sehwag being "shaky" against raw pace is news to me. He pretty much wiped the floor with 2 of the fastest bowlers of all time
Put Imran at 6 and you solve the problem and have an unbeatable bowling lineup.
That top 3 Sehwag, Hayden and Lara I find quite vulnerable options against the likes of Marshall, Lillee, Hadlee and Imran...if the pitch has little bit in it, how many times do you think Sehwag will survive the first 10 overs? I also had him in my team, but on a second thought, I am not quite sure anymore...You have neither Ponting nor Dravid in your side, that's interesting, but they are good players against fast and swing bowling respectively...Against a bowling line up of that caliber, you got to give your best shot...What about this, make Dravid open the innings (not that he never opened, has 4 centuries in 12 matches with an average of 42.47) with either Smith or Hayden, and bring Ponting at 3, keep Lara for 5...
That looks like shaky goalpost moving.
Seriously? Imran 6, Hadlee 7 is a ridiculously weak middle order and assuming 8-11 are all worse batsmen that makes the batting line-up far too short.
yeah so your option is to have a specialist batsman at 6 and go with 4 genuine bowlers or is it Botham at 6? both ways it's good option, I have no problem with either, but 6 and 7 is not really middle order, in the middle order in my team you have Pollock and Chappell, anyways, my argument is with Gavaskar, Barry, Vivian, Chappell and Pollock you may afford the luxury of playing Imran and Hadlee, and I do not believe that makes it a "ridiculously weak" batting line up. And by the way, Alan Knott by any stretch of imagination can not be termed a "worse batsman" with more than 4000 test runs at an average of 32.75 and 5 centuries...
None of Imran, Hadlee or Knott are worthy of batting 6. Knott and Imran are 7s at best and Hadlee is an 8.
I am a big believer in having 5 proper bowling options in test cricket to win matches. Having a bowling all-rounder at no.6 is not completely untenable, India does it now with Ashwin and England did it with Flintoff and it worked well.
