All-Time World Twenty20 XI

[Himannv]

This lot would beat them

Barry Richards
Colin Milburn
Don Bradman
Garry Sobers
Gilbert Jessop
Clyde Walcott
Keith Miller
Harold Larwood
Jim Laker
Sydney Barnes
Tiger O'Reilly

Disappointing lack of Viv.

 

[Howe_zat]

Disappointing lack of Viv.

Pretty sure that's a team of players who never played ODIs.

 

[smash84]

I think Gary Sobers played one ODI. I might be wrong

 

[Days of Grace]

They didn't all play in the same "era" though did they.

That'd be far more interesting, to try and find a team from the past where all the players played within five years of each other.

Something like:

Jayasuria
Gilchrist
Lara
Ganguly
Carins
Klusener
Pollock
Akram
Mushtaq
Younis

Just threw that together, there's probably better teams.

That team would struggle in the field, tbh. Few gaps that the opposition would take advantage of.

 

[Vish_criclover]

Since T20 is a relatively new phenomenon, it would be only fair to pick an all time XI from the current lot that has played it. I would propose the following team :


Chris Gayle
Virender Sehwag
Kumar Sangakkara
Kevin Pietersen
Yuvraj Singh
Suresh Raina
Shane Watson
Shahid Afridi
Daniel Vettori
Lasith Malinga
Umar Gul

 

[Howe_zat]

Good side. My first thought was that you need a third quick, but given the way T20s are going that's not really true.

I'd like to find room for Jayawardene or Dilshan, probably ahead of Raina or Sehwag. Watson should go up the order too.

 

[Arjun]

Here's one based more on T20I caps than merely runs, wickets, strikes and economies.

• Graeme Smith
• Brendon McCullum (WK)
• Mahela
• Kevin Pietersen
• Dilshan
• JP Duminy
• Afridi (LB)
• Mitchell Johnson (LF)
• Vettori (SLA)
• Umar Gul (RFM)
• Malinga (RF)

Unlucky to miss are the ones who haven't played too much- a few more games for the Indians and West Indians should have them in.

 

[ankitj]

Chris Gayle
<9 others in between>
Lasith Malinga

 

[Migara]

Twenty20 is now 8 years old. But what is the greatest T20 XI?

We all have discussions about the Greatest Test XI or England's Greatest Test XI, but what about an All-Time World Twenty20 XI?

M.Trescothick
C.Gayle
K.Pietersen
B.Hodge
MS Dhoni(wk)
S.Afridi
K.Pollard
A.Hollioake(c)
L.Malinga
R.Sidebottom
A.Mendis

10 Other notable names who just missed out:

E.Morgan, A.Symonds, B.McCullum, A.Thomas, M.Muralitharan, Y.Singh, S.Ajmal, I.Harvey, T.Dilshan and U.Gul.

Any major names I've crazily missed out on?!

LMAO.

Gayle
Warner
Sehwag
Kohli
Dhoni+
Pollard
Afridi
Vettori
Steyn
Malinga
Gul

 

[akilana]

LMAO.

Gayle
Warner
Sehwag
Kohli
Dhoni+
Pollard
Afridi
Vettori
Steyn
Malinga
Gul

tbf, KP has a good T20 record, better than Pollard's

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Gayle
Warner
KP
Taylor
Morgan
Dhoni
Afridi
Swann
Sidebottom/Gul
Steyn
Malinga

 

[Agent Nationaux]

Gayle
Warner
KP
Taylor
Morgan
Dhoni
Afridi
Swann
Sidebottom/Gul
Steyn
Malinga

Great team except I would definitely have Gul instead of Sidebottom and Hussey instead of Taylor.

 

[weeman27bob]

tbf, KP has a good T20 record, better than Pollard's

It's an interesting question on whether you'd have Pollard or KP in the team. In my view, there's more people who can do KP's role than Pollard's.

In T20 Cricket as a whole:

KP: Average runs per innings: 28.5 Average balls per innings: 20.5
Pollard: Average runs per innings: 20.5 Average balls per innings: 12.79

What I'm trying to show there is that the players tend to play with different roles. Pollard's superior strike rate makes him a much better player for the team to come in at say No. 6. KP is obviously a better top order player, but I think there are probably players who are better than him for the top 3/4 batting spots, whereas I don't think there are many better contenders than Pollard for 6.

 

[Vish_criclover]

Good side. My first thought was that you need a third quick, but given the way T20s are going that's not really true.

I'd like to find room for Jayawardene or Dilshan, probably ahead of Raina or Sehwag. Watson should go up the order too.

I feel that Raina is the best T20 batsman these days and I would anyday pick Sehwag over Dilshan. And Watson could be replaced by Dwayne Bravo (preferred) / Kieron Pollard as I could not find a place for Watson up the order.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Great team except I would definitely have Gul instead of Sidebottom and Hussey instead of Taylor.

Wouldn't disagree there, with Sidebottom/Gul they were basically the stars of the last 2 T20 world cups. So hard as to whether you go death bowler or opening bowler wen you already have Malinga in there.

Must admit i forgot Hussey.

 

[Howe_zat]

Can people try to remember that Pollard has never done a thing at international level, shown any aptitude to differing match situations, ever performed when batting was tougher than expected or ever made a ton. He's a decent domestic batsman at best. He's never done anything that dozens of others haven't.

 

[Cabinet96]

I have picked my XI on what players I think would do the best job in a T20 match at the moment, not based on stats. If you think that someone has been unfairly omitted or someone strangely included, please say.

David Warner
Chris Gayle
Kumar Sangakarra (capt/wkt)
Shane Watson
Ab de Villiers
Eoin Morgan
Yuvraj Singh
Graeme Swann
Dale Steyn
Stuart Broad
Lasith Malinga

As excepted trying to fit 2 openers was difficult but I thought Warner and Gayle would be the most destructive and effective opening pair at the moment. This means that Sanga and Watson have to do 3 and 4. Some of you may be surprised at Sanga's inclusion. Well even in T20 you still need someone to bat through and he can do the job of captaincy and wicket keeper. I thought about Brendon McCullum but he sin't suited to down the order.

Watson and Yuvraj give 6 bowling options and the option of 2 spinners. Lots of power and class in the middle order in de Villers, Morgan and Yuvraj.

The bowling gives options at the death and with the new ball. Broad gives variety with his mixture of bouncers and slower balls.

 

[weeman27bob]

Can people try to remember that Pollard has never done a thing at international level, shown any aptitude to differing match situations, ever performed when batting was tougher than expected or ever made a ton. He's a decent domestic batsman at best. He's never done anything that dozens of others haven't.

I think we had this discussion, briefly, the other day.

There are clearly better batsmen than Pollard for T20 cricket, there's no doubt about that, but I'm not sure there's anyone who can (potentially) come in for the last few overs, lower down the order, and take attacks apart like he can.

There may well be batsmen who could do it, but as far as I'm aware, they haven't shown it. Added to the fact he's a fair to middling bowler and a fairly decent fielder and I feel there's nothing too amiss with putting him in at No.6 in an T20 XI.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Afridi is a better bet for T20 and i despise the ****.

 

[Howe_zat]

I think we had this discussion, briefly, the other day.

There are clearly better batsmen than Pollard for T20 cricket, there's no doubt about that, but I'm not sure there's anyone who can (potentially) come in for the last few overs, lower down the order, and take attacks apart like he can.

There may well be batsmen who could do it, but as far as I'm aware, they haven't shown it. Added to the fact he's a fair to middling bowler and a fairly decent fielder and I feel there's nothing too amiss with putting him in at No.6 in an T20 XI.

There are plenty of players who've done what Pollard has at domestic level and gone on to be more than a complete failure when attempting anything else.

Mike Hussey can guide you through a tricky low scoring match as well as clear the ropes when required, Shahid Afridi can give it just as much humpty but he's also a good bowler, for examples.

The reason why Pollard has such a good strike rate is because he never attempts anything but blitz, even when that's not what's required. It's a complete myth that he performs any more regularly than anyone else, or that when he does it's anything that plenty of others haven't done.

The one way that Pollard could have impressed me doing what he does would be to show he's utterly dominant at the level he operates at and put together some truly remarkable innings in those situations - examples would be things like Yusuf Pathan's mental 34-ball hundred. I don't rate Pathan all that highly but it's with exploits like that that he can at least show his superiority to at most other IPL tonkers.

Pollard has never even scored a limited overs ton. At any level. Ever. There is absolutely no reason to rate him.