Dream ODI XI: Select the TWO opening batsmen

[NUFAN]

The only reason you feel its an overkill is because he keeps wickets too. If he was just a pure batsman, there'd be no talk of this 'overkill' business. He'd be in competition with those players as just another batsmen; because he's good enough just with the bat to merit comparison with the likes of Hussey and Bevan, and people would be perfectly fine with it. In essence, he's actually being penalised for possessing a secondary skill that has no bearing on his merits as a batsman alone.

I dunno G.I.Joe but for me fielding is pretty important in ODIs and having a Gilchrist or a Dhoni in the field doesn't fill me with too much confidence.

 

[NUFAN]

I don't know why, but I still have reservations about picking Dhoni. I really shouldn't, and I probably wouldn't if he'd already retired, but I still see him as a player who's going particularly well rather than a player who has done particularly well - as a player proving himself rather than as a proven player - despite compelling evidence to the contrary. I think there's a case for Gilchrist over Dhoni in the team even ignoring my reservations though - not because he's necessarily better, but because there's more competition in the middle order and Gilchrist playing allows a better batsman than Greenidge to fill the spot that would've otherwise been taken up by Dhoni.

I know what you mean about Dhoni in some ways. He's not had much of an impact in the two biggest ODI tournaments so far in his career.

Dhoni
World Cup 29 runs @ 9.33
Champions Trophy 89 runs @ 22.25
Total: 118 runs @ 16.86

Gilchrist
World Cup 1085 runs @ 36.16
Champions Trophy 382 runs @ 31.83
Total: 1467 @ 34.93

Small sample size for Dhoni, but I can why some would have reservations about picking Dhoni in a World XI despite his overall ODI average.

 

[age_master]

Gilchrist and Tendulkar fairly esaily. Jayasuria would be my backup.


Who is Night by the way?

 

[NZTailender]

Jayasuriya, for me, is ODI cricket.

 

[Anil]

tendulkar & haynes, gilchrist is not good enough to open in a world xi and des haynes is so incredibly underrated....he was an exceptional opener in odis...

 

[Noble One]

You could almost justify running two Dream ODI XI's. ODI cricket is so different to the form of the game played throughout the 70's, 80's and early 90's. So difficult to compare the likes of Haynes to Sehwag as opening batsman. Different styles of game.

 

[indian_legend]

Went for Tendulkar and Sehwag

Tendulkar - No explanation needed

Sehwag - Edges out Gilchrist & Hayden due to his extraodrinary strike-rate. Out of all ODI players who have a average of over 30, Sehwag is the only 1 to have a strike-rate of over 100. And if Sehwag bats for even 10 overs in a ODI, he could change the course of a match totally

And whos Night??? Never heard of him. He must be good if he is a option in the above poll

 

[Athlai]

Went for Tendulkar and Sehwag

Tendulkar - No explanation needed

Sehwag - Edges out Gilchrist & Hayden due to his extraodrinary strike-rate. Out of all ODI players who have a average of over 30, Sehwag is the only 1 to have a strike-rate of over 100. And if Sehwag bats for even 10 overs in a ODI, he could change the course of a match totally

And whos Night??? Never heard of him. He must be good if he is a option in the above poll

Nick Knight I believe.

 

[bagapath]

nick knight - pardon the typo.....

 

[Avada Kedavra]

It looks like it will be Gilly and Sachin.If Gilly gets picked does it mean he will be automatically chosen as keeper or will there be a vote?

 

[vic_orthdox]

I think I'd take Dhoni over Gilchrist at this stage for an ODI team. I went with Gayle, because I love watching him the most in that form of the game, out of himself, Sehwag and Jayasuriya.

 

[Cevno]

Voted for Tendulkar.

Did not know could vote for 2,so add a vote for Gilchrist.

 

[analyst]

Without doubt Tendulkar and Hayden for me. I am a huge fan of Haydos and there is no better batsman with sustained quality over a 20 year career in all formats. Sachin is truely remarkable for having achieved this, it is often forgotten when raw statistics are looked at and analysed.

 

[Spark]

Without doubt Tendulkar and Hayden for me. I am a huge fan of Haydos and there is no better batsman with sustained quality over a 20 year career in all formats. Sachin is truely remarkable for having achieved this, it is often forgotten when raw statistics are looked at and analysed.

TBF Sachin is truly remarkable just from the raw statistics.

 

[analyst]

TBF Sachin is truly remarkable just from the raw statistics.

Was more a dig at those who claim he hasn't made enough match winning contributions for India.

 

[Matt79]

It looks like it will be Gilly and Sachin.If Gilly gets picked does it mean he will be automatically chosen as keeper or will there be a vote?

Can't think of any other keeper who's likely to get into the team who you'd want with the gloves ahead of him. Ignoring batting and talking purely about their merits as wicket-keepers, I'd have Gilchrist ahead of Dhoni, and there wouldn't be anyone else as a keeper close to being selected, would there?

 

[bagapath]

if gilly makes it to this team there wont be a separate poll for wk. everyone voted for him factoring his keeping abilities for sure. dhoni, and other keeper-batsmen would be available as batters, though, if they meet the cut.

 

[Prince EWS]

In hindsight, it might've been a good idea for the first poll to just be wicket-keepers, so then we could figure out what we needed for the rest of the team after it was decided. Doubt it'll matter though.

 

[bagapath]

gilly belongs in an all-time xi as both opener and keeper. dhoni, in all honesty, is a strong candidate for his batting alone. gilly-dhoni combo looks more exciting in a team than a sanath/hayden-dhoni selection, for me.

 

[marc71178]

In hindsight, it might've been a good idea for the first poll to just be wicket-keepers, so then we could figure out what we needed for the rest of the team after it was decided. Doubt it'll matter though.

Yeah, that's why I started the auction draft with keepers (and will do so again when I finally get around to running the ODI auction draft)