Dream Cricket Teams

During Don Bradman's birth centenary (he was born on August 27, 1908) I wanted to see what was the dream team he chose. Though most of us wouldnt have seen most of the members of that team play, what was interesting for Sachin's fans like me was the fact that Sachin Tendulkar was the only current international cricketer to have made that team; even Shane Warne didn't make it.

It is sad that we still say that Sachin is not good enough and he is being compared to lesser mortals. Even in the recently concluded Australian series, he made lot of runs in both one day and tests and just because of his one poor test series in Sri Lanka, which happens to be one his poorest, we are ready to dump. He deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.

Bradman's team

1. Barry Richards - South Africa
2. Arthur Morris - Australia
3. Don Bradman - Australia
4. Sachin Tendulkar - India
5. Gary Sobers - West Indies
6. Don Tallon - Australia
7. Ray Lindwall - Australia
8. Dennis Lillee - Australia
9. Alec Bedser - England
10. Bill O'Reilly - Australia
11. Clarrie Grimmett - Australia
12. Wally Hammond - England (12th man)

After accepting that I am a no body, I would like to list my Dream Teams (This includes only players I have seen in action since I started watching the game in 1981)

My Dream World Test Team

1. Matthew Hayden - Australia
2. Gordon Greenidge - West Indies
3. Viv Richards - West Indies
4. Sachin Tendulkar - India
5. Brian Lara - West Indies
6. Ian Botham - England
7. Mark Boucher- South Africa
8. Richard Hadlee - Newzealand
9. Malcolm Marshall - West Indies
10. Shane Warne - Australia
11. Muralitharan - Sri Lanka

My Dream Indian Test Team

1. Sunil Gavaskar
2. Virender Sehwag
3. Rahul Dravid
4. Sachin Tendulkar
5. Dilip Vengsarkar
6. VVS Laxman
7. Kapil Dev
8. Syed Kirmani
9. Harbhajan Singh
10. Anil Kumble
11. Javgal Srinath

My Dream World ODI Team

1. Sachin Tendulkar - India
2. Sanath Jayasuriya - Sri Lanka
3. Viv Richards - West Indies
4. Aravinda Desilva - Sri Lanka
5. Jack Kallis - South Africa
6. Adam Gilchrist - Australia
7. Shaun Pollock - South Africa
8. Wasim Akram - Pakistan
9. Curtly Ambrose - West Indies
10. Anil Kumble - India
11. Muralitharan - Sri Lanka

My Dream Indian ODI Team

1. Sachin Tendulkar
2. Sourav Ganguly
3. N avjot Sidhu
4. Ajay Jadeja
5. Yuvraj Singh
6. MS Dhoni
7. Kapil Dev
8. Irfan Pathan
9. Harbhajan Singh
10. Anil Kumble
11. Javgal Srinath

The CricInfo All-time Indian XI announced in September 2010 has 6 of the players (bold ones) from My Dream Indian Test Team. They have taken players from 1940s and I took only from 1981 and this proves yet again that the current Indian team is by far the best in terms of a team of good players as against some greats who played in mediocre teams.

CricInfo All-time Indian XI

1. Virender Sehwag
2. Sunil Gavaskar
3. Rahul Dravid
4. Sachin Tendulkar
5. Vijay Hazare
6. Vinoo Mankad
7. MS Dhoni
8. Kapil Dev
9. Anil Kumble
10. Javagal Srinath
11. Erapalli Prasanna