Imran Khan named captain of 'greatest all-time Test XI'

[UmarJustice]

mran Khan's leadership qualities have been acknowledged by the famed former England umpire Dickie Bird, who named the Pakistani cricket hero the captain of his dream world XI for Test matches, according to media reports.
"My captain. His knowledge was outstanding," Bird, who tuned 80 on Friday, was quoted as saying about Imran Khan. Bird had his "greatest all-time Test XI" in The Telegraph but conspicuous with their absence from the list were the top 10 run-getters in the Test format - Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara and Ricky Ponting - as well as Don Bradman.
Bird, who officiated in 66 Tests and stood in three World Cup finals during a 28-year career as a first-class umpire, included former opener and captain Sunil Gavaskar of India. Opening the batting with Gavaskar in Bird's XI was South African Barry Richards. Bird then goes on to include legends Vivian Richards and Greg Chappell. He also nominates another player ‘largely lost because of apartheid’, Graeme Pollock, as part of the list. Sir Garfield Sobers is an obvious choice in any such list and Bird simply states ‘the all-rounder was the greatest I have ever seen play the game’. ICC Hall of Fame and wicketkeeper-batsman Alan Knott is the only Englishman and compatriot of Bird to feature in the list. Shane Warne of Australia finds a spot as well. Dennis Lillee and West Indian spinner Lance Gibbs round off the eleven.

DICK BIRD'S GREATEST TEST XI:
Sunil Gavaskar, Barry Richards, Vivian Richards, Greg Chappell, Garfield Sobers, Graeme Pollock, Allan Knott (wk), Imran Khan (capt), Dennis Lillee, Shane Warne, Lance Gibbs.

Imran named captain of 'greatest all-time Test XI'

 

[Punjabbi Munda]

So it was his own world XI..newspaper twist titles so cleverly -.-
What is a greates team without Sachin tendulkar and Lara and Ponting

 

[Rafael]

So it was his own world XI..newspaper twist titles so cleverly -.-
What is a greates team without Sachin tendulkar and Lara and Ponting

Although its a bit controversial, but I don't rate modern era batsmen as great as their predecessor were. Reason being the quality of bowlers at that time, the green wickets that they used to play on and the lack of protection gear that is now available to the modern batsmen. Remember it was an era of cricket dominated by fast bowlers and you really needed to have the guts, technique and patience to fight it out. Therefore I rate Sunil Gavaskar, Viv Richards, Gary Sobers and Greg Chappell above the modern greats.

 

[Jazzbot]

Today most of the pitches are flat and dry batting paradises which are tailor made for batsmen. Sehwag smashing 200+ runs in an ODI, wonder what would happen if he was facing Windies 80's quick bowlers on green top bouncy pitch without proper safety gear.. Plus there wasn't enough pitch protection mechanism in place at that time, so if it rained, the batsmen had to play on that fuked up pitch. Sir Don Bradman maintaining average of 99 is considered as in-believable for some reasons. Today's batsmen are no way near to what their predecessors were used to be in terms of technique, temperament and guts..

PS: I used Sehwag as an example of modern day batsmen, so no offense intended.

 

[2ndslip]

Imran Khan was a magnificent cricketer. Easily the greatest Asian cricketer and amongst AR second only to the incomparable Sir Garfield Sobers.