Best all time Asian 11

[Surfer]

After looking at Sohel's thread on best ever team, I was tempted to make out one from Asia only. South Asian fans are the most passionate followers of the game and this region has produced some of the best players of the game. Here is a team from my side:

Test squad:

1. Sunil Gavaskar: One of the finest test openers ever. A master of ground strokes and made a world record of runs against the toughest ever bowling line ups like the West Indies and Australia. Clearly the easiest picks for an Asian 11.

2. Saeed Anwar: One of my personal favorites. The man underachieved and deserves more credit than he has got.

3. Rahul Dravid: I cant think of a better no3 than Dravid. The wall is what you need at that position.

4. Sachin Tendulkar: The classiest and the best.

5. Aravind Desilva: Another underachiever. I hold him very high for his abilities.

6. Javed Miadad: The most shrewed player ever from Pakistan. He used to beat the opposition with his talent and his mind. Great test records.

7. Sangakara: The best keeper-batsman Asia ever produced.

8. Imran Khan: Who else? (Captain)

9. Wasim Akram: The best fast bowler ever from Asia. I hold him above Waqar.

10. Anil Kumble Amazing abilities of taking wickets. He can do what a conventional spinner can not.

11. Muralitharan: Murali is the best spinner Asia ever produced.

Thats
#Six solid batsmen
#One wicketkeeper who can contribute as well with bat as the top ones.
# Two solid all rounders and the deadliest fast bowlers the world ever saw.
# Two spinners very different in nature but lethal all the same.
# In all, seven specialist batsmen, four specialist bowlers, two part time bowlers (Sachin and Desilva) and a keeper.


I think thats a real good team.

Will bring in the one-day team soon.

Please suggest your teams.

[Sohel]

Here's my Asia XI: -

Batting Order

1. S. Gavaskar (Vice Captain-IND)
2. S. Anwar (PAK)
3. Z. Abbas (PAK)
4. R. Dravid (IND)
5. S. Tendulkar (IND)
6. A. de Silva (SL)
7. K. Sangakkara (SL- WK)
8. Imran Khan (PAK- Captain)
9. C. Vaas (SL)
10. W. Akram (PAK)
11. M. Muralitharan (SL)

12th Man: Anil Kumble (IND)

Coach: Ranjit Singhji (British India)

Reserves: IND: MAK Pataudi, M. Amarnath, R. Dravid, S. Ganguly, G. Viswanath, BS Bedi, K. Dev; PAK: H. Mohammad, J. Miandad, Inzamam-ul- Haq, S. Mushtaq, W. Yunis, Md. Yousuf, S. Akhtar; SL: S. Jayasuriya, R. Kaluwitharana.

Future Maybes: IND: Y. Singh, I. Pat'han, Y. Pat'han, M. Tiwary, P. Chawla; PAK Md. Asif, S. Malik, I. Nazir, K. Akmal, D. Kaneria; SL: M. Jayawerdena, U. Tharanga, L. Malinga, C. de Silva; BD: Md. Ashraful Matin, Mashrafee Bin Murtaza, Tamim Iqbal Khan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Alok Kapali, Shahadat Hossain.

[tiger_omar]

Your team is quite good and its hard to argue against it, but I'm not sure why your putting someone like Saeed Anwar or Arvind Desilva on the team when you yourself mentioned that they are underachievers. No doubt they had great talent and abilities but we are talking about naming the best Asian 11 of all time.

Instead I think Inzamam and Kapil Dev deserves to be there and their records speak for themselves in Test cricket. Inzamam has a batting average of over 50, and Kapil Dev has taken 434 wickets while having a batting average of over 31. What makes them even more incredible is their ability to play a big role in big matches and thats why I think they should be on the best Asian 11 team.

Inzamam can be a middle order batsmam while Sachin moves up to opening. Then Kapil Dev can come at 7 or 8, batting after either Sangakarra or Imran Khan.

Good thread, quite interesting.

[Ganguly da]

I would prefer Kapil Dev over Gavaskar anyday.....

[Surfer]

Originally Posted by Ganguly da
I would prefer Kapil Dev over Gavaskar anyday.....

Well, Kapil is a bowloing all rounder and Gavaskar is an opening batsman. How can one replace another?

[bd_fan_from_india]

gavaskar
saeed anwar
dravid
aravinda desilva
miandad
sangakkara(w)
imran khan(c)
kapil dev
wasim akram
anil kumble
muralitharan

reserves:
batsmen: jayasurya, tendulkar, inzamam, zaheer abbas, amarnath, md yousuf
keepers: dhoni, kaluwitharana
bowlers: bs bedi, saqlain mushtaq, waqar, zaheer khan, abdul qadir

future hopefuls:
ind: yuvraj singh, shikhar dhawan, irfan pathan, manoj tiwary, piyush chawla
pak: imran nazir, shoaib malik, md asif
sl: upul tharanga, lasith malinga, chamara silva
bd: tamim iqbal, ashraful, mashrafe mortaza, enamul jr.
maybe 1-2 players from nepal/afghanistan after 5 years

[SideWinder]

gavaskar
tendulkar
Inzi
aravinda desilva
miandad
sangakkara(w)
imran khan(c)
kapil dev
wasim akram
waqar
muralitharan


(NO DRAVID...WE WANT FUN WITH THIS TEAM......NOT A LECTURE [SLOW])

[Sohel]

bd_fan_from_india: thanks for reminding me of the lankan hopefuls.

[rah]

nah kapil dev and inzamam r true asian greats, they shuold be der

[Beamer]

My One day XI :
1Jayasuriya 2 Ganguly 3 Tendulkar 4 De Silva 5 Inzi 6 Sangakkara 7 Imran 8 Afridi 9 Akram 10 Vass 11 Murali..

[Tigers_eye]

This is so hard.
I refreshed my lineup so many times that is not even funny.

From Pakistan the ones could get in are:
Imran, Z Abbas, Hanif, Miadad, Yousuf, Inzi, Waqar, Wasim, Abdul Kadir, Shoaib, Asif

From India:
Tendu, Dravid, Gavaskar, Vishanath, Vengsarkar, Azharuddin, Kapil, Kumble, Amarnath, Srikkanth, Ganguly

From SL:
Ranatunga, De Silva, Jayasuriya, Sangakkara, Murali, Vass, Jayawardene

From BD:
Not yet but since I included Asif I could have
Mash.

So the final test 11 in my choice is

Azharuddin (Class, eligance, classic shots)
Gavaskar (Little Master)
Hanif (W) (The original Little Master)
Tendu (The new and improved Little Master)
De Silva (Power)
Miadad (Power, Enforcer)
Imran (C) (Boss)
Kapil (VC) (Semi Boss)
Wasim (Swing Master)
Waqar (Toe Crusher)
Murali (2nd Best Cricketer all time after Bradman)

[Rifat]

after 15/16 years one of bangladeshi players shall make it hopefully...

[Sohel]

Originally Posted by Beamer
My One day XI :
1Jayasuriya 2 Ganguly 3 Tendulkar 4 De Silva 5 Inzi 6 Sangakkara 7 Imran 8 Afridi 9 Akram 10 Vass 11 Murali..

11 out of 11 ... in total agreement with regards to ODIs.

[Baundule]

My Twenty20 team:

1. Golla, 2. Gavaskar, 3.Atapattu, 4. Wajahatullah Wasti, 5. Rajin, 6. Jimmy Adams (will be given citizenship of one of the Asian countries) 7. Pilot, 8. Chacha, 9. Murali Kartik, 10. Prasad, 11. Nazmul

12th Man: Tapash

[Sohel]

Originally Posted by Baundule
My Twenty20 team:

1. Golla, 2. Gavaskar, 3.Atapattu, 4. Wajahatullah Wasti, 5. Rajin, 6. Jimmy Adams (will be given citizenship of one of the Asian countries) 7. Pilot, 8. Chacha, 9. Murali Kartik, 10. Prasad, 11. Nazmul

12th Man: Tapash

... You forgot HaBa (Captain), Deep Dasgupta (WK) and Mushfiq "All-rounder" Babu as the 12th man.

[Baundule]

Originally Posted by Sohel NR
... You forgot HaBa (Captain), Deep Dasgupta (WK) and Mushfiq "All-rounder" Babu as the 12th man.

You mean, Shafiuddin Ahmed Babu? (I remetber the match when Lara scored a 45 ball century; Babu was fielding near the ropes and the public abusing....)
Mushfiq Babu is slightly better.

HaBa got rid of the list because of today's fifty. I can edit my post any time
Deep Dash Gupta is not selected, because without Ganguly in the team, he can lose his head and play quite aggressively. Too bad!

[Miraz]

Originally Posted by Baundule
My Twenty20 team:

1. Golla, 2. Gavaskar, 3.Atapattu, 4. Wajahatullah Wasti, 5. Rajin, 6. Jimmy Adams (will be given citizenship of one of the Asian countries) 7. Pilot, 8. Chacha, 9. Murali Kartik, 10. Prasad, 11. Nazmul

12th Man: Tapash

What Chacha is doing there? He was a good striker of the ball.

Mushfiq Babu would be an ideal replacement or give another citizenship to Danny Morrison of NZ.

[Baundule]

Originally Posted by Miraz
What Chacha is doing there? He was a good striker of the ball.

Mushfiq Babu would be an ideal replacement or give another citizenship to Danny Morrison of NZ.

Chacha is selected as a bowling all-rounder. Chances are bleak that he will have to bat at all. On anyday, I have enough players in the top order to eat up those 20 overs! But his bowling will be very much needed

After looking at the profile, I dont like Danny. His stat says only 4.5 rpo. Too bad!

[Beamer]

Originally Posted by Sohel NR
11 out of 11 ... in total agreement with regards to ODIs.

Sohel..good to hear that.

I was thinking about the Test XI but found it too difficult of a proposition. So may great players and too little space. On stats alone, the modern day players would probably dominate as they have played a lot more than their predecessors. If you take that criteria into account, greats like Zaheer, Vishy, Hanif, Azharuddin etc won't probaly cut it. But, how do you leave them out? Its hard enough to make an all time Indian or Pakistan XI, let alone an Asia XI. So, I hopelessly give up, though I have my team in my mind and surely, it will be vastly different from others. One day XI is much easier to compile BTW. Stats don't lie there...Here it goes :
1 Gavaskar 2 Hanif Mohammad 3 Sachin Tendulkar 4 Rahul Dravid 5 Miandad 6 Inzammam 7 Sangakkara 8 Imran 9 Wasim 10 Waqar 11 Murali.

Have an idea for you since you are good at opening threads ( no pun intended ): why not have an alltime southpaw team ( the player invloved must be lefty for his primary purpose- ex : bowler must be lefty, if he is bowler first and he may bat right and vice versa with batsmen ) ? We can start with Asia XI or even a world XI ( both tests and ODIs )

Get to work now....

[Tigers_eye]

get this. Hanif kept wickets and bowled both right and left handed in test, lol. However, his 337 was right hand batting.