Click the image to view the list clearly:
The column on the left is my list of cricketers I'd like to see as my first-choice of playing eleven.
On the right, is the list of cricketers, who I can replace / can swap, along with the names of the cricketers I can swap them with.
These legends describe what the cricketers have been picked as:
BTA - Batting All Rounder,
Bt - Specialist batsman
Bl - Specialist bowler
Wk- Wicketkeeper
BLA - Bowling All Rounder
The 4 yellow-colored rows denote the maximum 4 foreign players who can be picked in a playing XI.
The team has been picked in batting order.
What I like most about this team is that it covers all bases - in terms of all the 3 facets: it has enough talent and depth in batting, bowling as well as fielding. Not just that, it has depth and variety within these departments too.
Let's pick each one-by-one:
1. Fielding
Some of the best: Manoj Tiwary, AB de Villiers, TM Dilshan, Paul Collingwood, Virender Sehwag, etc. are the standout livewires who would put any close-in ring of fielders to shame.
Guys like Glenn McGrath and Gambhir also possess a wonderful arm - to enable quick, strong returns from the deep.
2. Bowling
Led by the one and only Glenn McGrath, with perhaps the best left-arm slow bowler in the world in the form of Daniel Vettori, the wonderful prospects such as Dirk Nannes, Amit Mishra, Yo Mahesh and Pradeep Sangwan, along with the ever-reliable Ashish Nehra and Farveez Maharoof: you have all sorts of bowlers who can get you wickets against any opposition on any surface.
3. Batting
When a line-up has the likes of Gambhir, Sehwag, Warner and AB/Tiwary/Dilshan staring you in the face as its first four, does anybody need to tell you anymore about its prowess?
Apart from these living dynamites, there are also (only relatively speaking, though) sheet-anchor players, who can hold an end up and make others play their strokes around and on top of their calm and composed presence. Guys such as Owais Shah, Paul Collingwood, Dinesh Karthik, Mithun Manhas and Rajat Bhatia can alway be relied upon to stall any wicket-taking attempts of the opposition while also keeping the scoreboard ticking.
4. All Rounders
With guys such as Farveez Maharoof, the skipper Sehwag himself, Daniel Vettori, Rajat Bhatia and upcoming al-round talents like Dirk Nannes and Andrew McDonald, all-rounders are also available aplenty to choose from.
5. All-Round Depth
Most impressively, the all-round depth in each department of this Delhi team is extremely strong - atleast on paper, for sure. I would love to see a match where every skill in the game is utilised and harnessed in ensuring both hard-fought as well as facile victories.
Hope to see this set of Delhi XI playing someday, sometime, somewhere..can place a significant amount on it doing well. :-)
