A selection game

[Aislabie]

We often hear the commentators talking about picking specialised squads, and have seen teams like England moving gradually towards doing so. But let's take it to extremes: I'm interested to see you pick a different team for each format and explain why you've picked each one. You can of course apply this to whichever country you like.

England Test XI
Alastair Cook
Keaton Jennings
Haseeb Hameed
Joe Root
Jonny Bairstow
James Hildreth
Ben Stokes
Tim Bresnan
Stuart Broad
James Anderson
Jack Leach

Dawid Malan
Ben Foakes
Ollie Rayner
Toby Roland-Jones

A couple of gnarled county pros in there: Hildreth provides some grit at number six (refer to his broken-ankled century for proof of just how much grit) which should hopefully help to stave off collapses. Stokes shifts down to number seven in the hope that he can go full-Gilchrist while also graduating to become the attack's third seamer.

England ODI XI
Jason Roy
Michael Lumb
Nick Gubbins
Jos Buttler
Sam Northeast
Ravi Bopara
Moeen Ali
Chris Woakes
Adil Rashid
Chris Jordan
David Willey

Mark Stoneman
Laurie Evans
Liam Plunkett
Reece Topley

It perhaps isn't the same kind of brash, in-your-face England ODI team we've grown accustomed to, but this team still retains its flexibility and the ability to pepper the boundary ropes all the way down the batting order, and the importance of that is hard to over-state. I also took a gamble on Chris Jordan being a slightly better death bowler than he has sometimes looked for England.

England Twenty20 XI
Alex Hales
Sam Billings
James Vince
Eoin Morgan
Josh Cobb
Peter Trego
Benny Howell
Matt Coles
Will Beer
Graeme White
Tymal Mills

Adam Lyth
Liam Livingstone
Jordan Clark
George Garton

I'm pretty sure this team comes as a surprise: if I'm counting correctly, the starting XI contains six uncapped players, and they make up almost the entire bowling attack, with a similar style to the reserves. My reasoning is simple: I'm picking those players who have been outstanding in domestic cricket. And every player in that side, except possibly Jordan Clark, has the stats behind them to do very well indeed.

I'll probably do other countries over coming days.

 

[CerealKiller]

India Test XI

Murali Vijay
KL Rahul
Cheteshwar Pujara
Virat Kohli
Ajinkya Rahane
R Ashwin
W Saha
J Yadav
R Jadeja
M Shami
U Yadav


I Sharma
KK Nair
Rishi Dhawan
Shreyas Iyer

I would include J Yadav only in Indian pitches. I would replace him with Rishi Dhawan or Ishant Sharma outside subcontinent. And I have selected Rishi Dhawan because he is a good all rounder. Many argue that Hardik Pandya should be there instead. But I feel Hardik should play more domestic matches and then we can draft him. We don't have any other wkt kpr. Hence Saha over Naman Ojha, Parthiv Patel and Dinesh Karthik as Saha's keeping skills are better and that's more important. Shreyas Iyer has been impressive opener. He is not in his best this year, but better than Dhawan and Gambhir. I might have wanted PK Panchal. He had 50+ avg in last season and 90+ avg in this season. But I haven't watched him play. So, I won't include him.


India ODI XI

Rohit Sharma
KL Rahul
Virat Kohli
Yuvraj Singh
MS Dhoni
H Pandya
R Ashwin
R Jadeja
Bhuvneshwar Kumar
M Shami
J Bumrah


Ajinkya Rahane
Amit Mishra
Suresh Raina
Ishant Sharma

I would not have included Yuvi. But he is in good form. And that's why I moved MSD from #4 to #5. And I included Pandya ahead of Raina because we will go to England for ICC champions trophy and Raina would not be ideal there. Hardik can even bowl with decent pace. Rohit Sharma will take his time initially, so is Rahane. So, I selected Rahul as he can utilize the power play. We fail to score well in PP compared to other teams. That's why Rahul comes in the top and Rahane misses. And there are plenty of bowling options too.

India T20I XI

Rohit Sharma
KL Rahul
Virat Kohli
Yuvraj Singh
MS Dhoni
H Pandya
R Jadeja
R Ashwin
Bhuvneshwar Kumar
M Shami
J Bumrah


Rishabh Pant
Suresh Raina
Manish Pandey
Ishant Sharma

Pretty much the same team as ODI. But I have included Rishabh Pant and Manish Pandey. Rishabh Pant has been very impressive and he can hit the ball well and Pandey is an elegant player too. Again plenty of bowling options if players are getting hammered.

You can pick a player only in one format.

 

[zwarrior]

You can pick a player only in one format.

Oh lol. Thanks. I missed that point.

Will delete my above post.

 

[Till Valhalla]

ATM, I think India is the only team which can have all different, formidable squads for different format.

 

[CerealKiller]

Tests
Sami Aslam
Azhar Ali
Asad Shafiq
Younis Khan
Misbah-ul-Haq
Fawad Alam
Kamran Akmal
Yasir Shah
Sohail Khan
Tabish Khan
Mir Hamza

ODIs
Mohammad Hafeez
Sarfraz Ahmed
Babar Azam
Haris Sohail
Shoaib Malik
Mohammad Nawaz
Fahim Ashraf
Zafar Gohar
Mohammad Aamir
Junaid Khan
Sadaf Hussain

T20Is
Sharjeel Khan
Fakhar Zaman
Khalid Latif
Umar Akmal
Iftikhar Ahmed
Imad Wasim
Aamir Yamin
Sohail Tanvir
Saifullah Bangash
Amad Butt
Mohammad Asghar


Not bad at all.

 

[Aislabie]

Afghanistan Test XI
Noor Ali Zadran
Shabir Noori
Rahmat Shah
Hashmatullah Shahidi
Asghar Stanikzai
Noor-ul-Haq
Afsar Zazai
Yamin Ahmadzai
Izatullah Dawlatzai
Zahir Khan
Sayed Shirzad

A rather long tail, but still a serious bowling attack. There aren't any really dashing batsmen here, although Stanikzai knows how to play his strokes - the focus is much more on playing the kind of innings Hashmatullah plays all the time in domestic cricket.

Afghanistan ODI XI
Usman Ghani
Javed Ahmadi
Karim Sadiq
Nawroz Mangal
Samiullah Shenwari
Mohammad Nabi
Munir Ahmad
Mirwais Ashraf
Dawlat Zadran
Shapoor Zadran
Sharafuddin Ashraf

This is a team that has more options than the DBC Player Academy, although if you look really carefully you can spot that Karim Sadiq isn't really an international number three. He's there mostly because it's late and I couldn't really think of anyone else right away.

Afghanistan Twenty20 XI

Mohammad Shahzad
Ihsanullah Janat
Tariq Stanikzai
Najibullah Zadran
Gulbodin Naib
Shafiqullah Shenwari
Rashid Khan
Hamid Hassan
Aftab Alam
Amir Hamza
Fareed Ahmad

Again, this isn't really a star-studded team, but with Mohammad Shahzad to get the runs and Hamid Hassan to get the wickets, not to mention Rashid Khan to do both, they really should be fine. Also, Najibullah, Gulbodin, Shafiq and Rashid all hit a cricket ball very cleanly indeed, so Ihsan and Tariq are free to work the ball around and support whoever they're batting with.

 

[CremerCurrans]

Zimbabwe

Test XI:

Tino Mawoyo
Nkosana Mpofu
Prince Masvaure
Craig Ervine
Regis Chakabva
Sean Williams
Graeme Cremer
Wellington Masakadza
Carl Mumba
Chris Mpofu
Victor Nyauchi

A very workman like XI with a long tail. Sean Williams provides the quick scoring when needed, and Cremer would need to continue his good form with the bat.

ODI XI:

Chamu Chibhabha
Brian Chari
Tarisai Musakanda
Ryan Burl
Sikandar Raza
Peter Moor
Ryan Murray
Neville Madziva
Tendai Chisoro
Donald Tiripano
Brian Vitori / Tinashe Panyangara

The team bats all the way down to eleven, which will help when he have a collapse. Murray should provide safe hands behind the stumps, taking any opportunity that comes to him, and he would contribute with the bat too. Probably the strongest of the three teams.

T20I XI:

Hamilton Masakadza
Cephas Zhuwao
Malcolm Waller
Elton Chigumbura
Nathan Waller
Tinotenda Mutombodzi
Luke Jongwe
Shingi Masakadza
Tapiwa Mufudza
Trevor Garwe
Tendai Chatara

An aggressive XI down to five, which will likely go down swinging. Shingi occasionally provides some lower-order hitting as well. The bowling will be expensive, but they can all take wickets too.

 

[zwarrior]

Wow. It was difficult to choose players. I didn't know we had so many back up players. It was definitely hard to leave out few guys.


India Test XI

Murali Vijay
Gautam Gambhir
Cheteshwar Pujara
Virat Kohli
Ajinkya Rahane
R Ashwin
W Saha
J Yadav
I Sharma
U Yadav
M Shami


Karun Nair
Shikhar Dhawan
Shreyas Iyer
Vinay Kumar
Rishi Dhawan
Naman Ojha


Haven't included R Jadeja because he is not much effective with the ball overseas and he will be a better fit in ODI. It was very hard to leave out Karun Nair, but had no other choice. Chose Gambhir over Shreyas Iyer as we will get Right-Left combination. I have include Vinay Kumar as back up player as he consistently perform well in Domestic matches and same goes to Rishi Dhawan. Karun Nair is back up for Rahane. Iyer for GG and Rishi Dhawan for Jayant Yadav.


India ODI XI

Rohit Sharma
KL Rahul
Ambati Rayudu
Yuvraj Singh
MS Dhoni
Hardik Pandya
R Jadeja
Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Amit Mishra
Praveen Kumar
J Bumrah


Kedar Jadhav
Mayank Agarwal
Mohith Sharma
Kuldeep Yadav
Dinesh Karthik
Mandeep Singh

Ambati Rayudu is one of the unluckiest player. He is amazing but he doesn't get chance to perform. So, he is the best fit in Kohli's spot. And I have included Praveen Kumar as he was very effective before his injury and now he is improving. It was hard to leave out Kedar Jadhav because Yuvraj Singh is in that spot. Even Kedar Jadhav has performed very well but, tough luck. Mandeep Singh is back up opener and Kedar Jadhav is back up for #4 or #5 and Mayank Agarwal is back up for Rayudu.


India T20I XI

Rishabh Pant
Robin Uthappa
Manish Pandey
Suresh Raina
Yusuf Pathan
Sarfaraz Khan
Axar Patel
Dhawal Kulkarni
Y Chahal
Ashish Nehra
Barinder Sran


Praveen Tambe
Parthiv Patel
SuryaKumar Yadav
Deepak Hooda
Irfan Pathan
Harbhajan Singh

Have got few uncapped players.

I have made Raina as captain because he is the one with good experience and he has captained GL to play offs. Yusuf Pathan is a must in T20I. He can beat the hell out of any bowler and we need that kind of player in the team. He can even play patiently in case collapse happens and he is a handy bowler. Sarfaraz Khan might be surprise to few but he is very very effective. He has proved it in IPL. He has proved it in U19. Rishabh Pant needs no justification. He is perfect fit there. Dhawal is someone like Bhuvi who can be effective with the new ball. Chahal has been very very good for RCB and he deserves that spot. Even the back up players are good. Parthiv for Pant, Yadav for Sarfaraz, Deepak Hoods for Yusuf. Bowling looks like a concern but it is not. Nehra, Chahal and Axar can definitely control. Sran and Dhawal can be good on their day but expensive. Yusuf and Raina are handy too who can pick wickets as well as bowl economically. But all these players have got experience in pressure situations thanks to IPL.

 

[Markkkkk]

Test

The Better Cook
Dean Elgar
Heino Kuhn
Faf Du Plessis
Temba Bavuma
Dane Vilas
Dwaine Pretorius
Keshav Maharaj
Vernon Philander
Dale Steyn
Kagiso Rabada

Pretty much our current line up minus JP, Amla and de Kock

ODI
Quinton de Kock
Hashim Amla
Colin Ackermann
AB de Villiers
David Miller
Aiden Markram
JP Duminy
Morne Morkel
Hardus Viljoen
Dane Paterson
Imran Tahir

Once again incredibly strong. Miller can bat in the top 5 as if he gets time he's an insane ODI batsmen. Rilee would have opened but you know...

T20
JJ Smuts
Rassie van der Dussen
Heinrich Klaasen
Cameron Delport
Farhaan Behardien
Albie Morkel
Wayne Parnell
Chris Morris
Bjorn Fortuin
Marchant de Lange
Andrew Birch

That's a scary line up. Could score 300 on it's day.

Would have been easier if 90 players weren't getting Kolpak deals. This shows how good our bowling depth is.

 

[CerealKiller]

@Na Maloom Afraad what do you make of my XIs? Check 3-4 posts above

 

[Na Maloom Afraad]

@Na Maloom Afraad what do you make of my XIs? Check 3-4 posts above

I really like 'em, although, I think I'd swap Sarfaraz and Kamran if they were my teams.

And where's Junaid?

 

[CerealKiller]

And where's Junaid?

Forgot him
Added to the ODI team

 

[CremerCurrans]

Rilee would have opened but you know...

Ackermann accepted a kolpak deal too.

 

[Markkkkk]

Ackermann accepted a kolpak deal too.

CSA need to get their act together.

 

[Bluebagger]

Australia Test

Matt Renshaw
David Warner
Usman Khawaja
Steve Smith
Peter Handscomb
Kyle Patterson
Peter Nevill
Mitchell Starc
Josh Hazlewood
Nathan Lyon
Jackson Bird

It's a settled line up already but I'd like to see Patterson or Lehmann get a go at 6.

Australia ODI

Aaron Finch
Shaun Marsh
George Bailey
Travis Head
Chris Lynn
Matthew Wade
Mitchell Marsh
James Faulkner
John Hastings
Pat Cummins
Adam Zampa

Not as strong without the test players in this team. I'd say not a good team at all