Wisden All Time best XI: How could you exclude Javed Miandad and Muttiah Muralitharan?

Tendulkar over Miandad, Warne over Muttiah Muralitharan, how? What is going on with the Wisden All Time XI list?

Sharjeel Askari December 22, 2013
In October, 2013 Wisden, a cricket reference book published annually in UK, marked its 150th anniversary by naming the best Test team of all time. Though the team is a great one and all the pronounced cricket legends are included, some I believe are left out without any valid reasons.

The team includes:

1.        Jack Hobbs

2.        W G Grace

3.        Don Bradman (Captain)

4.        Sachin Tendulkar

5.        Vivian Richards

6.        Gary Sobers

7.        Alan Knott

8.       Wasim Akram

9.        Shane Warne

10.    Malcolm Marshall

11.     Sydney Barnes

Technically, there is nothing wrong with this team. It is indeed a mighty one, but the selection of Grace over Len Hutton looks more like an honorary one rather than on merit.

Their selection of Tendulkar being better than Javed Miandad is beyond me. The latter is better than the former in many ways. Miandad has played mighty bowlers like Dennis Lillee, Michael Holding, Malcolm Marshall, Joel Garner, Jeff Thompson, Richard Hadlee, Andy Roberts and various others in their prime and had a good record against them. Tendulkar, on the other hand, has had problems against the best bowlers of his era-Wasim Akram, Allan Donald, Glenn Mcgrath and Muttiah Muralitharan.

Though the little master has had some success against Warne, the Australian bowler has hardly had any success against India. If anyone rates Tendulkar over Miandad then it simply means you are rating rivers above seas. There is none better than Miandad as a middle order batsman.

Alan Knott is named as the wicket keeper batsman in Wisden All Time XI, but why would they name a better batsman and slightly less efficient than the others as a wicket keeper? Even though they have so many great batsmen in Bradman, Richards, Sobers and Miandad, it is unwise to go for a less efficient wicket keeper. Rodney Marsh is the best wicket keeper for any XI as his record suggests he was as quick as a flash behind the stumps.

In the spin department, they prefer Warne over Muttiah Muralitharan, which is indeed a controversial choice. Muralitharan has an excellent record against every opposition, while Warne has been thrashed by the best batsmen of his era - Tendulkar, Brian Lara and Saeed Anwar. There is an element of favouritism in picking Warne over Muralitharan.

When picking fast bowlers you are leaving Michael Holding and picking Barnes, who had actually enjoyed bowling on wet, overwatered wickets. Imagine the Whispering Death bowling on those wickets and what his record might have been.

If you are really willing to pick someone from the earlier generations, then pick Sir Charles Aubrey Smith. Even though Smith has played only one Test, he had a fantastic bowling average of 8.71 and a strike rate of 22, and proved his worth as a world class bowler of his time with match winning performances more often in first class cricket than any other amateur fast bowler.

Although it may sound weird to pick a one-Test-wonder but in English county, Smith led Sussex to many titles against much tougher opposition and Grace himself rates him as the best. Being an amateur fast bowler, Smith hardly played any Test matches but after the first class matches that he did play, everyone titled him as the finest bowler they’ve faced. Smith, on many occasions, won matches for his team from the jaws of defeat.

Disappointed with the selection provided, I decided to come up with my own version of the team, which includes:

1.        Jack Hobbs

2.        Len Hutton

3.        Don Bradman

4.        Vivian Richards

5.        Javed Miandad

6.        Gary Sobers

7.        Rodney Marsh

8.       Malcolm Marshall

9.        Charles Aubrey Smith (Captain)

10.    Michael Holding

11.     Muttiah Muralitharan

Anyone who has a passion for cricket and knows its legends would agree with my line up. They would be undefeatable on the field – that’s a fact.
WRITTEN BY:
Sharjeel Askari An ACCA affiliate. Loves writing and has previously written about Wild life and crocodiles. Passionate about sports, especially Cricket and Football. Tweets @Sharry2011 (https://twitter.com/Sharry2011)
The views expressed by the writer and the reader comments do not necassarily reflect the views and policies of the Express Tribune.

COMMENTS (38)

Sharjeel Askari | 10 years ago | Reply Check Javed Miandad's stats against the greatest bowlers he faced e.g Lillee, Marshall, Joel Garner, Richard Hadlee, Walsh, Ambrose, Jeff Thompson etc and Sachin's stats against the bowlers he faced e.g Wasim,Waqar, Donald, Pollock,Murali, Warne,Mcgrath,Saqlain etc then u will know Sachin struggled against Great bowlers while Javed was a match winner against champion bowlers. Sachin was a greatest run scoring machine after Bradman but Javed was a bigger match winner. Sachin was simply fragile in tense situations
Rashid | 10 years ago | Reply Miandad is better than Tendulkar? LOL. And Wasim Akram won't even make your list? Dude, stick to 'wildlife and crocodiles' .. Cricket ain't your thing.
VIEW MORE COMMENTS
Replying to X

Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.

For more information, please see our Comments FAQ