World Test Team

[King Pietersen]

In England, 8 wickets, in 2 matches, at 36. Not too bad considering his first match was on the flattest deck in England, Lords, where England made 593. He then got 7 wickets at Leeds. He's a quality bowler, the best quickie in the world atm, by a mile. Ishant is close in terms of talent, but he's not proven enough in Test cricket yet. Steyn's got a magnificent record, averaging 22 in Test cricket is no mean feat. So what if he tends to pick up tail end wickets, you still have to get them out, no Test wicket is easy in the modern game.

 

[ZoraxDoom]

Yea, I agree. You need talent to wipe the tail, one of the reasons Kumble was such an asset.

If we take Steyn and Sharma out, we've only got Lee to contest for the best fast bowler in the world right now, and his form is shocking. The others in contention are Anderson, Sidebottom, Clark, and Zaheer. So I'd probably go with Steyn right now.

 

[shravi]

I don't understand why people are putting Ishant Sharma up there. He's not even close yet. I say this after seeing how so many Indian quicks have disappeared over the years.

 

[manee]

Ishant is far better than the others before him, having actually performed in Test and ODI cricket rather than promising to perform or showing potential.

 

[ZoraxDoom]

I'm wary of Ishant too. Look what happened to Pathan, Balaji, Nehra, Tinu Youhannan (I know I spelt that wrong). Could very well be a false down. I'm just hoping the Indian selectors and coaches have learnt from past mistakes. He's gone a nice long while so far without any crippling form or injuries, but so did Pathan. Remember all the comparisions to Dev? The new ball chaos and blistering stuff at number 3...but then look where he is now. We really shouldn't be building Ishant up so much...

 

[King Pietersen]

Ishant's got far more talent than any of those names mentioned though. He's going to be a big star, he gets class players out, gets extravagent seam movement, is incredibly consistent, gets good bounce, and has very good pace. He'll be a top talent for years to come.

 

[Cricketman]

Pathan was good for a very long time, remember. Only till he changed his action did he start messing up. It was all Chappell's fault tbh, kept trying to make him a batsman and not concentrate on bowling. I still feel he'll bounce back and be a useful all rounder to the team.

 

[smssia0112]

Lee's shocking form only really extends to some bad tracks for pace bowlers in one series, and his unfitness is definitely a factor. Not time to write him off yet.

 

[King_Razzak]

here is my team GO BANGLADESH!

V.Sehwag
T.Iqbal
R.Ponting(C)
M.Ashraful(VC)
S.Tendulkar
J.Kallis
K.Sangakarra(WK)
B.Lee
M.Mortaza
D.Steyn
A.Razzak

 

[ZoraxDoom]

Out of the 4 Deshis, Mortaza is the closest to deserving a spot, while Ashraful has the potential to be there if he got his head on straight. Razzak and Iqbal shouldn't be there, and Mortaza as a reserve at best.

 

[Cricketman]

Tamim is class.

 

[.Mob]

Talent wise, yeah, needs to start converting that into better scores though. But, I guess he's still only 18/19, so yeah, I hope it will come with age.

 

[King Pietersen]

A better Test opener than Hayden, Smith, Cook, Strauss, Katich, Gambhir, McKenzie, How and Vandort?

Thought not. He may be good for Bangladeshi standards, but atm he's not proven enough to even make me consider him within the top 5 Test Openers in the world. None of the Bangladeshi players are good enough to get into a World Test side, it's the harsh truth. They've got some talent, but none of them will ever be world beaters. The only truely class player to come out of a "Minnow" side is Andy Flower. He's the only player that'd get into a World XI, he was fantastically good.

Hayden
Smith
Ponting
Pietersen
Hussey
Sangakkara (WK)
Flintoff
Steyn
Muralitharan
Mendis
Sharma

Batsman are there to make the runs, bowlers win a Test match. There aren't 6 better batsmen in world cricket at the moment that beat any of those 6 for my money. You've then got some batting from Freddie. The top 7 get the runs, and then it's up to Steyn, Sharma, Flintoff, Murali and Mendis to get the wickets.

 

[Arunava]

Pathan was good for a very long time, remember. Only till he changed his action did he start messing up. It was all Chappell's fault tbh, kept trying to make him a batsman and not concentrate on bowling. I still feel he'll bounce back and be a useful all rounder to the team.

pathan was always a swing bowler, he didn't had strength to generate troubling pace. he started declining when he lost his swing. pace was never his weapon. bowlers depending on just swing only succeed in supporting conditions, england, early morning or evening with moisture in the air. otherwise they flop and get hammered if they lack pace.

that is why pathan more concentrated on line and length and change of pace later in his career.

similar bowler is James Anderson for England, but he has pace to support him, still he lacks that edge in unfavourable conditions.

and , on the contrary, Ishant is a very different bowler to pathan. he has height to support him as well in unfavourable conditions.

 

[Cricketman]

Nah, when Pathan first came on the scene alot of people were mentioning his pace. He hit 140 regularly.