20Twenty Dream Team

Entertainment Cricket and Other Sports
1

Most of us now accept the fact that 20Twenty takes a different set of skills than the regular ODIs, the dream team of 20Twenty will be very different from that of ODIs. Here is what I think would form the best combination -

Gilchrist (WK, Captain)
Chris Gayle
JayaSuriya
Yuvraj
KP
Afridi
Pathan
Pollock
Vettori
Asif
Stuart Clarke

I am sure ‘experts’ will come up with their dream team after the grand finale. Let’s all of us put our teams here and see how close we are with our teams with those chosen by experts.

2

Re: 20Twenty Dream Team

I'll rather go with the 5-1-5 combination.
5 Yuvraj, 1 Gilchrist and 5 Clarke.

3

Re: 20Twenty Dream Team

For that you'll have to wait till 2050 or more when they rethink about ban on human cloning :p

4

Re: 20Twenty Dream Team

BBC’s Team of the Tournament
It’s been quite a week here in Durban. It didn’t start in the best possible way when Jonathan Agnew, Alison Mitchell and I arrived at our hotel - the Balmoral - to be told our rooms had been given to someone else. We quickly dubbed it the “Bad morale” hotel!
We were told to wait around whilst they “tried to sort something out” for us. The receptionist then returned looking very excited and informed us that she had managed to find us two rooms between us.
She presumed that would be fine as she thought we were a “family”. Aggers’s mood wasn’t improved when I suggested they probably assumed he was myself and Alison’s dad!
We’ve seen plenty of drama at Kingsmead in our week here – at the start of it, we went to the ground to set things up and watch England’s training session and only five minutes after our arrival Alison was watching Matt Prior facing a few throw-downs from coach Peter Moores when the wicket-keeper sustained the injury which ruled him out of the tournament.
Later we saw England throw away victory against New Zealand before that amazing match between England and India the following day. Those who saw it will never forget the six sixes struck by Yuvraj Singh in one over from Stuart Broad.
I now consider myself to be very lucky, having witnessed this feat twice as I was also in St Kitts when Herschelle Gibbs also struck 36 in one over during the 50 over World Cup. With all due respect to Daan Van Bunge, however, Yuvraj’s effort was perhaps more impressive coming off a bowler like Broad.
I am not the only person to have seen six sixes in an over struck twice. Ravi Shastri was on air when Yuvraj was in action – and he’s hit six sixes himself - and Sunil Gavaskar told us that he was in the team when Shastri completed the feat and also witnessed Yuvraj’s fireworks.
On Thursday, we witnessed the latest South African cricket heartbreak as they lost to India by a wide enough margin to go out of the tournament. The headlines in the papers next day were all too familiar to South African cricket fans. “Shattered Dreams” said one, whilst the Star went with “Chokers”.
To wrap up our week, we enjoyed an absolutely thrilling semi-final as Yuvraj again enjoyed himself in front of a capacity crowd, with the large Asian community in Durban making it more like Calcutta than KwaZulu-Natal.
Australia looked to be on their way to an amazing win at one stage , but some excellent captaincy from Dhoni and fine bowling from the likes of Sree Santh and Harbajan Singh saw India to that dream final with Pakistan.
And on the subject of dreams, as we have now reached the climax of this tournament – I thought I would offer you my final Dream Team of the Tournament.
1) Matthew Hayden
Responded when Ricky Ponting accused his top order batsman of not respecting Twenty20 Cricket by becoming one of the players of the tournament. Named the ICC ODI Player of the year – and we have seen just why.
2) Chris Gayle
Ok, so he only really performed in one innings – but what an innings. Gayle’s electrifying opening match century kick-started the tournament and set the big-hitting standard for others to follow.
3) Yuvraj Singh
Six sixes in an over, cricket’s fastest ever international half century, and an enthralling innings against Australia in the semi-final. How could you leave him out.
4) Shahid Afridi
Can bat anywhere in the order. His attitude was demonstrated when asked what is his favourite shot was and he answered: “Anywhere for six”. He’s in my team, however, more for his bowling in this competition than his batting. Has been one of the tournament’s best spin bowlers.
5) Shoaib Malik
One of the batsmen of the tournament , he finished the semi-final at Cape Town with a six. A more than useful spin bowler, he has also made an impressive start to his captaincy of Pakistan. I see him working with Mahendra Dhoni to lead this dream team.
6) Misbah-ul-Haq
The 1992 World Cup is remembered for the introduction of Inzamam-ul-Haq - and Misbah (no relation) has certainly made his mark on the 2007 Twenty20 with some huge hitting.
7) Mahendra Dhoni (captain and wicket-keeper)
Zimbabwe’s Brendon Taylor did nothing wrong in his performances against Australia and England , but I have decided to go for Dhoni behind the stumps. Not only is he a real entertainer, but who better to captain a T20 Dream Team than a real swashbuckling hero.
Ian Chappell said on TMS that a team takes on the personality of its captain, and thinks India are playing without fear because of the character of Dhoni. That is how I want this super team to play.
8) Morne Morkel
The Morkel brothers have been South Africa’s main find at this tournament. I have gone for Morne after his impressive bowling displays. Another name for the future.
9) Daniel Vettori
Has used his height well to become one of the tournament’s leading spin bowlers. Promising debut as New Zealand captain as well - it’s not easy stepping into Stephen Fleming’s shoes.
10) Umar Gul
Just takes a fast bowling position ahead of team-mate Mohammad Asif and India’s Irfan Pathan. Sealed his place with impressive semi-final display.
11) Stuart Clark
Although Nathan Bracken, Mitchell Johnson and Brett Lee were all considered I have gone for the consistency of Clark, who showed the virtues of line and length, which served him so well in last winter’s Ashes series, are also useful in the shortest form of the game.
12th Man) Kevin Pietersen
Just missed out on selection in the first XI after a consistent performance in the tournament.