The best players of the decade - As its time to bid adieu to 2000s

This decade is coming to a closure soon and with the way cricket is being played these days, the game has a lot more to offer now, than what it had ever before. The last 10 years saw cricket being played much differently than what it earlier. These years saw the conceptualization of the very famous Twenty20 cricket and henceforth, the IPL and the CL. Apart, it also saw players like Ponting, Dravid, Kallis, Murali grow more in their mettle and saw players like the Waugh brothers, Warne, Ambrose take a final call for their cricketing careers. And, it has also seen players like Graeme Smith, Sarwan, Sehwag come into the groove and deliver pure class. Whatever it may be, this decade could be considered one of the best in cricketing history. In same regard, I’ve handpicked some absolute fantastic players, who deserve some appreciation for their cause to uplift the game by their enduring performances.

THE STICK HITTERS

MOST RUNS The top three run getters in all formats during the period being Ricky Ponting, Jacques Kallis and Mahela Jayawardena, a call to decide who was the best was rather very difficult. But, I strongly felt, it had to be Ponting. He averages not very less than Kallis but has the most runs, best strike rate among the top 3 and a very awesome 50 to 100 conversion. Ricky scored 18893 runs in 428 innings at 49.71 with a very good strike rate of 72.28. During this, he notched, 55 tons and 97 half centuries making him one of the best in all.

THE CONSOLATION PRIZE Though this reward isn’t for a consolation performance over a period of time, but, this is meant for a player who performed as gloriously as any other player wouldn’t’ had been. Hence, I felt like giving this honor to the very glorious Virender Sehwag. Virender Sehwag is the only player to score four 250+ scores in the period and also the only player to notch two triple hundreds in the time being. Forget the hundreds, he managed an excellent strike rate in all forms with an overall of it being 91.75, just a fraction less than Gilchrist. Sehwag scored 13484 runs @ 40.61 with 29 fifties and 56 half tons.

THE BEST INNINGS The decade saw some magnificent innings played in all three forms of the game. In this scenario, I decided to give away three prizes, one for each format – Test, ODI and T20. In the tests, the top 3 innings that I shortlisted included Brian Lara’s 400*, Jayawadena’s 374 and Sehwag’s 319. All three innings had a flavor of themselves. Lara’s 400 was unlike any other, Mahela’s 374 was a match savior and Sehwag’s 319 was as fast as it could be. To decide the best of all was indeed a hard task, but, I ended up with Mahela’s 374. His innings helped Lanka win the match against the gigantic South Africa. Apart, Mahela had been out of form and his last 4 innings included no fifty but 2 ducks. He came at a position of 16-2 and also played a part in a world record partnership. Hence, its Mahela’s 374 which is the test innings of the decade!

For the one-dayers, there were again quite a few. The top 3 included – Charles Coventry‘s 194*, MS Dhoni’s 183* and Herschelle Gibbs’ 175. All innings had something into it. Coventry  equalled and broke the long old Anwar’s record but it didn’t possessed something special. Dhoni’s 183 was the highest by a wicket-keeper and included a mighty number of sixes; it also helped India successfully chase the Lanka’s 298. And Gibbs scored 175 chasing 435 in just 111 balls and hence I felt this was ‘the’ innings. Gibbs played this innings with so mightiness that it made the Australia’s 434 look shy and make a game that had more than 400 runs scored in both innings.

And for the young kid on the block, the T20 innings of the decade had not real to offer but I felt there are two innings which had everything to offer. These were, Gayle’s 117 off 57 against SA and Yuvraj’s 58 off 16 against England. And, yes, Yuvraj’s 58 had to be it. Though Gayle became the only centurion, Yuvraj’s innings helped India make more inroads. It helped India go past 200, win the game and hence, have a chance to qualify for the semis of 2007 World T20. And, yepe, the innings included 6 consecutive 6s in an over, which was a prima fiesta and a world record in itself.

THE CHERRY HANDLERS

MOST WICKETS Well well, no troubles in here. Muttiah Muralitharan with his top class bowling is a clear winner. The mauler took 911 wickets, 261 more than the second highest, Makhaya Ntini, at an enormous average of 20.80 and a distinctive strike rate of 43.9. His economy being just 2.84 per over and he clinched 57 five wicket hauls, 31 more than the next best and 20 10 wicket hauls, 14 more than the next best! He bowled wonderfully and was a certain match winner for his side.

THE CONSOLATION PRIZE The consolation for bowlers was indeed difficult to give. I had to choose from a list of some high class bowlers including Shane Warne, Shaun Pollock, Glenn McGrath; but, I felt sticking to the Pigeon – Glenn McGrath. Though he stands at 6th on the list of most wickets with 536, he has one of the best economy and best average among the bowlers taking more than 400 wickets in the period and not to mention he ended his career 2 years back in 2007. He during the period picked 536 wickets @ 20.38 a piece and an economy of 2.86. So, let the Pigeon be the Flier!!

THE BEST BOWLING INNINGS The shortlisted players for best bowling in an innings included – Muralitharan for his 9/51, McGrath for 8/24 and Harbhajan for 8/84. Considering the Murali cameo, it came against Zimbabwe and hence was very difficult to gift the award. For, McGrath, Pakistan were chasing 564 and it was Perth in 4th innings and hence given the very favorable conditions, I felt it wasn’t to be him. Hence, the clear winner is Bhajji. His 8/84 came just after his first innings 7/133. It was against Australia which housed players like the Waughs, Warnes and McGraths. This bowling innings helped India clinch the Border-Gavaskar trophy and make a statement. And, not to mention, Harbhajan was just 21 then! And given all these facts, I decided to give Bhajji also the ‘Best Bowling in a match’ award too, for the match figures of 15/217, the best in the decade, and the icing on the cake was the hattrick in the first innings.

In one-day internationals, I shortlisted, Chaminda Vaas’ 8/17 against Zimbabwe; Andy Bichel’s 7/20 in the world cup ’03 pool game and Ajantha Mendis’ 6/13 in Asia cup final. Vaas had to be their, his 8/17 is the best ever figures for anybody in One-day history but it was a depleted Zimbabwe side and a very good Colombo track. Bichel’s 7-fer helped Oz register another win in the World Cup ’03 campaign but it was not as significant as it could had been. Hence, my pick – Ajantha Mendis. The bloke comes in, plays his first game  against India in the Asia cup final, picks 6 wickets for just 13 runs. Wow! And moreover, he picked the likes of Sehwag, Yuvraj, Raina and more. He helped Sri Lanka secure the Asia cup, which, if he hadn’t played, would had been India’s!

In the T20s, there are two innings which have etched into my memory. One from the 2007 World T20 and the other from 2009 World T20. The first being, RP Singh’s 4/13 against South Africa. The way he bowled that night was fantastic. It was a do or die for India as well as South Africa. Though, South Africa was a certainty, they eventually got knocked out and India through the semis and then of course the winners of the title. The other, being, Umer Gul’s 5/6 against New Zealand. This game again was again a do or die for Pakistan and Gul helped Pakistan, bowling first, crush New Zealand with 99 runs on the board. Pakistan, after this went on to win the cup. So, for me, it becomes very difficult to decide a winner, but I’ll go for Umer Gul; Just because he took a 5-fer and gave away just meager 6 runs in 18 balls.

THE JACK OF ALL

JACQUES KALLIS is the only player this decade who scored plenty a runs and also took plenty a wickets simultaneously. He was one such allrounder that any team would demand. And I didn’t had any other players who were as good as Kallis was and is. In all the three formats he scored 16699, the second best after Ponting, at 52.02 and clinched 400 wickets, the 12th best, at 32.23 a piece. Considering at least 10000 runs and 225 wickets, only Chris Gayle and Sanath Jayasuriya were the players close to him!!

THE GLOVER

Adam Gilchrist is the wicket-keeper of the decade with no doubts. Mark Boucher gave him a challenging fight, but also the given the fact of Adam’s retirement in 2008, Boucher hasn’t able to outplay him in the number of dismissals. In all formats, Gilchrist kept gloves in 404 innings and fetched 776 dismissals that included 72 stumpings. Apart the dismissals, he scored the most runs by a wicket-keeper in the period. He scored 12645 runs @ 39.51 with a very good strike rate of 92.61. Gilly takes the Glover award!

Apart from the players listed, there have been certain more that deserved some or the other prize for their feats. Nevertheless, I took some time out and decided to compile a Decade XI. The following paraphrase describes a team, which, if plays, would be invincible in all formats of the game…

THE DECADE XI

Well, this was indeed the most difficult task to perform. I had an array of players and had to decide a team that took 20 wickets in a test; had some powerplayers for the one-days and had some hardest hitters for the T20. The team listed below is something that is capable of doing the same. It has 5 main-stream bowlers that include – 2 excellent medium pacers, 1 fast bowler, 2 spinners. It has Kallis as the all-rounder, whereas, Tendulkar, Pollock, Harbhajan and Lee will be the occasional all-rounders. The openers are mighty hard hitters but also great test players too. Gilchrist, as mentioned above, is the best wicket-keeper in the decade. Ponting and Dravid handle the middle order strongly whereas Tendulkar is sandwiched between the former two and he is such a player, whom you just can’t keep away from anything about the game. And last there is Mahela Jayawardena, the XIIth man. He scored more than 16000 runs and took the most catches as a feilder – 290. The following list is a brief to the Decade 2000s XI.  

Adam Gilchrist (WK)

Matthew Hayden

Ricky Ponting (C)

Sachin Tendulkar

Rahul Dravid

Jacques Kallis

Shaun Pollock

Harbhajan Singh

Brett Lee

Muttiah Muralitharan

Glenn McGrath

Mahela Jayawardena (XIIth Man)

Here, I’d conclude my edition of the “Best players of the Decade – 2000s” here. Let us hope, the next time we have a chance to compile such an article, we’d have more records, more runs, more wickets and more dismissals to play with and let the game of the cricket prevail as it has been!!!

 NOTE: All the statistics are based on the data fetched upto December 24th, 2009.