Best Indian ODI XI comprising of players from Mumbai
It is a no-brainer that Mumbai has consistently produced some of the greatest stalwarts in Indian cricket over a considerable period of time. The domestic cricket powerhouse which has enjoyed a hegemony at winning premier first-class tournaments in India has been a consistent breeding ground for producing world-class players who served India with great distinction.
Right from Vijay Manjrekar to Polly Umrigar to the ‘Little Master’ Sunil Gavaskar to ‘Master Blaster’ Sachin Tendulkar, there has been one Mumbaikar who had been the iconic player for India in their respective generations. It is a fact that Mumbai, along with Karnataka, has produced the most Test players who went onto achieve glittering heights, contributing immensely to the cause of Indian cricket.
Besides the legendary players, there were some great stroke makers from the Mumbai stable in Dilip Vengsarkar, Sanjay Manjrekar, Sandeep Patil, Ravi Shastri and Vinod Kambli to name a few, who etched a mark in international cricket with their exploits with the willow.
Continuing with the rich heritage of Mumbai cricket, the current Indian team has a few names with Rohit Sharma leading the way. Besides the galaxy of batting talent, Mumbai has also produced some quality bowlers who picked up heaps for wickets for India and had a stellar run in international cricket. Zaheer Khan, arguably India’s greatest left-arm seamer played a major part of his domestic cricket for Mumbai.
Another Mumbaikar who can’t be forgotten is the enigmatic seamer Ajit Agarkar who was an outright strike bowler in white ball cricket. Agarkar was the go-to man to pick up wickets early with the new ball and more often than not rewarded the team with early strikes.
So it would be interesting to don the selector’s hat and pick up Mumbai’s best playing eleven that represented India in ODIs and achieved notable success at the highest level in white ball cricket.
Note: For my selection, I have only considered those cricketers who had a fairly long stint in the Indian ODI set up and put up consistent performances with either bat or ball for a major part of their respective careers.
Mumbai has produced a string of international cricketers who donned the Indian jersey in ODIs but those who did not have a consistent run in the national team did not make the cut in the top playing eleven.
Mumbai cricketers who represented India in ODIs
Notable Mentions:
Sanjay Manjrekar
Pravin Amre
Salil Ankola
Abey Kuruvilla
Sairaj Bahutule
Nilesh Kulkarni
Aavishkar Salvi
Sameer Dighe
Dhawal Kulkarni
Shardul Thakur
Shreyas Iyer