India's greatest all-time ODI playing XI
We are close to two decades into the new millennium era and Indian cricket has changed drastically since 1975 when India played its first ever ODI match. ODIs have evolved a lot ever since. The then 60 over format, has witnessed a lot of changes right from overs limited to 50 now, 1 new ball from each end, fielding restrictions etc. With the advent of the youngest cricketing format - T20s, the game has been more progressive and unique.
However, regardless of the format, Indian cricket has seen a lot of great players come and go. These players have reformed the game completely and etched their names in golden words. Here's an honest attempt at an otherwise arduous task of choosing the all-time greatest XI of Indian Cricket for ODI format.
This team comprises of 5 batsmen, 1 wicket-keeper, 1 all rounder, 1 spinner and 3 seamers. Alongside being a well-balanced team, another quick thing to notice is the versatility of the players and their ability to play on any condition.
The Openers - Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag
Virender Sehwag - One of the most destructive batsmen of his era. He is regarded as the most fearless batsman and also one of the most feared one. The second batsman to score a double hundred after the god himself. He has a whopping strike rate of more than 104 which was unheard of in his era. With his exceptional hand-eye coordination and the philosophy of relentlessly hitting the ball to reach for boundaries, he used to destroy the opposition.
Mats: 251 Runs:8273 Ave:35.05 Strike-Rate:104.33 HS:219 100s:15 50s:38
Sachin Tendulkar - Needless to say, the master blaster. Most runs in ODIs(18426), most 100s in ODIs(49), most 50s in ODIs(96), the maximum number of Man of the Series(15) and Man of the Match awards(62) are only a few of his feats to be accounted for. One of the best ODI player to have ever played the game. The first ever batsman to reach 200 was the god of cricket himself, as called by fans lovingly. Averaged almost 45 after playing more than 450 games with an even better number of more than 48 when he opened the innings. His leg spin gave him 154 wickets which included 2 five-wicket hauls, more than what was achieved by the great leg-spinner Shane Warne.
Mats:463 Runs:18426 Ave:44.83 StrikeRate:86.23 HS:200* 100s:49 50s:96
The duo has 4387 runs to its name when opened together which is #4 in the list of the highest runs for any opening pair with Ganguly and Sachin topping the list. My choice of Sehwag here is owing to his destructive abilities to take India off to a flying start. Who can ever forget the India Pakistan match of 2003 World Cup? Pakistan had given India a daunting total of 274 to chase and these two made a mockery of the great Pakistani attack of Waqar Younis, Shoaib Akhtar and Wasim Akram. India reached 50 in just 5 overs which eventually made chasing very comfortable.
God of the Offside - Ganguly
Sourav Ganguly - Dada, as we all know him lovingly, famous for his jersey waving in retaliation to Flintoff's similar celebration in India, is one of the best Captain Indian team has had. He had the right aggression that changed the Indian Cricket and it was under this man's captaincy that India started winning overseas. He should be duly credited for (up)bringing many players, Sehwag, Yuvraj, Harbhajan, Zaheer, MS Dhoni to name a few. He was the one who sent Dhoni at #3 in the ODIs and he eventually took to scoring 148. And this goes without saying, we all know what happened after.
When he started opening with Sachin they formed one of the most destructive opening pairs in the history. He is the second highest scorer in ODIs for India after Sachin. He used to destroy the spinners with his ability to hit gigantic sixes.
Mats:311 Runs:11363 Ave:41.02 Strike-Rate:73.70 HS:183 100s:22 50s:72