World XI that can beat subcontinental teams at home
Team India was back to its imperious best when the subcontinental champions took field at home again, recording convincing wins over the Windies in both the Test games. At the same time in UAE, Pakistan had Australia reeling for four days and it took a majestic effort by Usman Khawaja and Tim Paine to save the day for the Aussies. Similarly, Sri Lanka got the better of Proteas with a 2-0 result while Bangladesh outclassed the mighty Australians previous year, later drawing the series.
The subcontinent has become a track of domination, a turf more invincible than the traditional English and Australian turfs; for playing in these conditions requires a team to have good spinners and good players of spin, as well as adaptation to the hot and humid weather.
We compile a team comprising of stalwarts from different teams that can overpower the subcontinental powerhouses at home:
# Openers
Hashim Amla (South Africa)
The elegant opener from South Africa has all the technical intricacies to succeed in the subcontinent. Amla has the ability to anchor the innings by scoring big hundreds and it is an uphill task for the bowlers to dismiss him once he gets set. The South African is a good player of spin, which has been an instrumental factor in his success on the Asian turfs.
Amla has amassed 7 hundreds in the subcontinent, with 4 of them coming in India. He was particularly spectacular against India in the tour of 2008, wherein he amassed 3 centuries in 2 matches including an unbeaten double hundred. The 35-year old also proved his mettle on viciously turning tracks with an uncharacteristic 244-ball 25 as per the need of the hour in the 2015 tour as his side's captain.
Kraigg Brathwaite (Windies)
The vice captain of the Caribbeans, Brathwaite is one of the senior players of the present crop of players and has played red ball cricket at all the active subcontinental venues. Though he could not make much of an impact this time round, he has been a decent run scorer at the top of the order in away tours. His best performance in Asia came against Pakistan at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium in 2016, when he carried his bat across both the innings, becoming the first opener to do so.
Brathwaite also claimed a 6-wicket haul against Sri Lanka at the P Sara Oval, Colombo with his off spin.