Greatest T20 XI from the pre-ODI era
Neville Cardus, the celebrated cricket writer, wrote of Ranjitsinhji, “When he batted, a strange light was seen for the first time on English fields, a light of the East. The leg glance was Ranji’s own stroke.“He is today a legend. We can feel the spell yet, we can go back in our minds to hot days in an England of forgotten peace and plenty, during which Ranji did not so much bat for us as enchant us in a way all of his own so that when at last he got out, we were as though suddenly awakened from a dream.”Ranjitsinhji's celebrated unorthodoxy emphasizes the fact that quite a few players in the olden days could have adapted successfully to T20 cricket. Think of a fantasy world XI comprising the best players from the pre-ODI era who could have played T20 cricket.Though Ranjitsinhji narrowly misses out, this team is made up of a handful of legends would have given any modern T20 outfit a run for their money.
#1 Victor Trumper
Often remembered as the most stylish batsman during the Golden Age of cricket, quite a few cricket historians rate Victor Trumper over the legendary Don Bradman. Trumper was at the zenith of his powers during the 1902 England tour. The rain kept coming down all summer, the wickets got soft and sticky, and batsmen kept getting out. But Trumper batted on.
Neville Cardus, who was only 12 at that time later wrote: “His cricket burns in my memory with the glow and fiery hazard of the actual occasion, the wonderful and all-consuming ignition. He was the most gallant and handsome batsman of them all.”
And that was not all. Trumper, whose batting has been repeatedly compared with poetry, could elicit the most sublime emotions from Cardus' pen. Cardus later wrote of him : “When Victor Trumper got out, the light seemed to die for a while from an Australian innings. ‘The eagle is gone and now crows and daws.’ ”
His versatility and his ability to play every shot in the book would have made him a great T20 batsman. Jack Hobbs lauded him for his unorthodoxy and called him the 'Champagne of Cricket'. Even CB Fry was full of admiration for him and said, “No matter how many runs Bradman makes, Vic Trumper’s name comes up time and again, and his great deeds are discussed. He took a hold on the hearts and minds of the people in England as no other batsman has done.”