Unfamiliar truths and facts about “My Winning 11”

I have always been a great fan of the most prestigious sport of India, Cricket. I actually believe in high quality competitive cricket. No matter where cricket is being played, no matter which countries are involved in it, moreover, no matter how busy I am, Cricket is the game I have always followed or tried to follow most of the time.

The year I first started watching the game (from 1996 world cup onwards when India did not manage to qualify for the finals and left with tears in all eyes including Vinod Kambli ) till now when India had won the T20 World Cup in emphatic style, I came across many great players. Some of them had actually turned out to be the Living LEGENDs .

Here I’ll be focusing on my own DREAM TEAM Player’s profile and some UNTOLD TRUTHS related to them that did not come out of the hatch.

Here’s the list of my WINNING 11:-

1.) Sourav Ganguly (VC)

2.) Sachin Tendulkar

3.) Andy Flower (Wk)

4.) Steve Waugh

5.) Hansie Cronje

6.) Arjuna Ranatunga ( C )

7.) Rahul Dravid

8.) Wasin Akram

9.) Shane Warne

10.) Glenn Mcgrath

11.) Curtly Ambrose

12^th man-> Jhonty Rhodes
13^th man->Sanath Jayasuriya ( I could not find place for him in starting lineup but yes, its hard to leave him outside. So an extra player has to be added to raise the tally to 13, Legends of International Cricket)

I could sense-“Raised Eyebrows”.

Reason is obvious.

Most of you must be wondering where the hell is BRIAN CHARLES LARA? Why he did not figure in my “Winning 11”?

All I can say is that it was a tough call of leaving him. It’s really a Universal Truth that BRIAN LARA lies right on top amongst the cricketing legends. No doubt about it. But the thing is by the time I started watching cricket, except few exceptional innings( like that against the mighty aussies at home where he scored 213 in Kingston -- his first three-figure innings for a year -- to lead West Indies to series-leveling win in second Test against Australia. Also, scored unbeaten 153 as West Indies score 311-9 in fourth innings to win third test), I didn’t find LARA, a Master, Instead LARA, a distended captain and subsequently a batsman who failed YET AGAIN.

What about MURLI???

I am sure this may well be the next question.

My reply-

Simple.

He may well be cleared by ICC of chucking the ball, but as far as I am concerned he is certainly not a COMPLETE bowler to qualify for my team. Having said that, I do admire his efforts and he has been a great ambassador of cricket. Its just that I regard him as a half bowler. My words seem to be highly debating. I can do nothing.

Their must be many more questions hovering around many great minds out there. If you go my way or if you don’t, do tell me for sure. It will be interesting to note .

In my next edition of this post (which will be published twice in a week), I’ll be starting with each of these above mentioned LEGENDS. Obviously concentration will be on one player profile at a time.