Tillakaratne Dilshan has joined the group of players, who announced their all-time ODI XI during this lockdown period. Much to the surprise of Asian fans, Dilshan has picked only one Indian in his ODI team. Dilshan is one of the few players in the game of cricket, who scored more than 10,000 ODI runs in his career.
Dilshan’s team consists of three Sri Lanka cricketers, two West Indies’ players and a couple of South Africa and Australian players. His team also mixed with one Indian and one Pakistani cricketer.
Sachin Tendulkar was more stylish – Tillakaratne Dilshan
Tillakaratne Dilshan chose to open the batting by the star duo of Jayasuriya and Tendulkar with West Indies legend Brian Lara at No. 3. At number 4, he chose Sri Lanka’s classy batsman ever Mahela Jayawardene followed by Australia’s Ricky Ponting at number 5.
“He (Jayasurya)’s one of the greatest openers for Sri Lanka. In 1996, I think he was one of the best-attacking batsmen in the world. Compared to Sanath, Sachin was more stylish. He knew how to set up the game. He’s one of the most experienced guys in the XI and has the most runs to his name in international cricket,” Dilshan told ESPN Cricinfo.
The captaincy, however, was not handed to any of his compatriots as Ricky Ponting was chosen to lead this star-studded team. He further named Jacques Kallis at number 6 and AB de Villiers will be doing the wicket-keeper role for the team.
In the bowling department, Tillakaratne Dilshan chose to pick two spinners and as many pacers. The dream duo of Muttiah Muralitharan and Shane Warne will play in the same and will bowl in tandem in this team.
And also, Wasim Akram and Courtney Walsh were chosen to be his two frontline fast bowlers. Surprisingly, he left out Lasith Malinga, who has been one of the greatest fast bowlers ever produced by Sri Lanka.
Tillakaratne Dilshan’s all-time ODI XI:
Sanath Jayasuriya, Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara, Mahela Jayawardene, Ricky Ponting (C), Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers (WK), Wasim Akram, Shane Warne, Muttiah Muralitharan, Courtney Walsh.
