Islamabad
The International Cricket Council (ICC), on Sunday, announced the Test, ODI and T20I team of the decade. India’s current skipper Virat Kohli is the only cricketer to make it to all the three teams. He was also made the Test team’s captain for the way he led the Indian team from the front. MS Dhoni was named the skipper of the ODI and T20I team of the decade.
While a lot of superstar cricketers managed to get a place in the side, ICC didn’t include even a single Pakistan cricketer in any of the teams. This has left the former Pakistan cricketers and the fans in the country fuming. The country produced some of the decent cricketers during the decade and at least a couple of them deserved a place in different teams according to many.
Notably, this is the first time that ICC decided to consider the fans’ vote to pick the team of the decade and other awards. 10% of the weightage was given to the fans’ votes while the expert panel’s vote was considered 90% while picking the team. Moreover, none of the Pakistan Women cricketer made it to the ODI and T20I team of the decade in Women’s cricket.
Former Australian pacer Jason Gillespie believes that Pakistani skipper Babar Azam should have been part of the ICC Men’s Twenty20 Team of the Decade. He feels that England’s hard-hitting wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler should also have been part of the team. The T20 XI includes four players from India, two Australians, two West Indies players, one from South Africa and a player each from Afghanistan and Sri Lanka.
No cricketer from England, New Zealand and Pakistan were included in the team. “And I do find it hard to understand that a T20I team of the decade doesn’t include Jos Buttler or Baba Babar Azam,” tweeted Gillespie as quoted by cricketpakistan.com.pk. And I do find it hard to understand that a T20 team of the decade doesn’t include Babar and Buttler.
Former fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar has lambasted International Cricket Council (ICC) for leaving Pakistan skipper Babar Azam off the list of its T20I Team of the Decade. ‘I think the ICC forgot that Pakistan is also its member and play T20I cricket. They even didn’t think that a great batsman like Babar Azam, who is the number one T20 batsman [currently ranked no. 2 in ICC T20 rankings] could also be part of this squad,’ Shoaib said on his official YouTube channel.—Agencies
