Mathew Hayden (8364 runs @ 52.93, Centuries – 29, Fifties - 29)
An opener of the highest pedigree, the enforcer of the all-conquering Aussie teams of the decade. Never one to graft, Hayden bludgeoned bowlers into submission and his amazing conversion rate meant that your best chance was getting him early. His strike rate during this period was 60.85, surpassed only by Adam Gilchrist and Virender Sehwag among batsmen who scored 5000+ runs in the decade.
Virender Sehwag (6248 runs @ 52.50, Centuries – 17, Fifties - 19)
The most influential cricketer of the decade? Sehwag would come mightily close to that title and might even have clinched it had there not been an Adam Gilchrist. At a time when openers were supposed to see off the new ball threat, Sehwag threw all such cautionary tales out of the window. A makeshift opener, thanks to the vision of Saurav Ganguly, Sehwag rewrote the Test opener’s role and has played a major part in India’s surge to the top of the Test ladder. His brute force paced the game for his team, the biggest example being the England Test in Chennai when he tore into an English bowling comprising Harmison, Flintoff and Anderson. Needing 387 to win with a day and half’s play left and the famed Indian collapse lurking somewhere round the corner, Sehwag blitzed his way to a magnificent 83 of 68 balls; India cantered home with a Tendulkar special but Sehwag had already knocked England off the radar.
Honourable mention: Graeme Smith.
Ricky Ponting (9458 @ 58.38, Centuries – 32, Fifties - 40)
Cricinfo’s player of the decade, Ponting’s game sported shades of Bradman during the decade. A hooker and puller of the highest category, he was seldom troubled, most notably during horror runs in the subcontinent, but was sublime elsewhere. Never one to be bowed down, Ponting scored at least a half century every 2.55 innings he batted and his batting like the two openers in this team was based on an attack only theorem.
Honourable mention: Rahul Dravid, Kumar Sangakkara.
Sachin Tendulkar (7129 runs @ 53.20, Centuries – 21, Fifties - 31)
Tendulkar’s stats were more convincing enough for him to grab a coveted two-down position, but mere stats cannot measure his contributions to the team. He scored runs everywhere unlike Jayawardene, another contender for the # 4 spot. And most notably, he was at his majestic best against the number one side in the world. In 31 innings against Australia during the decade, he scored 1625 runs @ 60.2 with 5 centuries and 7 fifties. Remarkable!
Brian Lara (6380 runs @ 54.06, Centuries – 21, Fifties - 19)
It’s an ode to Lara’s genius that such batsmen do not grace the field often. The art of West Indian batsmanship achieved its culmination in Lara; he was Sobers’ genius, Viv’s audacity, Greenidge’s ferocity, Weekes’ calm rolled into one. Has there been any cricketer ever who embodied so much nonchalance yet was so expressive? Never had Muralitharan been collared in the way Lara did in the seminal series in Sri Lanka and never had Test cricket seen an innings of the calibre of his 153*. If Tendulkar, his friend and rival revelled in wholesome mastery, Lara found joy in the impossible. An once-in-a-lifetime player, they don’t make ‘em like him anymore.
Jacques Kallis (8630 runs @ 58.70, Centuries – 27, Fifties – 42, 205 wickets @ 32.00, Ct - 122)
Jacques Kallis had to relinquish his favoured # 3 spot for Ponting, but can he be denied an entry in the team of the decade? His numbers, misleadingly comparable to those of Sobers in some ways, are unlikely to be matched. Ever! A giant of a man in every sense of the term, Kallis has been the mainstay of South Africa’s batting for ages and is likely to remain so in the next few years. A technician of the highest calibre, a batsman in the classical mould, Kallis can be relied upon even when the side is going through a collapse. And add his bowling and slip catching, your head might burst at the enormity of those unrealistic numbers.
Honourable Mention: Andrew Flintoff
Adam Gilchrist (5130 runs @ 46.63, Centuries – 16, Fifties – 23, Ct – 362, St – 35, Dis/Inn – 2.19)
Cricinfo selected Ponting as the player of the decade. My vote will go to the man who revolutionized cricket like the way a doctor did two centuries earlier. With Gilchrist, Australia unfairly played with 12 players and more often than not, his whirlwind knocks blew the steam out of ordinary bowling attacks. Or if we consider a bowling line up comprising Donald, Ntini and Kallis or an attack consisting of the two Ws plus Shoaib Akhtar and one Saqlain Mustaq ordinary ones! Gilchrist owned up bowling attacks and batting has never been the same since.
Glen McGrath (297 wickets @ 20.53, 5WI – 14, 10WM - 2)
In a disappointing decade for the fast men, here was a man who was never mastered by any batsman. McGrath averaged 21.3 India, 21.64 over his career and 20.53 in the decade. Man, machine, McGrath. If ever man and machine became one in communion on a cricket field, the result would be McGrath. Trash all the talks of the man not being naturally talented, here was a man who had conquered his mind to such an extent that he could predict his 299th and 300th Test scalps, here was a fast bowler who embodied indomitable. It took the genius of a Michael Vaughan to unravel the mystery, albeit for a brief period, and not even the oomph of Tendulkar was enough to tame the lion for good. Fragile looks, a clinical rather than a bustling run-up, a delivery stride far from the extravagant leap of an Imran, and boy! The ball wouldn't simply stop talking in his hands. The greatness of McGrath did not lie in the realm of the sensual, his was an approach where a great batsman was a case study, the lesser ones were footnotes. Jacques Kallis never managed to play him well enough, Lara seldom dominated him, Tendulkar's magical brilliance was never a sustained one. And McGrath had hypnotized one Michael Atherton to submission, bunny being an understatement.
Dale Steyn (170 wickets @ 23.97, 5WI – 11, 10WM - 3)
In terms of wickets Steyn lies 19th in the list, 13th if you discount the spinners, but his average is bettered only by McGrath in the decade, his strikerate of 40 unmatched in the history of the game. Not even Sydney Barnes, with an astounding 7 wickets per Test match could boast of such a strikerate. Steyn in full flow is one of the finest sights in modern cricket, his bowling action reminding that of his idol Donald’s. And not many in the modern game can bend it like him at such an astonishing pace. The first true great fast bowler of this millennium.
Shane Warne (357 wickets @ 25.17, 5WI – 21, 10WM - 6)
The first spinner in my team is Shane Warne because of a fantastic strikerate (50.7 w.r.t Murali’s 50.9) and the pure aesthetics he brought into the art of spin bowling. A spinner with the heart of a torero, Warne in full flight was a sight for the Gods and with three fast men in this team, all right-handed, Warney could exploit the rough from the other end better than any other man could, before or since. 1993, Old Trafford, Mike Gatting facing Shane Warne. The next moment is history and an entire generation of batsmen if left scarred forever.
Muttiah Muralitharan (565 wickets @ 20.97, 5WI - 49, 10WM - 20)
The numbers rarely tell the story, but in case of Murali they are enough. Murali in the noughties was bowling's answer to Bradman, someone who just needed to roll those arms to pick wickets by the bucketful.
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