Imagine having the world's best one-day team at your disposal. No restrictions- no picking players of just one nationality, no salary caps. Plain and simple unconstrained optimization. We've all done it over friendly (and often heated) conversations- picking who we think are the best eleven players at the time. And after Yuvraj Singh's scintillating performances, I was intrigued to see if he would make the cut in this fantasy champion side.
First, a clarification of the team we are trying to pick- the best playing eleven in one-day internationals as of today. This is not an all-time best list. Three major factors have been considered in making the selection- a player's form over the past twelve months, a player's career numbers since they indicate overall class and finally a bit of subjectivity in choosing the right mix of the side and looking at quality of oppositions faced. Equal weights have been given to career and form numbers, since we are picking a side for today.
A brief explanation of the rating system- batting points are measured as Effective Average * (Effective Strike Rate + 40), the effective numbers being a combination of career and form numbers. The "+ 40" factor to the strike-rate is done to adjust for the fact that averages and strike-rates are measured on different scales (a decent average is usually about 40, where as a decent strike-rate is about 80). A similar calculation is done for bowlers, with economy rate substituting for strike-rate. This means a bowler with as "low" a score would do well, so we've taken the reciprocal of this number with a suitable constant factor adjustment to make "higher" scores better.
All that said, here is the World XI of One-Day Cricket, before we jump into a brief explanation of their selection.
1. Virender Sehwag 2. Sachin Tendulkar3. Shivnarine Chanderpaul4. Kevin Pietersen5. Michael Hussey6. Mahendra Singh Dhoni (c & wk)7. Andrew Flintoff8. Brett Lee9. Nathan Bracken10. Zaheer Khan11. Muttiah Muralitharan
The Openers
This was the hardest area to choose in given there's a lot of quality opening bats around, all in good form. Based on the numbers Chris Gayle had a score of 599.8, Virender Sehwag 582.3 and Sachin Tendulkar at 555.8. Graeme Smith, Gautam Gambhir, Salman Butt and Shoaib Malik all had scores between 530 and 550. Gayle's numbers are spiked by a form average of 55.6 at a strike-rate of close to 90. However, that includes four matches against Zimbabwe and Canada where he averaged close to 90. If you take those matches out, Gayle's batting score drops to 543.6. So Tendulkar gets preference over Gayle. Virender Sehwag's pick was a no-brainer given his recent form and his ability to tear any attack apart.
The Middle-Order
Two guys who pick themselves with really strong numbers are Michael Hussey (656.9) and Shivnarine Chanderpaul (650.5). Chanderpaul, unlike team-mate Gayle, did not play those Canada matches. And he's been in great form against everyone, averaging 74.4 in the last twelve months, better than anyone else in this squad. Kevin Pietersen (558.5) was a fair bit behind the two left-handers on points, but fared better than the others in contention- Yuvraj Singh (508.3) and Ricky Ponting (505.1). Jacques Kallis brings in the all-rounder option, but his strike-rate makes him a bit of a liability (plus Chanderpaul plays the similar role of sheet-anchor).
The All-Rounders
Jacques Kallis versus Andrew Flintoff was the only real debate, but given the composition of the side so far, a hard-hitting Flintoff who you can bank on for ten overs is clearly a better fit. Add to that, he's been in sensational form since coming back to the game, averaging 19 with the ball at an economy rate of 4.6.Mahendra Singh Dhoni was the easiest to pick. He's the best keeper-batsmen in the world yes, but even better, he's the best batsmen in the world with a score of 675.5. And given his Midas touch, why wouldn't you want him as your captain!
The Bowlers
This was also a hard area to choose, but unlike the openers debate where there seemed to be a lot of quality, with the bowlers there is a dearth of talent. Sure, it takes time to develop a Pollock or a McGrath, but no one today seems capable of getting there! Nathan Bracken is the stand-out bowler with a score of 583.7. He has gone at just over 4 an over at an average of 20.4 in the last twelve months. The numbers reveal that he is without a doubt the best ODI bowler in the world today.The spinner was an easy pick, Muttiah Muralitharan. But his score is just 473.0, due to some mediocre ODI form. He still makes the cut, ahead to Vettori, because of his sheer class but also because there really isn't anyone else who's done enough to stake a claim in this side. Zaheer Khan (545.9), Mitchell Johnson (529.9) and Brett Lee (503.4) are the bowlers left to pick from. Zaheer has only been back a short while, but has impressed and gets the nod ahead of Johnson. Lee is the quick right-hander bowler who adds another dimension to this attack. Other guys who just missed out are Kyle Mills, Jerome Taylor, Sohail Tanvir and Stuart Broad. See what I mean about the lack of quality bowlers in the world today!I'm surprised Dale Steyn hasn't yet made his mark in the fifty over game. And I'm sure a couple of Pakistan bowlers must be kicking themselves right now, if Mohammad Asif and Shoaib Akhtar had stayed out of trouble there's no reason they wouldn't be the best in the world today.
Overall, I think this is a pretty solid World XI. Lethal Lee is the break through man who bowls flat-out fast, with Zaheer Khan his new ball partner. Andrew Flintoff then keeps it tight in the middle, leaving it to Murali to work his magic. And Nathan Bracken does his thing at the death. With the bat, Sehwag gives you that attacking start. Tendulkar, well, is Tendulkar. Chanderpaul is the sheet anchor, around whom Pietersen and Hussey play their shots. And then there's Flintoff and Dhoni to push the rate at the end. I like this side's chances!
Liked this article. Would you pick someone else in your World XI? Do write in with your thoughts to varun.mind@gmail.com
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