Why cricketers from my childhood were the best set of players to play the game together?

Almost every person from the 80s and 90s in India is an avid cricket fan, and why wouldn’t anyone be. We’ve had such great memories from the games, new legends emerged in front of us and we have witnessed the sport change.

I was born in the late 90s, therefore, most of my cricketing memory is from the mid-2000s and thanks to the internet I got to witness some of the histories previously being created years after it was actually done. Coming to the topic, why I love cricket so much. Cricket is a sport I played a lot when I was a child.  My family, like many other families, used to watch every match India played back in the days together in the living room and the very simple reason for the craze was the players that used to play in the 2000s.

Starting from the top order, we had extraordinary people leading from the front. The test match lineup of Gambhir, Sehwag, Dravid, Tendulkar, Ganguly, and Laxman, could you imagine anything better. We even had decent backups in Wasim Jaffer, Dinesh Karthik, Yuvraj Singh, etc… who delivered fairly when given the opportunity. A good wicketkeeper was something India was never fortunate to have consistency in until a certain ticket collector arrived and redefined and owned the position. Our bowlers in Anil Kumble and Harbhajan were so good that great backups like Murali Kartik and Amit Mishra never got to prove themselves. Until 2018-19, fast bowling was never India’s strength and we relied upon spinners. Still, Zaheer Khan was one of Asia’s best fast bowlers. And not only the test matches, but our ODI team also was equally good or I’ll say better because if Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman struggle for a spot in an XI, the team needs to be seriously good. Yuvraj Singh was an undisputed inclusion in the team, unlike the tests. Suresh Raina arrived and owned his position. Irfan Pathan served fairly well, Ajit Agarkar was India’s best ODI bowler for a while and interestingly he holds the ODI record for the fastest 50 by an Indian to date and who can forget Mohammad Kaif (India’s best ever fielder in my opinion).

Then there were people who lit up the scenario for short durations but they’ll be never forgotten. Most of them were bowlers because India always struggled for a partner for Zaheer Khan once Ajit Agarkar was out of the scene. Praveen Kumar was a fine swinger, Sreesanth was a different character, Munaf Patel was really fast and RP Singh was handy too. And to be honest, no list of Indian cricketing stalwarts can ever end without naming Ashish Nehra. If there weren’t injuries, he probably would have achieved a lot more in his career.

Not only Team India, if we look at other teams, each of the team probably had some of the greatest players playing during 2003-2011.

Starting from our friendly neighbors, Pakistan. They had an immortal Shahid Afridi. Their middle order was a powerhouse in Inzamam ul Haq, Mohammed Yusuf, Younis Khan, and Misbah. Their fast bowlers were a nightmare to face and Shoaib Akhtar is the best example.

Sri Lanka was even better. Jayasuriya was a force and he was even dangerous when he was joined Attapatu in the beginning and Dilshan later. Mahela and Sanga had a different level of coordination. Then they had a magician holding the ball in Muralidharan and he was very well backed up by Rangana Herath. Their fast bowlers Chaminda Vaas, Mahroof, Zoysa, and Lasith Malinga were all equally good.

The captains of the 2007 Cricket World Cup

Moving to Australia, I should not write a lot because it’ll take some serious amount of words to mention their squad because all the eleven players in the team were legends of the game. The bench of that Australian team was so good that they could form another team and also dominate the world. New Zealand was as usual underrated. They were a team of all-rounders. Stephen Fleming was a great captain and so was Vettori. Nathan Astle was a nightmare for batsmen and he was very well succeeded by Ross Taylor at number 4. McCullum wasn’t a great cricketer individually in the beginning but when with the team he just showed his real worth. The only place New Zealand struggled was finding an opening combination which they still do ( :P ).

South Africa was my favorite team. Smith and Gibbs were the best openers the country ever had. Kallis and Pollock were unbelievable talents. Ntini was unplayable in his prime. Like India, they too had occasional stars in Dippenar, Prince, Peterson, Albie Morkel, Andre Nel, and Andrew Hall. And Dale Steyn, what a player he has been since he started. West Indies although they were going through a tough time, still had people like BC Lara, Sarwan, Chanderpaul, and the universe boss Chris Gayle handling the tough times.

The last the team I’d like to write about is England (I have omitted Bangladesh and Zimbabwe because they weren’t very good as compared to the other teams). England never had a consistent eleven. They did a lot of changes but two people are still leading the bowling attack from the front. James Anderson and Stuart Broad helped England transition very easily from the Hoggard, Harmison, and Gough phase. Vaughan was a tough captain. Trescothick and Strauss were two really good openers. Then came Pietersen, Cook, and Bell and owned almost every batting record in the country’s history. Indians (Asians) who played for England can also never be forgotten. Monty Panesar, Vikram Solanki, Owais Shah, and Ravi Bopara, all of them have troubled Asian teams a lot.

The Domestic system of Australia and England is very good and that’s why they had so many players playing during that time. There couldn’t any better era for the sport because almost every team was very competitive. There was a time when India with so many greats was ranked 7^th in rankings. This statement is enough to prove why my childhood had the best cricketers ever.