Ian Chappell picks his World XI No. 1 cricketer

How tricky would a question be to name one player among many for the No. 1 spot in the World XI? Would an all-rounder best fit that position? Someone who can bat plus bowl and provide more value than a batsman or a bowler alone? Three veterans of Australian cricket answered this question. While former captain Michael Clarke chose Ben Stokes, Ian Healy chose David Warner, and Ian Chappell had his pick.

As per Chappell, someone who can win matches should deserve that spot, and he thinks it’s the bowlers who win matches, which is why he went ahead with Australia’s Mitchell Starc. Chappell also said that there are enough batsmen who can score runs – from Steve Smith to Virat Kohli, but it is not easy to get 20 wickets in a match, which is why he chose Starc. In 36 matches, the left-arm pacer has taken 148 wickets.

“I’m looking for someone who can win you matches so I’m probably going to be looking for a bowler rather than a batsman. There’s plenty of good batsmen – Kohli, Smith, Williamson, Root – any of those four you could pick anyone and they’re going to do a good job. I’d be picking Mitchell Starc first up. The hardest thing to do in a cricket match is get the 20 wickets. You can always find enough batsmen to get you 300 runs. If you get 300-350 run with a decent attack you can win more than you lose, but that’s only if you’ve got a decent attack. That’s why I’d go for a bowler No.1.” Chappell wrote on cricket.com.au

Chappell boasts of good numbers in cricket

The former Aussie cricketer, a brother of Greg Chappell, played for South Australia and Australia and he captained the Australian national team between 1971 and 1975. He played 16 ODI innings in which he scored 673 runs. In Tests, he scored 5345 runs in 136 innings that he played.