Tillakaratne Dilshan picks his all-time ODI XI; Sachin Tendulkar only Indian in the team

As most of the countries are going through a lockdown, many cricketers have revealed their all-time favourite XIs. Former Sri Lanka batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan, who scored more than 10,000 ODI runs in his career, revealed his best XI of the 50-over format recently.

He chose the legendary batsmen Sanath Jayasuriya and Sachin Tendulkar as the openers for his all-time ODI XI. Jayasuriya was the first Sri Lankan batsman to get to 10,000 runs in the format while Tendulkar is still the highest run-getter. Interestingly, the two players have batted together and opened the innings for Mumbai Indians during the first three seasons of the IPL.

At no. 3, Dilshan selected West Indian great Brian Lara. Lara was the first batsman from the West Indies to score more than 10,000 ODI runs. Mahela Jayawardene was next in line at no. 4. The right-handed batsman from Colombo finished with 12560 ODI runs and among the leading run-getters ever.

Ponting to captain Dilshan’s ODI XI

Tillakaratne Dilshan was picking a star-studded XI in a chat with ESPNCricinfo where he decided to make Ricky Ponting the captain and he will also bat at five. Ponting led Australia to two back-t0-back World Cup wins and is touted as one of the best captains the game has ever seen.

For the all-rounder’s spot, the ex-Sri Lankan batsman made quite a conventional and obvious choice. He went for the former South Africa legend Jacques Kallis. Other than Jayasuriya, Kallis is the only player to have scored more than 10,000 ODI runs and taken more than 250 ODI wickets.

Dilshan made a surprise call by not selecting a full-time wicket-keeper. In fact, he didn’t include Kumar Sangakkara in the side as well. Instead, he went with ex-Proteas skipper AB de Villiers as the wicketkeeper-batsman for his side. He is probably one of the best one-day batsmen of all time. He had also kept wickets for the national side in all formats for a significant period of time.

In the bowling department, Tillakaratne Dilshan chose to pick two spinners and as many pacers. The dream duo of Muttiah Muralitharan and Shane Warne will play in the same and will bowl in tandem in this team. Both of them were exceptional spinners during their playing days. Wasim Akram and Courtney Walsh comprised the fast bowling department with Kallis being the third pacer.

Tillakaratne Dilshan’s all-time ODI XI: Sanath Jayasuriya, Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara, Mahela Jayawardene, Ricky Ponting (C), Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers (WK), Wasim Akram, Shane Warne, Muttiah Muralitharan, Courtney Walsh.

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Now that's a star-studded ODI XI 🌟

A post shared by ESPNcricinfo (@espncricinfo) on May 9, 2020 at 12:52am PDT