In world cricket, there have been players who have worked hard to earn a place in their respective national teams but still did not get the respect they deserved. Some of them have been left behind because of their fellow players, while some have played in the wrong era.
In such a situation, former Indian cricketer Wasim Jaffer has selected the Playing XI of 11 players who were not given the status they deserved in their playing days.
Jaffer feels Shikhar Dhawan is a good player in ODI cricket, but the presence of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul overlooked him. He picked former Australia player Mark Taylor as Dhawan’s opening partner and captain of the team and said that he has been one of the best openers in the past. Taylor has scored 7525 runs in Tests and 3514 runs in ODIs.
Jaffer then picked Tillakaratne Dilshan, Younis Khan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul as the next set of batsmen who deserved a lot of respect. He said that Dilshan has 10000+ runs in ODIs, while Younis and Chanderpaul have scored more than 10000 runs in Tests.
Jaffer also pointed out that while Younis always played under the shadow of Inzamam-ul-Haq and Mohammad Yousuf, Chanderpaul was overshadowed by the great Brian Lara.
As for the all-rounders, Wasim Jaffer picked Michael Hussey, Paul Collingwood and Abdul Razzaq. He acknowledged that Hussey was a great player and scored over 10000 runs in international cricket, but he was greatly underestimated.
He then named Razzaq as one of the finest all-rounders in the shorter formats, who has scored more than 5000 runs and has also taken a total of 269 wickets in ODIs.
Jaffer noted that Herath came into the team after Muttiah Muralitharan’s retirement and took more than 400 wickets in the Test format, while adding that Chaminda Vaas was not rated highly among former fast bowlers, but has taken over 700 wickets in his career.
Jaffer further said that if Ryan Harris had not been injured, he would have been a great bowler. He picked Ross Taylor as the 12th man in the team, who retired from international cricket most recently and scored more than 15000 runs across all formats.
Wasim Jaffer underrated Playing XI
Shikhar Dhawan, Mark Taylor (Captain), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Younis Khan, Michael Hussey, Paul Collingwood, Abdul Razzaq, Rangana Herath, Chaminda Vaas, Ryan Harris, Ross Taylor (12th Man)