The naming of Virender Sehwag by authoritative cricket publication Wisden as the leading cricketer in the World for 2008 and Mahendra Singh Dhoni captain of its first-ever Dream Test XI, which features as many as five Indians, will come as no great surprise to loyal Indian cricket fans.
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Dhoni, Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khanu00a0who have been included in the Dream XI along with Australians Ricky Ponting and Mitchell Johnson, South Africans Graeme Smith and Dale Steyn, West Indian Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Kevin Pietersen of England have provided unalloyed joy to cricket aficionados the world over during the past year with their sterling performances.
Their stirring exploits have been largely instrumental in India winning the ICC World Twenty20 title and occupying third position in both Test and ODI rankings narrowly behind Australia and South Africa.
No selection of the kind under discussion can be controversy-free. There will, undoubtedly, be students of the game who will find fault with former India captain Ravi Shastri, retired West Indian pace bowler Ian Bishop and former New Zealand wicket-keeper Ian Smith for their selection.
Prominent among those who do not figure in the team are batsmen Younus Khan, who is number two in the ICC Test rankings, KC Sangakkara of Sri Lanka (no. 3), DPMD Jayawardene of Sri Lanka (no. 5), Michael Clarke of Australia (no. 9) and South African Jacques Kallis (no. 10).
Notable bowler absentees in the Dream XI are: Muttiah Muralitharan of Sri Lanka (no. 1 in the ICC Test rankings), Stuart Clark of Australia (no. 4), Makhaya Ntini of South Africa (no. 5), West Indian Jeremy Taylor (no 7), South African Paul Harris (no 8), Sri Lankan Chaminda Vaas (no 9) and Richard Sidebottom of England (no 10).
Among the all-rounders who figure in the current top 10 ICC rankings but left out of Wisden's selection are: Jacques Kallis (South Africa - no 1), Daniel Vettori (New Zealand -3), Andrew Flintoff (England - joint 3), Chris Gayle (West Indies - 4), Dwayne Bravo (West Indies - 6), Jacob Oram (New Zealand - 8), Irfan Pathan (India - 9) and J. Taylor (West Indies - 10).
Be that as it may, Wisden's selection should provide ample reason for Indian fans to rejoice.
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