An attempt to bring out the Indo-Pak XIs over the years.
India and Pakistan are the two cricket loving nations. The fans love the game and the rivalry between the two sides. Both the countries have produced legends since years and have been very good in the game of cricket.
Most of the times, fans speak about how good the teams would've been with the combination of players from both the countries. It's an attempt made to analyze the same.
The 1970s was the decade when both the teams started to establish themselves in the game of cricket. The 1980s was the decade when both the teams got to their own peak in the game.
The teams here would be tried from the decade 1980s. That particular decade saw the rise of the two Asian giants in the game of cricket. Let's see how the teams would've looked.
THE DECADE 1980s
The decade witnessed some of the memorable moments. India won the world cup in 1983. The god of cricket, Sachin Tendulkar and the swing sultans like Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis made their debuts. Here's the imaginary Indo-Pak team of 1980s-
Sunil Gavaskar
Mudassar Nazar
Mohinder Amarnath
Dilip Vengsarkar
Zaheer Abbas
Javed Miandad
Imran Khan (Captain)
Kapil Dev
Syed Kirmani (WK)
Abdul Qadir/Wasim Akram
Iqbal Wasim
- The team has legendary openers like Sunil Gavaskar and Mudassar Nazar. The latter was a good bowler too.
- The middle order looks dynamic with the likes of legends like Mohinder Amarnath, Dilip Vengsarkar, Zaheer Abbas and Javed Miandad.
- The team has legendary all-rounders like Imran Khan and Kapil Dev. Imran would be the leader of the side.
- Syed Kirmani would be the wicket keeper batsman of the side.
- The team would have variety in the bowling lineup. Iqbal Wasim would be the front line pacer. As the team already has two fast bowling all rounders, Abdul Qadir would make it to the side in spinning conditions. Wasim Akram could be used as a backup bowler on fast tracks.
Image courtesy - Espncricinfo
THE DECADE 1990s.
The decade saw the peak of Indo-Pak rivalry. There were many memorable matches like the quarterfinal of 1996 World cup, Chennai test 1999 and so on. Pakistan won the maiden world title in 1992. Some legendary players like Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and Shoaib Akhtar made their debuts. Here's the imaginary Indo-Pak team of 1990s-
Saeed Anwar
Navjot Sidhu
Rahul Dravid
Sachin Tendulkar
Mohammad Azharuddin
Inzamam Ul Haq
Moin Khan (WK)
Wasim Akram (Captain)
Anil Kumble
Waqar Younis
Saqlain Mushtaq/Javagal Srinath
- The openers in the team would be Saeed Anwar and Navjot Sidhu.
- The middle order looks dynamic with the likes of Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Mohammad Azharuddin and Inzamam Ul Haq.
- Moin Khan would be the wicketkeeper batsman of the team.
- Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Anil Kumble, Saqlain Mushtaq and Javagal Srinath would make the bowling lineup deadly. Wasim would lead the side and Srinath would be the backup bowler for fast conditions.
Image courtesy - Crictracker
THE DECADE 2000s.
The decade saw some of the golden moments like India's world t20 title, Indo-Pak match of the 2003 World cup and so on. Many players like Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Saeed Ajmal and so on made their debuts. Here's the imaginary Indo-Pak team of 2000s-
Gautam Gambhir
Virender Sehwag
Rahul Dravid
Sachin Tendulkar
Mohammad Yousuf
Vvs Laxman
Ms Dhoni (Captain & WK)
Anil Kumble
Harbhajan Singh/Waqar Younis
Zaheer Khan
Shoaib Akhtar
- The team has a good opening pair. Gautam Gambhir can be the surgeon at one end and Virender Sehwag can be the butcher at the other end.
- The middle order is too solid. The likes of Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Mohammad Yousuf and Vvs Laxman would bring stability to the lineup.
- Ms Dhoni would be the captain and wicket keeper batsman of the team.
- The bowling attack would have the likes of Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Waqar Younis, Zaheer Khan, Shoaib Akhtar. Waqar would be the backup bowler for fast conditions.
Image courtesy - India today
THE DECADE 2010s.
The decade saw some memorable moments between the two teams. The 2011 world cup semi-final was exceptional. India won the 2011 world cup and 2013 Champions trophy and Pakistan won the 2017 champions trophy. Some of the players like Babar Azam, Jasprit Bumrah and Hasan Ali made their debuts in the decade. Here's the imaginary Indo-Pak team of 2010s-
Murali Vijay
Azhar Ali
Younis Khan
Virat Kohli (Captain)
Misbah Ul Haq
Ms Dhoni (WK)
Ravichandran Ashwin
Ravindra Jadeja
Mohammed Shami
Mohammad Abbas
Ishant Sharma/Saeed Ajmal
- Azhar Ali and Murali Vijay would be the opening pair.
- The middle order looks good with the likes of Younis Khan, Virat Kohli and Misbah Ul Haq. Virat would lead the side as well.
- Ms Dhoni would be the wicket keeper batsman of the team.
- The team has the spin bowling all rounder duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.
- The bowling lineup would have the likes of Mohammad Shami, Mohammad Abbas, Ishant Sharma and Saeed Ajmal. Ajmal would be the backup bowler for the spinning conditions.
Image courtesy - Sportskeeda
Whenever the two sides have faced each other over the years, there have been serious contests. The fans would go crazy every time. But if the players from the two sides represent the same team, boy it would be a spectacle.
