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Former Australia speedster Shaun Tait was quite popular for his electrifying pace and incredible ability to bowl consistently above 150 kmph. His career met with injuries at regular intervals, and because of that, he failed to cement his place in the Aussie team.
Tait, who was a member of the 2007 World Cup-winning side, represented Australia in 3 Tests, 35 ODIs and 21 T20Is, picking up 5, 62 and 28 wickets, respectively. Tait played with and against one of the best players, especially in the 50-over format. And recently, the South Australian cricketer revealed his all-time ODI XI in a chat with Sportskeeda.
Starting with the openers, Tait picked the likes of Adam Gilchrist and Virender Sehwag. The 38-year-old said that he picked the explosive batters because of their aggressiveness at the top order.
“I am going to go with Adam Gilchrist and (Virender) Sehwag. I like aggressiveness at the top of the order,” said Tait.
Tait went with a strong middle-order selecting legendary batters like Ricky Ponting, Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara. While Tendulkar (18.426) and Ponting (13,704) are the highest run-getters for their respective nations. Lara (10,405) is the second-highest run-scorer for West Indies.
For number six, Tait named Indian superstar Virat Kohli; however, he was a bit unsure of selecting Kohli for this position as the Delhi-lad is a top-order batsman. For number seven, the Adelaide-born went with former India skipper MS Dhoni. Both Kohli (12,169) and Dhoni (10,773) belong to the elite list of batters who have scored more than 10,000 runs in ODI cricket.
“Batting at No. 3, I’ll have to go with Ricky Ponting. No. 4 would be Sachin Tendulkar, and No. 5 is Brian Lara. Can Virat Kohli bat at No. 6? Is that fine? I am going to squeeze in MS Dhoni at No. 7,” added Tait.
In the bowling department, the former Afghanistan coach picked three pacers and a spinner in the form of Wasim Akram, Glenn McGrath, Shoaib Akhtar and Shane Warne. Akram (502) is the second-highest wicket-taker of all time in ODIS, whereas McGrath (381) is the leading wicket-taker for Australians. On the other hand, Warne took 393 scalps while Akhtar bagged 247 wickets in ODI cricket.
Here is Shaun Tait’s all-time ODI XI:
Virender Sehwag, Adam Gilchrist, Ricky Ponting, Sachin Tendulkar, Brain Lara, Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Shane Warne, Wasim Akram, Glenn McGrath, Shoaib Akhtar.
