Fanalysts swing from Gayle as panel chops ‘Mr Cricket’

Fanalysts attempting to have their say in the makeup of SportsMax’s Ultimate XI One-Day International (ODI) XI have begun to come around to the idea of axing Chris Gayle from their team even as the Zone and a panel of experts have chopped the list of batsmen 3-5 in half.

Yesterday, fans had been in agreement that Chris Gayle should be one of the openers in its Ultimate XI ODI team, but today, many of those minds have changed, with Gayle now trailing in the voting behind Sachin Tendulkar and Rohit Sharma, the two Indian batsmen the SportsMax Zone and the panel had agreed upon.

Today the SportsMax Zone asked its panel of experts to cut its list of 12 players vying for the spot to six and despite the number of big names, there was ruthless efficiency in dismissing a number of greats.

First to go was one of Pakistan’s most respected batsmen in Inzamum-ul-Haq, who statistics say, bat too slowly to compete with the all-time great middle-order batsmen.

Inzy was competing against the likes of Australia’s Ricky Ponting, Michael Bevan and Mike Hussey, India’s Virat Kohli and Mahendra Singh Dhoni, South Africa’s AB de Villiers, the west Indies’ Brian Lara and Sir Vivian Richards, Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara and Aravinda de Silva, as well as New Zealand’s Ross Taylor.

Joining Inzy in the dressing room are Dhoni, Bevan, Hussey, de Silva, and Taylor.

Taylor was seen as the best from New Zealand but not a standout when compared to the other great middle-order batsmen of his era, while Dhoni was chopped, presumably because he is expected to compete favourably for a spot as the Ultimate XI’s wicketkeeper.

Bevan and Hussey, despite great averages and the latter’s ‘Mr Cricket’ moniker, were seen as a little outclassed by the other batsmen, while de Silva boasted an average that was too low to compete with the others in the group.

Tomorrow, the panel will discuss the merits and demerits, if there are any, from a group of Sangakarra, Ponting, Kohli, Lara, de Villiers, and Sir Viv.

Remember, no matter what has happened so far, votes are still open for all positions and you can have your say by going to SportsMax.tv and clicking on the banner, or following the link here.