India v England

Wisden’s India-England ODI combined XI

by Wisden Staff March 22, 2021 - 1:34pm 4 minute read

A Wisden panel of Rohit Sankar, Taha Hashim and Ben Gardner picked out a current combined India-England ODI XI.

While it was New Zealand that England downed in dramatic circumstances in the 2019 Cricket World Cup final, it’s India who are vying with Eoin Morgan’s side for the title of ‘the best ODI team in the world’.

Each of their first XIs is filled with all-time greats, especially in the batting department, and the two may well dominate the 50-over format for years to come. With the next World Cup to be held in India, an upcoming three-match series presents a chance to see who has the upper hand in those conditions, even if England will be weakened by several notable absences.

Picking a current combined XI is an interesting exercise, therefore. We haven’t concerned ourselves with availabilities or selections for this series in particular, and we also haven’t only taken into consideration performances in India-England matches. The question is a simple one: what is the strongest possible ODI team you can pick from a combined pool of players? Here’s what we came up with.

Wisden’s India-England ODI combined XI – the selections

The top three

Jonny Bairstow: 3,207 runs @ 47.16, SR: 103.71, 10 100s, HS: 141*
Rohit Sharma: 9,115 runs @ 49.27, SR: 88.92, 29 100s, HS: 264
Virat Kohli: 12,040 runs @ 59.31, SR: 93.24, 43 100s, HS: 183

This bit was easy. They might well make up the top three in a current ODI world XI, with Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli each good shouts for an all-time line-up too. By the time Jonny Bairstow is done, he might not be far off either. How ignorant we were to think it might be this easy all the way through.

Serious consideration was given to making Rohit captain. He seems like a more tactically astute leader, but now didn’t seem like the time to poke that particular bear, so Kohli will do the coin-tossing.

The middle order

Joe Root: 5,962 runs @ 50.10, SR: 86.90, 16 100s, HS: 133*
Ben Stokes: 2,682 runs @ 40.63, SR: 93.94, 3 100s, HS: 102*; 70 wickets @ 41.71, ER: 6.01, 1 5wi, BBI: 5-61
Jos Buttler (wk): 3,855 runs @ 39.74, SR: 119.05, 9 100s, HS: 150

Jos Buttler picked himself, though it might not be long until Rishabh Pant has something to say about that. Nos.4 and 5 was perhaps the toughest decision in the whole team. Eoin Morgan was desperately unlucky to miss out, and this team could well come to regret not having his calming captaincy presence.

Three of Rohit, Kohli and Joe Root in the top four feels a bit safe (in our final line-up we’ve pushed Root up to three so that Kohli can give the game a bit more go-forward at No.4) but really, all three are too good to leave out. And then Ben Stokes is England’s World Cup hero, the one player you’d want walking in on the very rare occasions that top-order stumbles.

The bowling all-rounder

Ravindra Jadeja: 188 wickets @ 37.36, ER: 4.92, 1 5WI, BBI: 5-36; 2,411 runs @ 32.58, SR: 87.07, HS: 87

The other really tough decision was Hardik Pandya or Ravindra Jadeja for the bowling all-rounder slot. Hardik Pandya is the more powerful batsman, but Jadeja’s skills with bat in hand are worth admiration, too. The left-arm spinner also adds a different angle to the attack, but then England did win the World Cup with five right-arm seamers in the side. In the end, even with Stokes to pick up the slack, relying on Pandya as a front-liner felt just a little optimistic. But if the pitch or ground looks unfavourable to tweak, he can come in.

The bowlers

Adil Rashid: 155 wickets @ 31.67, ER: 5.60, 2 5WIs, BBI: 5-27
Jofra Archer: 30 wickets @ 24.00, ER: 4.74, BBI: 3-27
Mohammed Shami: 148 wickets @ 25.62, ER: 5.62, 1 5WI, BBI: 5-69
Jasprit Bumrah: 108 wickets @ 25.33, ER: 4.65, 1 5WI, BBI: 5-27

While there were plenty of worthy bowlers to miss out, this was a consensus pick among our panel. Adil Rashid comfortably edged out Yuzvendra Chahal for the spinner’s spot and Jasprit Bumrah was pretty much the first name on the team sheet. But the other two spots saw some consternation.

Mark Wood’s World Cup exploits were heroic, and bowling as quickly as he is, it’s tough to leave him out of any side. Similarly, Chris Woakes has been one of England’s most reliable operators with the ball, and a handy failsafe with the bat, for years now.

But Jofra Archer and Mohammed Shami felt like the best options to round out the attack; oppositions teams aren’t scoring a run off Bumrah and Archer, and when they try and attack Shami and Rashid, they will undoubtedly get themselves out.