2008 Wisden XI
THE WISDEN TEST XI OF 2008
V. Sehwag (India)
§G. C. Smith (South Africa)
R. T. Ponting (Australia)
S. R. Tendulkar (India)
K. P. Pietersen (England)
S. Chanderpaul (West Indies)
*†M. S. Dhoni (India)
Harbhajan Singh (India)
M. G. Johnson (Australia)
D. W. Steyn (South Africa)
Zaheer Khan (India)
5 Indians in here means the Indian presence in the Test arena is getting stronger and louder. South Africans had a better test result percentage than India in 2008, yet the number of Indians outnumber the Saffers. SA had 4 or 5 batsmen who scored over 1000 runs in Tests in 08 and India had 3 or 4. Skipper choice is again a proof that Ponting is on a decline and the star of MSD is on rise. Though there are couple of differences here. Harbhajan Singh in my opinion didn’t deserve the place. Surprisingly there is no Chuck and “Mendis”. No SL cricketer finds a place here despite having won the Test series against India. And many of their batsmen scored big hundreds. So it proves that big runs in drawn games doesn’t matter. Consistency does, that’s where the likes of Sehwag, Tendulkar, Smith, Chandu scored.
Pace attack seems balanced. 2 left armers and a right armer. 2 express followed by one who is master of seam and swing. Lack of success and injury break for Freddie Flintoff meant there is no bowling / batting alrounder in this team. Presence of MS Dhoni makes this team looks unbeatable as he not only provides the depth in the batting plus brings the freshness in the captaincy.
The number of Indians here prove that India is the team TOBE in the future Test world.
Switch Hit 
Most of the list is fine, but no way Harbhajan deserves to get in over Murali. Murali is getting older but is still better, and Mendis probably is too. Furthermore these two absolutely destroyed India in the head to head series, the same series where Harbhajan was disappointing!On the other hand, you can’t argue with the strength of the Indian Test side.
cricketanalysisdotcom
April 9, 2009 at 5:10 am
India is the best in world cricket right now.< HREF="http://kunaljanu.wordpress.com/" REL="nofollow"><>Kunal Janu<><>
Kunal janu
April 9, 2009 at 5:21 am
This surely tells a tale uh?With Dhoni, Harbhajan, and Shewag in the playing 11. Just wondering how come I’m not on your blog roll?@cricketanalysisdotcomBhaji does deserve too be ahead of Mendis. Last year Mendis took only took 26 wickets. He was in Peter Roebuck’s team of the 2008 instead of Bhajji thogh.Cheers,Posh
Christopher Poshin David
April 9, 2009 at 6:29 am