Former Australian speedster Jason Gillespie has joined the debate around questioning the ICC T20I XI of the decade. On Sunday, the ICC took to its official Twitter handle and announced the team and players of the decade across formats and categories. Jason Gillespie was particularly unimpressed not to see Babar Azam and Jos Buttler in the side.
The ICC named four Indian players, two Australians, two West Indians, and one cricketer from Sri Lanka, South Africa, and Afghanistan each. The apex body of the sport ignored the stalwarts from Pakistan, New Zealand, and England. It was indeed surprising not to see Babar Azam and Jos Buttler since both are two of the finest T20I batsmen with the former holding the number one ranking.
Jason Gillespie raised eyebrows at ICC selecting only three frontline bowlers and reminded that it is not a popularity contest. The South Australian took to his official Twitter handle, saying that a T20I team is not complete without Jos Buttler or Babar Azam as they are two of the finest strikers of the ball. At the opening spot, Jos Buttler averages over 50 and often gets England off to a breezy start, setting the platform for their finishers to put a massive total.
Do not agree with selecting only 3 frontline bowlers. Meant to be T20I TEAM of the decade as opposed to a popularity contest @ICC https://t.co/iSKMnBHhzu
— Jason Gillespie ? (@dizzy259) December 27, 2020
https://twitter.com/dizzy259/status/1343185743091363841?s=20
Earlier, Shoaib Akhtar lashed out at the ICC for not including any Pakistan player, mainly their captain Babar Azam, who holds the number one position in T20I cricket for batsmen. He also took a dig at the ICC, mentioning that they chose the eleven based on IPL performances and it’s not a World XI.
ICC T20I of the decade:
Rohit Sharma, Chris Gayle, Aaron Finch, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Glenn Maxwell, MS Dhoni (c, wk), Kieron Pollard, Rashid Khan, Jasprit Bumrah, Lasith Malinga.
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