Cricket All-Stars: Sachin’s Blasters Player Ratings

Cricket All-Stars: Sachin’s Blasters Player Ratings: Sachin’s Blasters had a team with names like Virender Sehwag, Sourav Ganguly, Mahela Jayawardene and of course, Sachin Tendulkar to take on the opposition with the bat and bowlers of the likes of Glenn McGrath, Shoaib Akhtar and Muttiah Muralitharan. But at the end of 3 games, Shane Warne’s team the Warne’s Warriors beat them in all the 3 matches of the Cricket All Stars T20 league to lift the trophy.

In the first match, the Warriors bowled them out for 140 and scored one more with 6 wickets in hand. Sachin fans expected the Master Blaster and his team to bounce back in the second T20 but that was not to happen and Shane Warne’s old boys won the match by 57 runs. The third and the final match looked to be the one that would bring a consolation win for the Blasters but with some fine batting by former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting who scored an unbeaten 43 they overhauled the target of 220 runs with 4 wickets and a ball to spare.

Here are the ratings of all the players of the Sachin’s Blasters:

Sachin Tendulkar (C) – 8:

Sachin once again in his cricketing life was good with the bat, in his role as a batsman but was unable to lead his team to victory and had a poor outing as captain. He did well with the bat overall and after 3 matches had 115 runs, which includes a half century (56) he scored in the last match, but despite scoring those runs he was never quite able to win a match for his team.

Virender Sehwag – 8:

Virender Sehwag who recently announced his international retirement helped his fans relive the moments they cherish the most. He once again took strike on the first ball and once again hit first ball boundaries. It was overall a good series for him as he scored 98 runs in three innings, which includes a half-century he scored in the 1^st game. Viru played with the flair we have known him for and was useful with his off-spin as well as he got his team two wickets from the 1.5 overs that he bowled.

Sourav Ganguly – 6:

Dada came in, to play from the second game and displayed his trademark shot dancing down the ground to the spinners and lofted them over the ropes. In the two innings that he batted Sourav Ganguly scored 12 and a fifty. The third game was a good one for him with the bat but despite scoring 219 his team could not stop the Warriors from taking away the game and the trophy.

Mahela Jayawardene – 5:

Mahela Jayawardene was expected to come good, since he was until recently playing international cricket and with his class he had proved himself a good T20 batsman, but things did not fall in place for the Sri Lankan and he could score only 18, 5 and 41 in the three occasions he walked out to bat for the Blasters.

Carl Hooper – 4:

This former West Indies skipper had retired from international cricket years before T20 cricket was introduced and since he hardly carried any experience of playing the Twenty20 format it was always going to be tough for him. Carl batted twice and score 11 and 33 runs respectively.

Lance Klusener – 5:

One of the best finishers and probably the first one who fitted into this term Lance Klusener, many expected would be an ideal player for the format but since he does not possess the exposure to T20 cricket he did not have a noteworthy performance in this All Stars T20 league with the bat and scored just 21 runs, though he got a couple of wickets, it was an average outing for him.

Brian Lara – 4:

Brian Lara looked out of sorts, clearly not his cup of tea. The legend could not get going in the 2 matches he played and could only score 20 runs. Though his batting class still glows bright, he proved to be a flop in this series.

VVS Laxman – 3:

VVS right throughout his international career carried the tag and classification of being the man for the longer format. He has played in the IPL but was never quite a hot property there either. With just 9 runs from the two innings that he batted in Laxman could not do the job for his unit.

Moin Khan – 2:

Moin Khan had the primary responsibility of guarding behind the wickets, which he did efficiently but since in this age a wicket-keeper is also expected to come up with solid performances with the bat, he was a disappointment. Khan scored one run and a duck in the two innings that he batted.

Sir Curtly Ambrose – 2:

Sir Curtly Ambrose needs no introduction and while he never played a competitive T20 match many had predicted he would be as effective in the shortest format given his lethalness with the ball. But here the batsmen found him easy to negotiate and from the two matches he featured in the legend just picked a solitary wicket.

Glenn McGrath – 2:

Though McGrath retired a few years ago but he has been around the BPL and the IPL. Club his bowling class with the experience of having played 20 overs cricket one expected this former Australian legend to come good in the All Stars league, but that did not materialize and McGrath picked just one wicket from 2 matches.

Muttiah Muralitharan – 2:

The man with most wickets to his name in international cricket had to settle for just 1 wicket in the 3 matches of the league. Maybe for the fact that the wickets weren’t conducive for spinners or that most batsmen played spin well Muttiah was quite ordinary in all the three matches and the lack of wickets to his names was quite a surprise for everyone.

Shaun Pollock – 4:

Pollock who is regarded as one of the best all-rounders from South Africa wasn’t sharp enough with the ball here as he did not manage to get a single wicket from the 2 matches. He scored 66 runs with the bat which includes a fifty, Polly batted with a strike rate of 212.90 and scored 1 four along with 8 sixes.

Shoaib Akhtar – 5:

The Rawalpandi express steamed in and bowled in typical Shoaib Akhtar style though with less gas. Akhtar the fastest bowler in the world was expected to do well since his major weapon pace does not rely on the wicket or any element for that matter. But he had an average series being able to get just a couple of wickets from the 2 matches that he played with 2/26 being his best effort.

Graeme Swann – 5:

Graeme Swann was the best bowler in the Blasters lineup and the English offie did a decent job for his team in the series. Swann webbed 3 batsmen in two matches and was particularly good in a game where he got a couple of wickets spending just 12 runs. He bowled well and was one of the miser’s maintaining an economy of 7.42 throughout.