India's all-time greatest ODI XI

After the semi-final defeat against New Zealand in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, India will be definitely looking for its middle-order to settle down before the start of 2023 World Cup which is going to be held in India around three years from now.

India, in the past, have won two ODI World Cups in 1983 and 2011. A total of 231 players have donned the Indian jersey in ODI cricket and only 30 were lucky enough to kiss the World Cup from 1974 till date. Among all these tremendous players, we tried our best to pick India’s greatest ODI XI.

It is difficult to compare players of different generations as the game of cricket is evolving rapidly since the first ODI match played on 5th January,1971. A score of 260 used to be a defendable total in most part of the 20th century but today due to the emergence of T20 cricket in 21st century even a total of 350 is being chased down. Although it’s a difficult task to do, we did our best to filter the best XI played in Indian cricket history.

So, without any further delay, let us see the players who make into the greatest India ODI XI: 

1. Virender Sehwag

One of the most destructive players, who played for India, will be the best choice to open the innings on any given day as he can slaughter the bowling attack in the first powerplay. He was one of the true reasons for the team’s success in the early days of this century.

He can easily take away the game from the opponents with his stroke-play. His innings of 219 against West indies in 2011 is still the 3rd highest individual score in ODI history. Sehwag can even turn matches with his crafty off-breaks. With all these abilities he can be a perfect fit in to this position.

In 251 ODI matches he played for his nation, Sehwag scored 8273 runs at a strike rate of 104.34 and an average of 35.06 with the help of 15 100s and 38 50s. He also has 96 wickets to his name.