The team selected by the ICC’s online readers insults the records: Geoffrey Boycott

Former England opener Geoffrey Boycott is utterly unhappy with the ICC Dream XI and called the team voted by fans from across the globe as a ‘joke’. The legendary English batsman feels that the XI is biased and does not hold any credibility. The fact that the eleven has three Indians and two Pakistanis in the line-up has also infuriated him.

“It takes no account of the history of the game and the great players of the past. The team selected by the ICC’s online readers insults the records and achievements of the game’s greats,” Boycott wrote in his column in UK’s Telegraph newspaper.

“I bet the vast majority of the votes were cast by people from the sub-continent because five of the XI are from India and Pakistan,” Boycott wrote.

While he bets on his facts, Boycott’s dream side has now Asians in it, not even the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Sunil Gavaskar or Wasim Akram. Not even Sourav Ganguly, the player who he personally admired and named ‘Prince of Kolkata’. Donald Bradman and Shane Warne are the only names who found a place in both the list. The 76-year-old was straight forward with his selection and made a sort of bloated comments.

“I can’t pick Indians just to please you. I can’t get in myself. Gavaskar was a wonderful player and friend,” Boycott said.

“As our records show, Sunil (Gavaskar) played more matches, scored more runs and centuries than me, but in terms of technique, I consider myself superior to Sunil even if by just half a percentage point.”

Boycott’s Dream XI: Jack Hobbs, Len Hutton, Donald Bradman, George Headley, Viv Richards, Garry Sobers, Alan Knott, Sydney Barnes, Malcolm Marshall, Shane Warne and Dennis Lillee.

The ICC Dream XI: Virender Sehwag, Sunil Gavaskar, Donald Bradman, Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara, Kapil Dev, Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne, Wasim Akram, Curtly Ambrose, and Glenn McGrath in the line-up.

The names Boycott’s XI are out of his experience and the players he watched or admired. The fact that there were no Asians in the XI speaks for it. Fans, on the other hand, chose the XI out of their experience voted for the players who, they feel deserve a spot in the team. If it had been about sub-continental votes influencing the result, then perhaps Rahul Dravid, Waqar Younis and Muttiah Muralitharan would also have been on the list in place of Australians and West Indies legends.