Zone, Panel pick Pakistan Prime Minister ahead of fan-favourite Kallis
Imran Khan (left) and Jacques Kallis
Imran Khan is the allrounder of choice for the SportsMax Ultimate XI One-Day International team, so says a panel of experts and the SportsMax Zone.
The two have combined to pick the current Prime Minister of Pakistan despite significant opposition from Fanalysts.
According to Fanalysts, Jacques Kallis, who finished behind Garfield Sobers in the run-up to the Ultimate XI Test team, is the best ODI allrounder by a long way.
Kallis’ statistics as shown in the Ultimate XI Profiles are impressive. With a 44.36 average with the bat, 17 centuries and 86 half-centuries, as well as 273 wickets at an average of 31.79 with the ball, it is not difficult to understand the fan’s choice.
Imran Khan, on the other hand, averages 33.41 with the bat and 182 wickets at an average of 26.61 with the ball.
The suggestion from the Zone and the panel is clearly they are going for a bowling allrounder with Khan versus the batting bent present in Kallis’ performances.
In fact, Fanalysts do not even have Khan as a serious contender for a place in the Ultimate XI, with Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan, Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi, Australia’s Shane Watson, and England’s Andrew Flintoff, garnering more picks than the famed former Pakistan skipper.
The zone and the panel have continued to play a three-legged race with their voting, so far agreeing on every segment of the XI.
So far, the team of the panel reads Rohit Sharma and Sachin Tendulkar as openers; Virat Kohli, Viv Richards, and AB de Villiers as batsmen 3-5, Mahendra Singh Dhoni as the wicketkeeper, and Imran Khan as the allrounder.
Fanalysts have, to date, come up with a slightly different team. They too, have gone with Sharma and Tendulkar at the top, but have decided on Lara to join Kohli and de Villiers in the middle order. The Fanalysts are in agreement with Dhoni as the overwhelming favourite for the wicketkeeping position but have chosen Kallis as their all-rounder.
This evening, the panel and Zone will be picking their bowlers so tune into SportsMax at 4:30pm Eastern Standard Time or 5:30pm in the Eastern Caribbean. You can watch SportsMax on the SportsMax app, download it from the App Store or from Google Play.
Remember, Fanalyst votes count for 40% of the overall vote for places in the Ultimate XI. Just go to the SportsMax.tv home page and click on the banner or click on this link.
Paul-Andre Walker
Paul-Andre is the Managing Editor at SportsMax.tv. He comes to the role with almost 20 years of experience as journalist. That experience includes all facets of media. He began as a sports Journalist in 2001, quickly moving into radio, where he was an editor before becoming a news editor and then an entertainment editor with one of the biggest media houses in the Caribbean.
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