One Pakistan legend included in Wisden’s Test team of 2000s

Former pace-legend Shoaib Akhtar was the only Pakistani cricketer who made it into Wisden’s Test team of the 2000s, the publication announced on Thursday via post on Instagram.

While selecting the players, Wisden considered all the performances from January 1, 2000, to December 31, 2009.

The team was unsurprisingly dominated by Australian cricketers like Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist, Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne.

Akhtar’s bowling figures of 6-11, in the 2002 Test match against New Zealand in Lahore, was also ranked number five in Wisden’s list of best Test spells of the 2000s.

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The Rawalpindi Express ran through the Black caps batting order in the first innings as they were bowled out for just 73 runs. Pakistan went onto win the aforementioned Test by an innings and 324 runs.

🚨 Wisden's Test spells of the 2000s 🚨

No.5: @shoaib100mph's 6-11 v New Zealand

No.4: @DaleSteyn62's 5-23 v India

No.3: @glennmcgrath11's 5-53 v England

No.2: @harbhajan_singh's 8-84 v Australia

No.1: Muttiah Muralitharan's 8-70 v Englandhttps://t.co/X4edFymu2q

— Wisden India (@WisdenIndia) May 17, 2020

The 44-year-old, Akhtar, featured in 46 Tests and 163 ODIs for Pakistan, in which he bagged 178 and 247 wickets respectively. He also took 19 T20I wickets in 15 appearances. He is considered by many as one of the most fearsome bowlers the cricketing world has seen.

Wisden’s Test team of the 2000s

Graeme Smith, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Ricky Ponting, Jacques Kallis, Kumar Sangakkara, Adam Gilchrist, Glenn McGrath, Shoaib Akhtar, Shane Warne, Muttiah Muralitharan