With the rise of franchise cricket, fans around the get to see their favorite players of different national teams come together and showcase their skills. But this kind of luxury was only the stuff of dreams before the intervention of T20 cricket.
The coming together of cricket legends was a celebrated occasion and a treat for cricket lovers all around. Today, we take a look at 5 instances when cricket legends paired up for a game.
MS Dhoni and Jayawardene
When two spectacular national team captains, highly successful for their respective nations, came together, fans weren't let down from the hype and expectations for the match. Indian legend MS Dhoni and Sri Lankan legend Mahela Jayawardene played together for the Asia XI team and put on a batting masterclass scoring a century each. Jayawardene oozes class and grace, while MS Dhoni batted with absolute ruthlessness and destruction.
Brian Lara and Ricky Ponting
When the ICC World XI took on the Asia XI when master batsmen in the form of Ricky Ponting and Brian Lara took the crease together. The batting might prove too powerful as the Australian skipper batted his way to a well-crafted century and found able support in West Indian legend who played a fighting fifty. Their scores proved more than enough as ICC World XI triumphed by 112 runs batting first.
Chris Gayle and Kumar Sangakkara
Like fire and water, two opposites in batting styles came together when Australia took on ICC World XI in the form of Chris Gayle and Kumar Sangakkara. Chris Gayle who made a name for himself absolutely thrashing every ball out of the park found his polar opposite in Kumar Sangakkara who was an exquisite timer of the ball.
Both played a treat of an innings scoring a half-century each. But to the surprise of many, the Sri Lankan legend outpaced the West Indian opener scoring at a rate of 138.63.
Sunil Gavaskar and Imran khan
When Marylebone Cricket Club took on the Rest of the World XI, India and Pakistan joined forces to produce a fighting comeback in the test match. Batting second and trailing by 455 runs, Indian legend Sunil Gavaskar and Pakistan legend Imran khan fought tooth and nail not to fall behind.
The flamboyant Sunil Gavaskar in particular was mighty impressive scoring 188 before departing the crease. Though a list of heavy names such as Allan Border, Kapil Dev, etc filled the team, It was Imran Khan who stepped up to the fight scoring a half-century.
Adam Gilhcrist and Virender Sehwag
This is a dream combination for cricket fans around the world, as two fearless openers take the crease sending shivers down the spine of the bowlers. Such was the case when Marylebone Cricket Club took on the Rest of the World XI in a 50 over the match and both legends of India and Australia took guard to open the innings.
Although not setting the stadium ablaze, both put on a 50 run partnership in 6 overs to treat the fans of their destructive power.
With such exhibition games being a rarity in cricket before, it was a time of absolute excitement when legends of different nations came together. But now fans are blessed around the world, with a whole host of T20 competitions taking place around the world with different combinations of national team players representing different teams.
Let us know below which combination of cricket legends playing together did you enjoy the most.
