Daily Times

LAHORE: The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Sunday announced their Teams of the Decade (TOTD) in all three formats of the game. Unfortunately, no cricketer from Pakistan was included in the list which upset several Pakistan cricketers. The different playing XIs announced by the governing body are a part of ICC Awards, a programme aimed at celebrating outstanding cricketers and moments over the last ten years. Reacting to the announcement, former Pakistani cricketer Rashid Latif took to Twitter and sarcastically wrote that the ICC has made a typographical error in the announcement and have “forgotten to [mention] the Indian Premier League (IPL) T20s team for the decade.” He made the comment as most of the players awarded the title play for the IPL. Former Pakistani fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar also took a jibe at the ICC and wrote “as expected,” in reply to Rashid Latif’s tweet.

Earlier in December, the ICC had nominated five Pakistan players including Misbah-ul Haq, Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Hafeez, Sana Mir and Javeria Khan in Men’s and Women’s ODI Team of the Decade (TOTD) category. However, none of these players could make it to the final playing XI of ICC ODI TOTD. A total of five TOTD were compiled by the ICC, including three for Men’s Test matches, One Day Internationals, and Twenty20 Internationals. Two of Women’s ODIs and T20Is were also nominated. According to reports, the voting academy comprised global cricket journalists and broadcasters who used “comprehensive statistics and their narratives to cast their votes.” As per the ICC, the voting academy was supposed to determine the selections in the TOTD categories using online surveys, identifying teams in the batting order, selecting a balanced team of batters, bowlers and one wicketkeeper, while also nominating a captain from their selections for each format.