Cricket Team of the Decade: Virat Kohli, Steve Smith beat out Ricky Ponting, Sachin Tendulkar

The 2010s brought the end to three of the greatest batsmen of all-time – and the explosion of a new generation more than capable of replacing them. Here is Crash Craddock’s Team of the Decade.

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It was the decade of the super-bats… the legends who said goodbye and the remarkable men who replaced them.

When Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting and Jacques Kallis took their gold-plated records into retirement in the early years of the decade it seemed cricket might be left in a dark place.

But a new generation of blue bloods rose to take their place – AB de Villiers, Steve Smith, Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson among them – and spark fresh interest in the game.

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Stuart Broad, Steve Smith and Virat Kohli make the cut.

Given Tendulkar, Ponting and Kallis are best remembered for deeds in the previous decades I’ve given the new generation the nod in our World XI Test team of the decade which features a top order to die for and a bowling attack which, while strong, somehow underlines that the decade lacked truly dominant fast bowlers.

A drum roll for …

AB DE VILLIERS (South Africa): Mr 360 was the one player who left Australian bowlers clueless. The ball-tampering affair may have overshadowed his brilliance on Australia’s last tour of South Africa but he was so commanding at least one Australian bowler admitted to getting to the top of his mark and thinking “I’m out of ideas … he’s too good’’.

ALASTAIR COOK (England): Dignified, old-fashioned English opener who was generally rocks or diamonds against Australia but his team would have been lost without their trusted anchorman who scored more than anyone from any nation in the decade. Like Warner, notched 23 tons in the decade but shaded the Australian because of an excellent offshore record in which he averages 48 or better in six nations.

Alastair Cook was England’s rock at the top of the order for much of the past decade.

STEVE SMITH (Australia): Surged to such heights there is a realistic chance he will finish his career standing alone in the giant gap between Sir Donald Bradman and a group of champions such as Sachin Tendulkar who were historically next best. Much like Warner, his ball tampering ban seems to only have added to his hunger.

VIRAT KOHLI (India): The player of the decade and by far the biggest personality and most important player in the modern game. Brought swagger, self-belief and modern fitness standards to a previously old-fashioned Indian cricket side and, apart from his batting deeds which netted him more centuries (27) than anyone else in the decade, his passion for Test cricket means the five-day game will never die on his watch.

KANE WILLIAMSON (New Zealand): Calm, collected leader who deserves to be captain of this team for the poise he showed after seeing England raise the World Cup despite tying with them – twice – in the final. On course to become New Zealand’s greatest batsman with an orthodox technique that is elastic enough to stretch comfortably over all formats.

An entertainer and antagoniser, India's Virat Kohli is already an all-time great. Picture: AFP

YOUNIS KHAN (Pakistan): The decade’s most underrated player. Quiet and unassuming but, like many warriors from Pakistan’s wild northwestern frontier, was at his best when the world was closing in on him. With Pakistan playing the entire decade away from home, the exceptional batting craftsman was a road warrior par excellence who ended up averaging 50 in Australia and England and a do-you-mind 76 in India.

KUMAR SANGAKKARA (Sri Lanka): A lawyer by profession, he had a quick, sharp tongue best used from behind the stumps where we have chosen him here. His tight technique and robust temperament shone across the globe as he scored Test tons in 10 nations. Unlike many Asian batsmen who struggle offshore, averaged 54 away from home.

The best keeper-batsman of the past decade, Kumar Sangakkara was in a different class.

STUART BROAD (England): Incredibly durable performer who has taken 398 wickets in the decade, second to teammate James Anderson with England playing a large number of Tests. A burst of Broad brilliance was one of the decade’s most rousing sights. Wasn’t just a home town hero for he picked up five wicket hauls in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and West Indies.

DALE STEYN (South Africa): Swing, seam, pace, precision … he had it all to be the fast bowler of his generation and the first bowler chosen here. A measure of his greatness was that he shone in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka where many a fast man has crumbled before him. Had only one year in the decade where he averaged more than 30 runs per Test wicket and four where he averaged less than 20.

NATHAN LYON (Australia): Arguably Australia’s most important player because he is hardest to replace. The true merit of his 370 wicket Test career is that he is likely to finish his career with three or four times as many wickets as any other Australian off-spinner. Is just ahead of Rangana Herath and Ravi Ashwin on the wicket-taker’s list for the decade but their home conditions were far more spin friendly than his.

JIMMY ANDERSON (England): Lightly-framed swing bowling conjurer who took 40 or more wickets in eight years of the decade and is easily its highest wicket-taker with a remarkable 428 at less than 25 apiece. Proved that swing and subtlety can be kryptonite to modern batting techniques.

JASPRIT BUMRAH (12th man, India): Volume wise, has not right to be here because, incredibly he has not played a home Test. But we are getting him to carry the drinks in expectation he will be a worthy member of the next side announced in a decade after enabling India to be the first Asian team to win a Test series in Australia and also bowl well in South Africa, England and the West Indies.