In the long history of cricket, many players came, played and bid adieu to international cricket. In the meantime, many players ended their career as a legend of the game. Now, in the modern era, there is a trend that is being followed by the former cricketers who quite often come out with their all-time best XIs consisting of their favourite players from the past and present.

These teams can be based on formats, decade, era and various other factors. And, it is well-known that every former player would like to put the best XI forward in front of his fans. So, they try to pick some of the finest batsmen and bowlers in their side. But they often forget to pick some gems in their side.

Surprisingly, there is a particular pattern being followed by the former cricketing minds due to which the majority of them forget to pick some fine players on their side. So, here we are to tell the fans about the deserving players who miss out often in former cricketers’ all-time XIs.

Here’s the list:

1. Muttiah Muralitharan

Muttiah Muralidharan, the leg-spinner from Sri Lanka is rated as one of the finest spinners that international cricket has ever witnessed in its long history. He played for the national side for more 18 long years and ended up being one of the legends. But still, it has been seen quite often that he doesn’t get a place in many of the preferred XIs released by the former cricketers.

The former spin head ruled the cricket world with his brilliant bowling. He used to make batsmen dance on the wicket on his own terms. It was almost impossible for the batsmen to read the mind of the 48-year-old former in order to play strokes against him while batting.

The main weapon of his bowling was his top-spinner and doosra. Moreover, he had an added advantage of having a flexible wrist action that used to help him in getting spin on any surface in the world

He bid adieu to international cricket back in 2010 and still holds several records like most wickets in Tests, most wickets in ODIs, the highest number of international wickets in Tests, ODIs and T20s combined etc. So, it is something cheeky that a player with such calibre is mostly ignored by the former players in their playing XI.

2. Kumar Sangakkara

Kumar Sangakkara another legendary player from Sri Lanka who was technically a very sound batsman. He donned national jersey for around 15 years and emerged as the backbone of Sri Lankan batting line-up. His mindset was to take the field with the willow in his hand and go home after winning it.

The former left-handed player was a consistent performer throughout his illustrious career and an impactful player for Sri Lanka with the bat as well as with the gloves. The 42-year-old holds several accolades in international cricket like second-most double centuries in a career, most centuries while batting at number three in Tests and many more. Meanwhile, he was a handy wicketkeeper, who took more than 600 catches with 139 stumpings.

He is no less than a legendary player but he never admired to be in the spotlight. However, his impact was similar to players like Adam Gilchrist and MS Dhoni. And, he might be a more perfect pick in comparison to his competitors. But still, the former players give weightage to another wicketkeeping batsman in contrary to Sangakkara.

3. Kevin Pietersen 

Kevin Pietersen, South Africa-born former England cricketer is reckoned as one of the finest batsman ever played for the three lions. There is no doubt over the fact that Pietersen was a controversial figure. However, he never let those things affect his game. He was no less than a superstar who used to make batting look like a cakewalk.

He introduced switch hit, a stroke that usually baseball players play. The right-handed former batsman mustered more than 13,000 runs with his willow across all the formats. It is known that he didn’t get the farewell that he deserved. But still, if we keep his controversies aside, his calibre was equivalent to any legendary batsmen in international cricket.

He was a brilliant batsman with a variety of strokes in his dictionary who can play all the formats including Tests, ODIs and T20Is. However, it seems like the former players only pick the good boy cricketers in their list due to which the controversial Pietersen never gets picked in the majority of XIs prepared by them.

4. Gautam Gambhir

Gautam Gambhir, the former Indian opener ended as one of the underrated batsmen in the history of Indian Premier League. His was not an impactful player like David Warner, Chris Gayle, Glenn Maxwell and others. But, he was no less than a big match-winner for whichever franchise he played throughout in the cash-rich league.

He is still one of the top 10 all-time leading run-scorer in the history of IPL with 4217 runs. Moreover, he is on the third position in terms of hitting most boundaries in IPL since its inaugural season. Gambhir was a responsible opener who won many memorable games for his team.

The left-handed former player also had leadership qualities that helped Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in winning their maiden trophy. There is no valid reason that he should not be the part of all-time XIs released by the former players. However, there are very few sides in which the fans will get to see the name of Gautam Gambhir. And, the reason is still not known.

5. Marcus Trescothick

Marcus Trescothick, the former England skipper is reckoned as one of the finest openers that England has produced in its cricketing history. He was fine hitting batsman, who used to play on a high strike rate in Tests as well as ODIs. He was on the verge of becoming the next big thing for his national side before he suffered depression and stress due to which he had to bid adieu to international cricket quite early.

But, the former player managed to leave his mark in a very short span of time. He scored more than 10.000 runs across all the formats in six years of his international career. This shows how impactful player Marcus Trescothick was for England.

Afterwards, he continued to play in county cricket for Somerset. He signed off from First-class cricket in 2019 with 26,234 runs next to his name. The 44-year-old was full of talent but couldn’t do justice due to his health issues. But, what he did in his short international career was remarkable.

However, the former cricketers never had a look on his name while picking their best XI. It looks like records matter a lot for the cricketing minds while giving out their team instead of talent. And, this can only be the reason behind the absence of Trescothick’s name among the finest batsman across all the generations.