Assembling dream world XI is very hard since you have to select players from different era. My criteria for dream XI will be longevity, elegance, skills, consistency, analytical mind, popularity, entertainer, records against best team in their era, performance under pressure, shot armory, bowl armory, sheer pace or artistic swing, and average vs. accumulation.

My dream world XI contains 5-specialist batsmen, 1 all-rounder, 1 wicket keeper, and 4-specialist bowlers. I believe in specialist in test cricket - 5 batsmen and innovative all-rounder and wicketkeeper batsman who can score more than 400 runs in every inning they play and 4-specilialist bowlers to win test matches by taking 20 wickets.

2 – Openers
Len Hutton – great back foot player
Jack Hobbs – record 61,237 first-class runs, 197 centuries, last 98 centuries came after his 40th birthday, third of five Wisden Cricketers of the 20th Century (30/100 Votes)
Sunil Gavaskar – 34 centuries, first to cross 10000 mark, stingy customer, master of fourth
Gordon Greenidge – highly entertainer hard hitter
Others Considered – Arthur Morris, Victor Trumper, WG Grace, Barry Richards, Geoff Boycott

Selection: Every openers are great playing new balls but they must be good on fifth day rusty pitches to create a great platform for defending or chasing target. I wanted to go for left and right hand combination to make sure none of opponent bowlers get into rhythm. But, biggest run accumulators Hobbs and Gavaskar are hard to sit out.

1 – One-down
Don Bradman – Astonishing 29 centuries and Test average of 99.94 in 52 Tests, sheer concentration and domination of the crease, record 974 runs in a five-Test series, first of five Wisden Cricketers of the 20th Century (100/100 Votes)
Wally Hammond – dashing striker, more than 50000 runs
George Hadley – black bradman, superb back foot player, 10 centuries in 22 test
Rahul Dravid – solid defense, ideal player to hold innings together
Others Considered – Ricky Ponting, David Gower

Selection: This must be best batsman and backbone of the team and must have ability to hold an innings together once the wickets started to fall around him. Incomparable Bradman is not only my automatic choice but also captaining the team. He never lost series under his captaincy during 1934-48. People say he is best analytical mind cricket ever seen.

2 – Middle Order
Sachin Tendulkar – 34 centuries, amazing consistency, second best after Don in terms of technique and shot armory
Viv Richards – fearsome, original master-blaster, record of the most test runs in a year, fastest ever test century from a mere 56 balls, last of five Wisden Cricketers of the 20th Century (25/100 Votes)
Brian Lara – elegant high back lift, best crunch time player game ever seen, record of highest individual score - 400 in test, 500 in first class
Graeme Pollock – best left hander game ever seen
Greg Chappell – tall and high stance, elegant
Others Considered – Javed Miandad, Mark Waugh, Allan Border, Steve Waugh

Selection – This must give stability to team for any early collapse or increase tempo set by top order. Any team with solid middle order is bound to make 400-500 runs. one position is automatically goes to charismatic Viv Richards. Other one is hardest decision I have to make, It can go either way – left or right combination or consistent vs. crunch player. As I said, I need more solidity in middle order and no one is better than Sachin in terms of solidity and consistency.

1 – All-rounder
Keith Miller – short run-up with very fast high deliveries and flamboyant batsman
Gary Sobers – finest all-rounder the game has ever seen, one of the great batsman, 8000 runs, 235 wks, 26 centuries in 93 tests, 365*, first player to smash six sixes in an over, supremely versatile bowler - pace to wrist spin, second of five Wisden Cricketers of the 20th Century (90/100 Votes), fine close in fielder
Imran Khan – 3700 runs and 362 wkts in 88 tests, cricket genius, deadly reverse-swings, sharp in cutters, last ten years of cricket he played 51 Tests, averaging a sensational 50 with the bat and 19 with the ball
Kapil Dev – 5200 runs and 434 wkts in dead grassless wickets, Wisden Indian cricketer of the 20th century
Ian Botham – 5000 runs and 383 wkts in 102 tests
Richard Hadlee – 3000 runs and 431 wickets in 86 tests, changed NZ cricket
Jacques Kallis – 7300 runs, 180 wkts, 22 centuries in 93 tests

Selection: This must be a master batsman, wicket-taking bowler, and great fielder. He must be innovative and attacking batsman. I can’t go against Gary Sobers. 80s quartet – Imran, Kapil, Botham, and Hadlee are more bowlers than batsman. They accumulated more than 16000 runs with 1600 wks altogether. Even best of them Imran (37.50 batting, 22.80 bowling average) is not even close to Sobers.

1 – WK
Adam Gilchrist – Kept McGrath and Shane Warne, Best destructive batsman to change tempo of game in hours, real gentleman of game - walking
Rodney Marsh – Kept Lillie and Thompson
Others Considered – Don Tallon, Allan Knott, Clyde Walcott, Ian Healy

Selection: This must be good wicker keeper of spin, swing, fast bowlers and able to make useful contribution in runs. Adam Gilchrist is best wicketkeeper-batsman game ever seen.

1 – Spinner
Shane Warne: Arguably best leg spinner in world, cricket wizard, sharp turned top spin, 623 wks in 128 matches, the ’’ball of the century’’ - his first ever Ashes delivery, second last of five Wisden Cricketers of the 20th Century (27/100 Votes)
Muralitharan: Arguably best off spinner in world, astonishing 563 wkts in 95 matches
Others Considered – Bill O’Reilly, Jim Laker, Anil Kumble, Chandrashekhar, Abdul Qadir, Saqlain Mustaq

Selection: This is big weapon on fourth or fifth spin friendly or rough wickets. Shane Warne is an auto choice because of his wkts on pace friendly pitches and impeccable cricket brain.

3 – Fast Bowler
Sydney Barnes – very high action, astonishing 189 wkts in 27 tests with 16.5, record 49 wickets in a five-Test series
Ray Lindwall – deadly inswingers, flawless action
Dennis Lillie – devastating leg-cutter, swinging both ways
Glenn McGrath – accurate, prodigy, always best against best, best strike rate among more than 500 wkts takers
Malcolm Marshall – formidable, best strike rate among more than 300 wkts takers
Malcolm Holding – cunning, smooth action
Courtney Ambrose - best strike rate among more than 400 wkts takers
Wasim Akram – best left-arm fast bowler of game ever seen, moves bowl both ways in single delivery
Others Considered – Fred Truman, Joel Garner, Courtney Walsh, Waqar Younis

Selection: This is big weapon on pace, grass, moisture friendly first day wickets. Criteria for fast bowlers are combination of pace, accuracy, economy, and strike rate. I don’t mind if they are cocky or gentleman as long as feared by batsmen. This is most difficult choice because of availability of talent. I would love to have left arm seamer like Akram but will go for fearsome Lillie, striker Barnes, and accurate McGrath.

Here is my final dream world XI with 12th man and 16-member tour team.
Sunil Gavaskar
Jack Hobbs
Don Bradman (C)
Sachin Tendulkar
Viv Richards
Gary Sobers (VC)
Adam Gilchrist
Shane Warne
Dennis Lillie
Sydney Barnes
Glenn McGrath
Brian Lara (12th man)
Graeme Pollock (Bench)
Imran Khan (Bench)
M. Muralitharan (Bench)
Wasim Akram (Bench)