10 dream battles between players from different eras 

Virat Kohli, Dale Steyn, Steve Smith, AB de Villiers etc. are some of the best players of this generation. Likewise, the previous generation had players like Kumar Sangakkara, Muttiah Muralitharan, Jacques Kallis etc. who stood out from the rest.

In simple words, every generation has a few great players who are in a completely different league when compared to the others. Fans have always fantasized how battles between the players from different eras would pan out.

Let us take a look at ten dream battles between players from different eras.

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Matthew Hayden vs R Ashwin in India

Over the last couple of decades, all teams have toured India on multiple occasions. The visiting batsmen have found it hard to get going against the Indian bowlers. One can easily count the number of batsmen who dominated the Indian spinners in India and one name that is right there at the top is Matthew Hayden.

Away from home, the left-hander scored over 1000 Test runs in one country, India. In the 11 innings he played, he plundered the Indian bowlers for 1027 runs at an average of 51.35. Even when his teammates had no clue against Harbhajan Singh in 2001, the Queenslander kept the offie at bay and took him for plenty. Such was his domination in India.

A decade and a half later, India have Ashwin, who is regarded as a better spin bowler than Harbhajan, at least in India. Would Ashwin have managed to keep Hayden at bay when the Aussie was at his peak? Who would have triumphed in a battle between these former Chennai Super Kings teammates?

Virat Kohli vs Wasim Akram

Without a shadow of a doubt, Virat Kohli is the best batsman across all three formats in this generation and Wasim Akram is widely regarded as the best bowler to have graced the game.

Virat has the hunger to keep scoring runs and he has been successfully doing that for a while now. Even the best in the business have weaknesses though. The case is no different with Virat as he is vulnerable against swinging balls that are pitched outside off stump (fourth or fifth stump). Sometimes, he nicks the ball to the keeper or the slip cordon and sometimes, preempts a ball that moves away from him and gets out to a ball that comes in.

So, watching Kohli against bowlers who can do this on a consistent basis will be an interesting proposition. Wasim can do exactly that as he has troubled all the batsmen during his time, with his swing. Just imagine the battle between Wasim at his peak and Virat at his peak. It would be an intriguing one as both players would be tested throughout.

Shane Warne vs Joe Root

I can say this without any hesitation. Shane Warne is the best spinner to have graced the sport. In spite of taking fewer wickets than Muralitharan, Warne will be regarded as the greatest because of the way he bowled and the conditions he bowled in.

Warne troubled almost all the batsman he bowled against. How deadly would he have been in the current era where there are few good players of spin bowling?

Talking about good players of spin bowling, one of the few names that comes to our mind is England's Joe Root. Root has dominated the likes of R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Yasir Shah, Rangana Herath etc. How about a battle between both these Ashes rivals? One may feel that Warne would come out on top but you can never underestimate Root.

Dale Steyn vs Viv Richards

Vivian Richards from Antigua is arguably the greatest batsman of all-time. When slogging was not a common entity among the cricket fans, Sir Viv showed how it was done as he dominated every single bowler in his era and stamped his authority.

One can argue that the best bowlers at the time were playing in the same team as Richards but still, he made the best of his generation look like net bowlers. Dale Steyn, on the other hand, has stamped his authority in an era when the bat has started dominating the ball.

Without a doubt, he has been the best fast bowler in the world for the last decade. A fiery Dale Steyn steaming in to bowl to a calm and composed Richards who would look to hit him out of the attack is probably one of the few battles cricket fans would want to witness.

Muttiah Muralitharan vs Zaheer Abbas

While talking about good players of spin bowling, one name that comes to our mind is former Pakistan batsman Zaheer Abbas. During his playing days, Zaheer was arguably the best player of spin bowling and would definitely feature in the top-10 players of spin of all-time. He had the knack of easily picking the variations from the bowler's hand.

Nicknamed the ‘Asian Bradman’, Zaheer gave nightmares to the Indian spin quartet, the best spin bowlers during his time, as he dominated them on every single occasion. Can he stamp the same authority on someone like Muttiah Muralitharan, who finished as the bowler with the most wickets in Test cricket?

The Lankan spinner is known for making the best dance to his tunes and he didn't spare anyone who played against him. So, a clash between Zaheer and Muralitharan would be mouth-watering.

Virender Sehwag vs Jeff Thompson

See ball, hit ball. This was the mantra of Virender Sehwag whenever he came out to bat. He neither cared about the bowler's reputation nor about what he was bowling. All he cared about was that the ball coming at him should be dispatched to the boundary.

He did that against every single bowler he faced without getting off-guard often. But, facing some of the quicks from a generation prior to his would have posed a big challenge to the Nawab of Najafgarh. One bowler who would have certainly given Sehwag a run for his money is former Australian pacer Jeff Thompson.

The New South Welshman, with a slingy action, is considered by many in the sport to be the fastest bowler of all time. It was difficult for someone like Viv Richards to get the better of Thompson and a battle between the Aussie and Sehwag will surely be a treat to watch.

Mitchell Starc vs Sanath Jayasuriya in the field restriction overs

In the 1996 World Cup, Sri Lankan opener Sanath Jayasuriya revolutionized batting in ODIs by making use of the field restriction overs and cashing in. His success ensured teams took a cue from the left-hander.

The Sri Lankan came out on top against all the bowlers of his time and his consistency was simply outstanding. In the current generation, Mitchell Starc is by far the best fast bowler, equally good in the initial overs and the death. Not many batsmen have gotten the better of Starc in the field restriction overs as he has a lot of variations up his sleeve, including a deadly yorker.

Would Starc have kept the Matara Mauler at bay early on in the innings had the Aussie played in Jayasuriya's generation?

MS Dhoni vs Waqar Younis

The yorker is the most devastating weapon for any bowler and if one has a deadly yorker, it is very difficult for any batsman to stamp his authority. Just ask Waqar Younis or Lasith Malinga, two bowlers with accurate and deadly yorkers.

Though Malinga has become ineffective at the fag end of his career, Waqar was devastating until his retirement. He troubled a lot of good batsmen of his generation with his yorkers and shattered their wickets. It was a nightmare for batsmen to face Waqar in the last few overs of an ODI as the Pakistani was rarely taken for runs.

Former Indian skipper MS Dhoni has made a career out of finishing ODI matches by taking them right until the end. Though he has not faced Waqar or anyone like him in his career, he completely dominated all the bowlers he faced at his peak.

Won't it be interesting to see a bowler who hardly conceded runs in the death overs against a batsman who likes to take the matches till the end and win it for his team?

Sachin Tendulkar vs Malcolm Marshall in Tests

Sachin Tendulkar is widely regarded as the greatest batsman to have graced the game since Sir Donald Bradman and Malcolm Marshall is arguably the greatest fast bowler to have played the sport. One can recall Sachin hitting Marshall through the leg side in the 1992 World Cup. That is the only time these legends faced each other.

Sachin has managed to keep the likes of Wasim Akram, Glenn McGrath, Curtly Ambrose, Allan Donald etc. at bay and one can only imagine the battle when the Master Blaster faces Marshall, who averaged just 20.9 with the ball in Tests, the best by a bowler with at least 200 wickets.

Marshall bamboozled every batsman he bowled at with his pace and swing. Can he do the same thing with the red cherry in his hand against a man just shorter than him who conquered every single bowling attack of his generation?

Curtly Ambrose vs Kumar Sangakkara

Remember Kumar Sangakkara smashing Curtly Ambrose's short ball for a six in the Cricket All-Stars tournament in 2015? That was probably the only instance a batsman pulled Ambrose so easily for a six.

The tall right-arm pacer from Antigua is widely regarded as the best bowler of his generation and bamboozled the opposition with his pace, accuracy and bounce he generated. He ended his career with 405 Test wickets in 98 Test matches at an average of 20.98.

Sangakkara, on the other hand, was one of the classiest players of his generation and dominated almost every single bowler during his time, before eventually retiring with over 12000 runs in Tests at an average of 57.4. Not many bowlers managed to trouble the Sri Lankan as Sangakkara had a fine technique against all types of bowlers.

The battle between one of the best-equipped batsmen of all-time and the most deadly bowler of all-time would keep the fans on their toes.