Strongest playing XI consisting of best fielders in the modern era

When we talk about cricket, the first thing that comes to our mind is batting and bowling. But there is another role which has been an integral part of the game. Yes, it's fielding which is one of the toughest jobs in the game of cricket.

In the early days of the game, fielding was not a precedence. But after the advent of limited-overs formats, the importance of fielding has increased and soon it has become an important part of the sport.

We have seen many players from many countries to dominate the cricket world by their top-class performances with both bat and ball. However, only a few of them has got some great skills and enormous techniques in the field. They save runs or take some brilliant catches in the critical stages of the game.

Over the years we have seen some top class fielders like Jonty Rhodes, Ricky Ponting, Mohammad Kaif and Paul Collingwood in the history of cricket. Nowadays the modern day cricketers like Yuvraj Singh, Dwayne Bravo, and AB de Villiers and much more players have done some marvellous job on the field.

In this article, we are going to present you a prolific XI of the best fielders. So let's take a look at the fielders XI that consists of only modern-day cricketers.

#1 Brendon McCullum

Brendon McCullum is one of the great players New Zealand have ever produced. His ability to accelerate the innings from the very first over makes him one of the destructive openers of the modern era. Like his aggressive batting, he also known for his brilliant fielding skills at covers and midwicket regions. He had been a phenomenal fielder for New Zealand in the limited overs game.

In the 2015 ICC World Cup, McCullum led New Zealand to play their first-ever World Cup final, where Australia won the match by seven wickets and more than 15 overs in hand. Later in the same year, McCullum announced his retirement from international cricket and retired on February 24, 2016.

But he still participates in the T20 leagues that held around the world. Although McCullum represented New Zealand in 433 international matches, he has taken over 500 catches over the course of his career.

#2 David Warner

The fiery Australia opening batsman, David Warner, is considered to be one of the safest hands in the field. His fielding techniques and skills are much similar to his batting. His presence in the field will always make difficult for a batsman to score boundaries in his area as he covers a lot of ground to stop the ball. This skill makes him one of the best long boundary fielders in the world.

Also, it is nearly impossible to convert the 1s into 2s against Warner as he has very strong arms and sends out fast throws from the deeper regions of the field. But the southpaw has been slapped with a one-year ban for ball-tampering scandal in a Test against South Africa earlier this year.

However, Warner played around 250 international games and has taken over 170 catches on the field.

#3 Virat Kohli (Captain)

Virat Kohli is undoubtedly one of the best batsmen India have ever produced. Not only as a batsman but he is also known for his sharp fielding. His fast and sharp throws make batsman think to go for 1s and 2s. Also, he is very athletic on the field. He often gives freedom to the bowlers and sets the field as they want. Whenever Kohli fields, he puts all his efforts to stop the ball and always motivates the bowlers.

Kohli becomes the only Indian captain to led the team to the number one spot in both Tests and ODIs. Also, he is only after Sachin Tendulkar to score most centuries in ODIs and has struck the fastest century by an Indian in ODIs.

The Delhi-born cricketer has played over 340 games and has taken around 200 catches in his international career.

#4 Yuvraj Singh

The Indian veteran, Yuvraj Singh is one of the hard-hitters in the history of cricket. His records of six sixes in an over and 12-ball fifty remains unbeaten till date. He is considered to be the greatest point fielder for India. It is impossible to take singles or score boundaries against Yuvraj at the point.

For a long period, Yuvraj and Kaif made the point and cover regions as the citadel for India where batsman only managed to get few runs at that regions. As of now, Yuvraj Singh was ignored by the selectors for his poor fitness and form.

However, Yuvraj Singh played over 400 games and has taken more than 130 catches in his international career.

#5 Suresh Raina

Suresh Raina is one of the best fielders of the modern era and always considered to be the live wire on the field. He always been alert on the field and also encourages the bowlers. Raina has been one of the main reasons for the improvement of fielding of the Men In Blue.

He took some difficult catches and stopped boundaries at the cover and extra cover regions. Also, he became the first Indian cricketer to score centuries in all formats of the game. But he has been ignored by the selectors for his poor form and consistency.

Although Raina has played 313 international matches and has taken around 160 catches in all forms of the game.

#6 AB de Villiers (Wicketkeeper)

The former South Africa cricketer AB de Villiers considered to bee the best fielder after Jonty Rhodes. He can do anything on the cricket field and can take outstanding catches with his dives and jumps. Also, he is one of the toughest batsmen to bowl. When he is at the crease even a big total becomes easy to chase.

In a match against West Indies, Villiers scored an unbeaten 162 off 66 balls and became the record holder for the fastest 50, 100 and 150 in the One-day internationals. Later in 2018, Villiers announced his retirement from all forms of the game.

In his international career Mr.360 has played 420 games and has taken over 460 catches and involved in 17 stumpings.

#7 Ravindra Jadeja

Arguably Jadeja is one of the best fielders India have ever produced. He is considered to be the best fielder after Yuvraj Singh at the point regions. His presence in the field always makes difficult for the batsman to take 1s and 2s. His quick and sharp throws from the point and deeper areas have affected plenty of runouts for his team in critical stages of the game.

However, with his poor form and inconsistency, Jadeja's place in the team has always been questioned for a while. But he never failed to give his contribution to his team while on the field.

Jadeja has played around 220 games and has taken 100 catches in his international career.

#8 Dwayne Bravo

Undoubtedly, Bravo is a complete allrounder and one of the finest hitters of the ball. Like his batting in the middle-order and bowling in the death overs, he also entertains the fans with his fielding skills.

He has always been one of the best fielders for his team. Apart from cricket, he also performs as a singer. However, he was the key member of the West Indies team in 2012 and 2016 ICC World T20.

In his international career, Bravo played 270 matches and has taken around 150 catches.

#9 Rashid Khan

The Afghan bowler Rashid Khan is one of the finest fielders compared among bowlers. His fielding skills are seen in the T20 leagues like IPL, BBL, CPL and much more. Moreover, Rashid Khan became the youngest player to captain an international side in One-day Internationals. Also, Rashid is the fastest and youngest bowler to take 100 wickets in One Day Internationals.

Although he represented Afghanistan around 90 international games and has taken 28 catches.

#10 Tim Southee

Southee is among the few cricketers who can swing the ball in both ways and almost a perfect lower-order batsman of the modern era. Nowadays, not only with the ball, Southee has started to contribute with the bat too.

In other words, he slowly becoming an allrounder for the Kiwis in all forms of the game. At the same time, his spectacular fielding near the boundary ropes made him one of finest fielders of the New Zealand team. So far, Southee has played over 240 games and has taken 94 catches in his international career.

#11 Trent Boult

The New Zealand fast bowler Trent Boult is among of the few bowlers who can swing the ball in all conditions of the game. With this ability, he troubled many batsmen all around the world. Not only as a bowler he is also known for his one-handed catches near the ropes as he took a catch of Pollard in a T20 international in 2014.

Boult has played around 150 games and has taken around 60 catches in his international career.

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