The ideal Test XI of cricketers who made their debut in the first decade of the 21st century

#6 Michael Hussey (2004- 2012)

Mr. Cricket

One of the five cricketers with the highest average in international cricket (49.00) across all three formats of the game, Mike Hussey had to grind it out in domestic circuit all over the world before making his presence as an international cricketer.

Hussey made his debut for Australia at the age of 28, after having amassed as many as 15,313 first-class runs while playing for Western Australia and a plethora of English counties.

In all, Hussey managed 12,398 runs in 302 international matches across formats at an astounding average of 49.00.

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#7 MS Dhoni (Wicket-keeper) (2005- 2014)

MS Dhoni

For a long period of time since the retirement of Nayan Mongia, India struggled to find a wicket-keeper who could bat at the Test level. From Samir Dighe, Deep Dasgupta, Ajay Ratra to Parthiv Patel, no one could step up and fill in the crucial wicket-keeping slot until MS Dhoni arrived and made the spot his own for a better part of ten years.

Dhoni, on the back of scintillating performances against Pakistan and Sri Lanka in white-ball cricket, made his Test debut against Pakistan in 2006 and announced his arrival with a power-packed 146 at Faisalabad. He played a crucial role in saving the Lord's Test of India's triumphant Test tour of England in 2007 where he dodged resistance with the tail which, along with inclement light, helped India escape unscathed before eventually going on to win the series 1-0.

Dhoni was handed over the Test captaincy in 2008 after Anil Kumble's retirement and under his leadership, India went on to beat New Zealand in New Zealand in 2009 before reaching the summit of the ICC Test rankings.

Dhoni's second phase as captain wasn't as hunky-dory as the initial few years with successive whitewashes in England and Australia in 2011 and the retirements of stalwarts like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, and VVS Laxman further increased the pressure on him.

The pressure heightened after the home series loss against England in 2012-13 but as they say, when the going gets tough, the tough get going. Dhoni silenced his critics with a match-winning double hundred (224) against the visiting Aussies in March 2013 to inflict a 4-0 whitewash on Michael Clarke-led Australians.

Another set of overseas disappointments awaited MS Dhoni as the side went on to lose in South Africa (0-1), New Zealand (0-1), England (1-3) before he finally hung up his boots after saving the Melbourne Test in late 2014.