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

#10 Zaheer Khan (2000- 2014)

The 'Sachin Tendulkar' of Indian bowling

Described by MS Dhoni as 'The Sachin Tendulkar of bowling', pretty much sums up the importance that Zaheer Khan bore to the Indian bowling stocks in the 2000s.

Zaheer's career can be looked as a tale of two halves. The first half of his career saw a talented yet inconsistent Zaheer Khan who would crank up the pace consistently in the 140s but who would seldom find his length.

A county stint in the 2005-06 season saw a different Zaheer Khan emerge, where his accuracy was impeccable, especially to the left-handers, which made the lives of formidable left-handed batsmen of his era including Graeme Smith and Matthew Hayden miserable. His finest hour arrived in Nottingham, 2007 when at the wake of the 'Jelly Bean' incident he turned the game on its head with an incisive spell of seam and swing bowler to script a memorable series win in England.

With experience, Zaheer mastered the art of making the ball talk irrespective of the conditions and quickly transformed himself into the leader of the attack and an ideal mentor to the likes of Ishant Sharma and RP Singh.

Battling with fitness issues for a major part of his career, Zaheer retired with 311 wickets in 2016 but not before he had earmarked his name in the pantheon of the all-time greatest left-arm fast bowlers to have ever graced the game.

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#11 James Anderson (2003- present)

The master of swing bowling

When it's overcast and swinging around, James Anderson's bowling is like poetry in motion leaving the onlooker in awe and the batsman bamboozled.

Currently locked in what has been the 'Battle of the Decade' with Virat Kohli, Jamie Anderson has been the cornerstone of England's success in the 21st century, which includes the decimation of the Aussies in their own backward (24 wickets in 2010-11 Ashes) and the historic sojourn to India in 2012-13 where his incisive spells of reverse-swing bowling especially at the Eden Gardens laid the foundation for the series win after 28 years.

In 143 Test matches, Anderson has claimed 563 wickets and is tied with the great Glenn McGrath (563 wickets).