In a WhatsApp debate occasionally verging on the heated, wisden.com head of content Yas Rana, features editor Taha Hashim, and managing editor Ben Gardner thrashed out Wisden’s ODI team of the 2000s for the 2000s in Review series.

Here’s the XI the panel settled on:

Statistics from Jan 01, 2000 to Dec 31, 2009

Sachin Tendulkar

211 matches, 8,823 runs @ 46.68, SR: 85.04, 21 100s, HS: 175

YR: Sachin’s ahead of his time in this decade, averaging nearly 50 at a good strike rate from the top of the order.

Adam Gilchrist

211 matches, 7,243 runs @ 36.58, SR: 100.54, 11 100s HS: 172

BG: Gilchrist is a freak, obviously. Two World Cup titles, Player of the Match in the 2007 final, scoring at over a run a ball which so few players did.

Ricky Ponting (c)

239 matches, 9,103 runs @ 44.19, SR: 84.44, 23 100s, HS: 164

TH: There’s the weight of runs, then take into account the iconic innings – the 2003 World Cup final and even his hundred when they lost to South Africa in the 438 game – and quite significantly, he was captain of the side that won both World Cups in the decade. And if you want to throw in two Champions Trophy titles in there, too, then fair play.

BG: Yeah, he probably captains this side.

Kevin Pietersen

95 matches, 3,179 runs @ 45.41, SR: 87.19, 7 100s, HS: 116

YR: Yeah, I know he didn’t play the whole decade, but very few middle-order batsmen scored big runs at a good rate that decade. His high average/high strike-rate combo stands out.

BG: Does England’s lack of impact at ICC events count against KP?

YR: Potentially, but there wasn’t much he could do if Jamie Dalrymple was making World Cup squads.

BG: He didn’t make your team then?

YR: Not quite.

BG: It is hard to overlook the impact KP had when he came in in the series against South Africa [in 2005]. England just hadn’t seen anything like it. And he actually had a great [2007] World Cup, individually. Two brilliant hundreds against Australia and West Indies.

Andrew Symonds

189 matches, 4,930 runs @ 39.75. SR: 92.79, 6 100s, HS: 156
126 wickets @ 37.46, ER: 4.99, 1 five-for, BBI: 5-18

YR: Won the World Cup twice, excellent strike-rate, can bowl.

BG: Symonds averaged 103 in World Cups!

YR: We have to have Symonds surely. It’s fine for us to have loads of Aussies in this team. They didn’t lose a World Cup game this decade.

MS Dhoni (WK)

154 matches, 5,133 runs @50.82, SR: 89.59, 6 100s, HS: 183*

BG: Six of his 10 hundreds his career came this decade, even having only started in 2004. He also batted more often in the top order, so had fewer not outs, but averaged more this decade than in the 2010s.

Andrew Flintoff

132 matches, 3,294 runs @32.94, SR: 89.29, 3 100s, HS: 123
162 wickets @ 24.03, ER: 4.34, 2 five-fors, BBI: 5-19

YR: Flintoff was arguably a very good ODI player for longer than he was in Tests.

TH: For a time, Flintoff was one of the best ODI players in the world.

Shaun Pollock

220 matches, 275 wickets @ 24.98, ER: 3.62, 3 five-fors, BBI: 5-20
2,354 runs @ 25.86, SR: 89.53, 1 100, HS: 130

BG: He’s one of three players to take more than 100 wickets and have an economy under four this decade. Pollock maybe earns a place as a bowler alone.

TH: Pollock at No.7 this decade: 1,001 runs at 35 with a strike rate of 94. He was a proper all-rounder.

Brett Lee

186 matches, 324 wickets @ 23.01, ER: 4.71, 9 five-fors, BBI: 5-22

BG: More four-fors and five-fors than anyone else. Only Shane Bond had a strike rate as low as him.

Muttiah Muralitharan

205 matches, 335 wickets @ 20.55, ER: 3.74, 8 five-fors, BBI: 7-30

BG: There are no other spinners in the frame, really.

Glenn McGrath

149 matches, 234 wickets @ 20.28, ER: 3.78, 4 five-fors, BBI: 7-15

BG: He and Murali are the two others in the Pollock Economy Club.