Also named on the selection panel were former test players Michael Atherton, Richard Hadlee, Jonty Rhodes, Aravinda de Silva and Clive Lloyd.
The panel will nominate a squad of 30 players at the end of April. The squad will be trimmed to 20 in June before the final 13 test players and 14 one-day players are announced in August.
They will play three limited-overs matches in Melbourne on October 5, 7 and 9 then a six-day "super test" in Sydney from October 13-18.
The International Cricket Council has rejected a proposal to award test status to the six-day match but said it would review the situation.
Australia are guaranteed to play the test against the World XI because of their unassailable lead in the ICC test championship standings.
They also hold a commanding lead in the one-day standings although New Zealand has a slim mathematical chance of overtaking them if Australia lose their next seven matches before the cut-off.
ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed said the selectors' brief would be to choose the best team possible to take on Australia.
He said they would use the ICC player rankings as a guide but would not be bound to follow them.
"It needs to be a team that has balance, a team that's in form," Speed said in a statement released after Wednesday's launch in Melbourne
"The only restriction will be that any player who is banned under the ICC Code of Conduct will not be eligible, but otherwise all players are eligible for selection."
"They will have to make some tough decisions.
"It would be fascinating to be a fly on the wall as these former greats discuss whether to open with Sehwag and Strauss or Gibbs and Jayasuriya; whether there is space in the middle order for Lara, Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxman, Kallis and Flintoff; whether Kumble can be accommodated with Muralitharan; and whether to hand the new ball to Vaas, Akhtar, Harmison or Ntini, Hoggard and Pathan."
Gavaskar and Lloyd both said they expected the selection to be a rigorous process.
"I think we've got a great balance of international experience on the panel and I'm sure there will be lively debate when we convene to pick the teams," Gavaskar said.
Lloyd, a member of the Rest of the World team that took on Australia in 1971-72, added: "There are so many top players available for selection in the ICC World XI that the hardest task is going to be deciding who to leave out."
