On the 78th anniversary of India’s Independence Day, former Indian cricketer Dinesh Karthik selected India’s best team of all time across different formats. In a video posted by Cricbuzz on Thursday (August 15), Karthik chose players he has played with during his 20-year international career.
Karthik included stars like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Jasprit Bumrah, along with legends Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, and Anil Kumble in his all-time team. Surprisingly, there was no spot for MS Dhoni. Dhoni played for over 14 years for India and scored more than 15,000 runs in international cricket. Moreover, he led India to victory in three major ICC tournaments (2007 T20 World Cup, 2011 ODI World Cup, and the 2013 Champions Trophy).
In his dream team for all cricket formats, Karthik chose five batters, two all-rounders who bowl spin, two spin bowlers, and two fast bowlers. He selected Rohit Sharma and Virender Sehwag as the opening batsmen, and placed Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar in the third and fourth positions, respectively. Virat Kohli was at number five, followed by Yuvraj Singh and Ravindra Jadeja at six and seven. For the spinners, he picked R. Ashwin and Anil Kumble, and for the fast bowlers, he chose Jasprit Bumrah and Zaheer Khan.
Karthik explained his choices: “I’ll open with Virender Sehwag and Rohit Sharma, a strong opening pair for all formats. Rahul Dravid will be at number three, and Sachin Tendulkar at number four. Virat Kohli is at number five. For number six, it was a tough decision, but I wanted two all-rounders, so I picked Yuvraj Singh. Ravindra Jadeja is at number seven. R Ashwin is at number eight, Anil Kumble at number nine, Jasprit Bumrah at number ten, and Zaheer Khan at number eleven,” Karthik stated.
“Harbhajan Singh will be the 12th player, and there are several other players I couldn’t include. Gautam Gambhir, what do you think about this? It’s challenging to fit everyone into just eleven spots. So, this is a team of the best players from all formats that I considered,” he continued.
Dinesh Karthik’s all-time India XI across formats: Virender Sehwag, Rohit Sharma, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Anil Kumble, Jasprit Bumrah, Zaheer Khan. 12th man: Harbhajan Singh
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