Australian cricket great Shane Warne picked Sourav Ganguly as the captain of the all-time Indian XI he has played against.
In an Instagram Live chat amid the lockdown due to coronavirus, the leg-spinner listed down the best Indian players he was up against during his 15-year long career. The 50-year-old also gave his reasoning behind the choices.
A notable omission in his list was VVS Laxman, who was considered Australia’s biggest nemesis by almost all players. “I went for Ganguly because I wanted him to be the captain of my side, that is why VVS Laxman missed out,” he explained.
Ganguly famously stopped Australia from conquering the ‘Final Frontier’ – a Tests series win in India – when Australia’s streak of wins was halted by the young Indian led by him in 2001.
Interestingly, Warne picked Virender Sehwag and Navjot Singh Sidhu as the openers of his side. Sindhu was included just because of his prowess against spin. “I had to pick Navjot Singh Sidhu because he was the best player against spin I have ever played against, all the other spinners I have played with, they have also told me that Sidhu was brilliant against them,” he said.
But to no one’s surprise, he chose Rahul Dravid as the team’s number 3. “Dravid became a friend over the years, I got to know him during a stint with Rajasthan Royals, he made plenty of hundreds against us. One of the best knocks was when Hampshire was playing against Kent and Rahul made a terrific hundred,” he added.
There were only three full-time bowlers in his selection though, spinner Harbhajan Singha and Anil Kumble alongwith pacer Javagal Srinath. Warne also didn’t pick current team stars like MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli because he hasn’t played against them.
Here’s his XI as shared on Instagram
