On the 78th Independence Day, former Indian cricketer Dinesh Karthik picked up the all-time best XI in all formats for the Men in Blue. Of the eleven players, the 39-year-old has picked five players who are part of the national set-up in his team.
However, noticeably Karthik has not picked a wicket-keeper in the side. MS Dhoni, the winning caption for the 2007, 2011, and 2013 ICC events, did not cut into Karthik’s XI.
Karthik picked dashing opener Virender Sehwag to partner up Rohit Sharma and former Indian coach Rahul Dravid at three. Run machines Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli would slot in at four and five.
Karthik has also picked up Yuvraj Singh in his team who was the Man Of the Tournament in the 2007 and 2011 World Cups and Ravindra Jadeja as all-rounders. ‘
“I should fit in two all-rounders. So very similar to the kind of players that India have been producing,” Kartik would reason behind the rationale of picking Yuvraj and Jadeja on Cricbuzz.
The bowling comprises off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and leg-spinner Anil Kumble. Current Indian ace-pacer Jasprit Bumrah and 2011 leading wicket-tacker Zaheer Khan were picked as the pacers in the side.
“The 12th man will be Harbhajan Singh, and there are many players I have missed out. Gautam Gambhir, what can you say about it and I feel it’s just hard to fit in everybody in this eleven. So, this is an all-time XI across formats that I thought,” Karthik said on his 12th man choice.
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.