Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly open India’s batting in VVS Laxman’s Dream India XI to face Australia
Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly open India’s batting in VVS Laxman’s Dream India XI to face Australia
VVS Laxman has chosen has Dream India XI for ODI cricket which will square-off with Australia in their home conditions. The qualification to select the players was that they should have played in Australia and since 1985. Laxman has picked Sourav Ganguly over MS Dhoni to lead the team. Ganguly will also open the innings along with Sachin Tendulkar. Virat Kohli is next in the batting order while Mohammad Azharuddin will come two-down. Yuvraj Singh will occupy the fifth spot and Dhoni is India’s finisher at No. 6. Kapil Dev will come next and will be India’s bowling all-rounder. Live Cricket Scorecard: India vs Australia 2015-16, 5th ODI at Sydney
Besides Kapil, other pacers that have been picked are Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra. Laxman has chosen Anil Kumble for India’s spin department. Laxman selected the Dream XI as per Star Sports’ idea titled “Pick the best Indian team since 1985”. Star Sports’ selection criteria was quoted by Sportskeeda, “Selecting the best India XI to take on Australia in Australia. All Indian players who have played in Australia since 1985 are eligible to be selected. Players to be selected for the following slots Top order (No. 1, 2 and 3), Middle order (No. 4 and 5), Finisher and All-rounder (No. 6 and 7), Spinner (No. 8), Fast bowlers (No. 9, 10 and 11).” READ: VVS Laxman’s 281 vs Australia in Kolkata voted best in last 50 years
Laxman has picked the team taking into consideration a cricketer’s performance in Australian conditions. This is the reason that a few big names have failed to make the cut. Also, since it’s ODI cricket, Laxman has resisted to pick some amazing Test cricketers whose performance was not that good in limted-overs cricket. One of these players is Laxman himself.
VVS Laxman’s Dream India XI since 1985 to square-off with Australia in the latter’s home conditions ( for ODI cricket): Sourav Ganguly(c), Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Mohammad Azharuddin, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni(wk), Kapil Dev, Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra