Veteran India off-spinner Harbhajan Singh has revealed his all-time XI during an interview with Lord’s Cricket Ground.
He has picked the Indian trio of Rohit Sharma, Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli for the top-order.
The former Australian skipper Ricky Ponting has been picked for the number fourth position who is then followed by Jacques Kallis. The former South African all-rounder holds the record of scoring more than 11,000 runs and claiming 250 plus wickets in ODI cricket. Whereas Ponting has led his team to two World Cup titles.
Flintoff comes in after Kallis in Harbhajan’s dream XI.
Harbhajan named Dhoni as the captain of his side
Bhajji named India’s two-time World Cup-winning captain MS Dhoni, the wicket-keeper and skipper of his all-time XI. Under him, India won T20 World Cup in 2007, 50-over World Cup in 2011 and ICC Champions Trophy in 2013. Dhoni’s influence on world cricket is massive, given his victories for the Indian team all over the cricketing world.
Muttiah Muralitharan and Shane Warne are the two spinners in Harbhajan’s team. Muralitharan is the highest wicket-taker in both Tests (800) and ODIs (534) and is a legend of the game, who was highly effective in any format he bowled in. Shane Warne can be credited for making leg-spin popular again and saved it from dying with his amazing abilities with the ball.
The two fast bowlers in Harbhajan’s team are Lasith Malinga from Sri Lanka and Wasim Akram from Pakistan. Malinga’s unique bowling action and high pace in his prime made him extremely difficult to get away with either the new ball or the old ball, which he made to reverse swing. Whereas, Wasim Akram needs no introduction as the left-hander was the first bowler to claim 500 wickets in ODIs and first to take over 400 wickets in both the formats of the game.
Harbhajan’s all-time XI:
Sachin Tendulkar, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ricky Ponting, Jacques Kallis, Andrew Flintoff, MS Dhoni (c & wk), Shane Warne, Wasim Akram, Lasith Malinga, Muttiah Muralitharan.
