Former India opener Gautam Gambhir has been quite vocal about various issues on social media these days. The BJP MP from East Delhi has been at the forefront of helping out the needy suffering amid Coronavirus outbreak.
Gambhir had a fulfilling career from 2004-2016 in which he played 51 Tests, scored 4154 runs with nine centuries, 147 ODIs with 5238 runs and 11 centuries. He also played 37 T20I matches with 932 runs and seven half-centuries to his name.
The southpaw played a crucial role in India’s 2007 T20 World Cup win and 2011 World Cup victory, top-scoring in the finals of both the ICC tournaments.
Gambhir played under some of the best captains India has seen in Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli. Taking note of that, he decided to pick his all-time India Test XI.
Gambhir picked Sunil Gavaskar and Virender Sehwag as the openers of the side. The latter has opened with Gambhir for a significant part of his Test career. Gavaskar, widely regarded as one of the best batsmen of his generation, was the first to reach the 10,000-run mark in the longest format of the game.
The duo would be followed by Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar – the stalwarts of India’s batting lineup. The ICC Hall of Famers aided India to many memorable victories during their cricketing days. Tendulkar also holds the record for most runs and most centuries in Test cricket.
For no. 5 and 6, Gambhir picked Virat Kohli and Kapil Dev. Virat, the current captain of the Indian cricket team, is arguably the best all-format batsman in the world right now. Kapil, meanwhile, is widely regarded as the greatest all-rounder India has ever produced.
While former Indian captain MS Dhoni will keep the wickets in Gambhir’s side, the bowling lineup includes two spinners and two pacers.
Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble – India’s spin twins for a significant period, find a place in Gambhir’s XI. While Kumble is India’s highest wicket-taker in the longest format (619), Harbhajan, too has picked 417 wickets in his Test career. Gambhir also named Kumble as the captain of the team.
Zaheer Khan (311 wickets) and Javagal Srinath (236 wickets) are the fast bowlers in his side.
Gautam Gambhir’s all-time India Test XI:
Sunil Gavaskar, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Kapil Dev, MS Dhoni (wk), Harbhajan Singh, Anil Kumble (c), Zaheer Khan, Javagal Srinath.
