In the absence of the cricketing action on the field, the entire focus of the Indian cricketing fraternity has shifted online.
In recent months, stars from the past and present have continually named their best XI in the IPL or international cricket.
Joining the bandwagon, former Indian captain and now BCCI President, Sourav Ganguly also picked five players from the current Indian team to include in his Test side.
There, he went ahead with the likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah, to bowl alongside Zaheer Khan.
With Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble already in the team, Sourav also desired to include Ravichandran Ashwin as the third spinner. To bolster the pace attack, Sourav also wanted to pick Mohammad Shami in his Test team, resisting his temptation to include Ravindra Jadeja.
“It is a tough question as every generation the players are different. In your current team, I would have loved to had Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in the side. I would not pick you (Mayank) as I had Virender Sehwag. I’ll go for Bumrah as I had Zaheer at the other end,” Sourav told Mayank Agarwal on bcci.tv powered ‘Open Nets with Mayank’.
“I would also go for Mohammad Shami after Javagal Srinath retired. I had Harbhajan and Anil Kumble in my side, so Ashwin would be my third spinner. I would be tempted to have Ravindra Jadeja also,” he added.
One of the greatest disappointments in Ganguly’s career was to finish second to a world-beating Australian side in the 2003 ODI World Cup in South Africa.
Ganguly was then asked to pick three players from the current team to be included in his 2003 world cup squad.
“(Virat) Kohli, Rohit Sharma and (Jasprit) Bumrah.” Explaining the reasons, Ganguly said: “The quality of fast bowler (Bumrah). We played in South Africa, although we bowled exceptionally well in that series. Bumrah, Rohit, and Virat would be in the middle,” the 48-year-old said.
“Rohit at the top, and I at no. 3. I don’t know maybe Sehwag might be listening to this and I would get a phone call tomorrow, ‘what the hell do you think’. But I would have these three in the squad,” Ganguly concluded.
