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India's legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar picked his Best Playing XI of all time but left a few big names out. He included four Indians, three Australians, two West Indians, one South African, and one Pakistani player. The list of players who could not make a cut into Sachin's XI includes Ricky Ponting, Virat Kohli, and MS Dhoni. There were also a few surprising inclusions.
Sachin picked Virender Sehwag and Sunil Gavaskar as his openers and Brian Lara for the number three position. Lara was followed by another West Indies great, Sir Vivian Richards. South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis also made it into Sachin's playing XI. Kallis is followed by former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly and Australia's Adam Gilchrist. Two of the best bowlers, Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne also feature in the XI.
From India, off-spinner Harbhajan Singh found a place ahead of Muttiah Muralitharan who holds the record for most international wickets. Pakistan's Wasim Akram also found a place in the Best Playing XI of All Time. Sachin did not choose a captain though.
Sachin makes surprising omissions
Virat Kohli, who possesses the best batting average in ODIs (minimum 50 innings) and T20Is (minimum 20 innings) and has the third-most number of International centuries (70*) could not find a place in Sachin's XI. Australia's one of the most successful captains Ricky Ponting who is second in the list of most international centuries was also omitted by Tendulkar.
Rahul Dravid, current Indian coach, was also not included in Sachin's XI. MS Dhoni India's most successful captain and the first player to pass 10,000 runs in ODI cricket with having a career average of over 50 could also not find a place in Sachin's All-time best XI.
Twitter users also did not look too pleased with Sachin's XI and even called him biased. "He is biased for sure. Ganguly, Sehwag, and Bhajji, won't even make into India's Best All-Time XI," wrote one of the users.
Sachin Tendulkar’s Playing XI:
Virender Sehwag, Sunil Gavaskar, Brian Lara, Viv Richards, Jacques Kallis, Sourav Ganguly, Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne, Wasim Akram, Harbhajan Singh, and Glenn McGrath.