Gautam Gambhir, head coach of the Indian men’s cricket team, recently named his all-time India XI, making some surprising omissions that sparked discussions among cricket fans. With only eleven spots available, Gambhir had to make difficult choices, notably excluding current ODI captain Rohit Sharma and star pacer Jasprit Bumrah.
In a conversation with Sportskeeda, Gambhir selected himself and Virender Sehwag as the opening pair, leaving out Rohit Sharma, who is widely regarded as one of the greatest openers in the game. Rahul Dravid, whom Gambhir succeeded as head coach, was chosen at No. 3.
Gambhir placed Sachin Tendulkar at No. 4 and Virat Kohli at No. 5. Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni were picked for the No. 6 and No. 7 positions, respectively. Notably, even Sourav Ganguly was left out of the batting lineup.
In the spin department, Gambhir included Anil Kumble at No. 8 and Ravichandran Ashwin at No. 9, omitting Harbhajan Singh from the list.
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For the pace attack, Gambhir opted for Irfan Pathan and Zaheer Khan, surprisingly leaving out Jasprit Bumrah, who is often hailed as one of India’s finest seamers.
Gambhir’s all-time XI for India is:
- Virender Sehwag
- Gautam Gambhir
- Rahul Dravid
- Sachin Tendulkar
- Virat Kohli
- Yuvraj Singh
- MS Dhoni (wk)
- Anil Kumble
- Ravichandran Ashwin
- Irfan Pathan
- Zaheer Khan