Kolkata , December 15 : Legendary Australian leg spinner Shane Warne have named Sourav Ganguly as the captain of an Indian test squad selected by him . Warne, who recently backed India to win the ICC World T20 2016, came out with his greatest ever Indian Test team. In his official facebook page, Warne wrote “As promised, here’s my greatest ever Indian test team. Remember I had to play against them.”
Warnie , who played 14 Test matches against India had a decent record against The Indians picking 43 wickets at an economy of 3.10.
Expectedly, Rahul Dravid,Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly all feature in the main squad with Ganguly being named the captain .But it is surprising to see Laxman not making it to the final eleven as the stylish Hyderabadi have played him the best among the Fab four .Warne have picked Virender Sehwag and Navjot Singh Sidhu as openers . The No. 3 spot has been reserved for Dravid with Tendulkar and Ganguly following next in the middle order. Mohammad Azharuddin and Kapil Dev are slotted at Nos 6 and 7 respectively. India’s ODI captain MS Dhoni finds his name in No. 8 slot as a wicket-keeper batsman. Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh were included in the team as spinners . The only pace bowler apart from all-rounder Kapil Dev is Javagal Srinath. Warne included VVS Laxman as the 12th man saying it was a tough call between him and Azharuddin at No. 6.
Warne, who’s team consisted only of players he played against, admitted that he found it tough to make the choices. “This was the hardest team to select as I played against a few legends at the end of their careers like Vengsarkar, Sanjay Manjreker, Ravi Shastri, Manoj Prabhakar as well as current players like Zaheer Khan too,” Warne said.
He did however express confidence that his team would be a very competitive unit. “The Indian side I’ve selected is a very strong one & would be tough to play against. The hardest position to select for me was the number 6 spot between my great friend VVS or Azzha, depending on the conditions who would actually play at number 6 & what country the game was played in, hence I named 12 & would choose the 12th man on the day,” Warne wrote on his Facebook page.
Shane Warne’s all-time India XI: Virender Sehwag, Navjot Singh Sidhu, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly (c), Mohammad Azharuddin, Kapil Dev, MS Dhoni (wk), Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Javagal Srinath, VVS Laxman (12th man: Interchangeable with Azharuddin)