No Sachin, only one Indian in Sanga's all-time XI
Sri Lankan legend Kumar Sangakkara named his all-time XI team on Sunday, and the surprise exclusion from the list was Sachin Tendulkar. The southpaw named both Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralidharan in the bowling list alongside Wasim Akram, but also made a surprise inclusion of Aravinda de Silva.
The Sri Lankan selected Australian Matthew Hayden and our very own wall Rahul Dravid as openers – a curious choice to select Dravid as an opener. "Matthew Hayden (is) at the top of the order facing the first ball. To complement him I have got Rahul Dravid,” he said.
Number three and four were brought up by Brian Lara and Rickey Ponting – choices that not many could contest.
But for the number five spot, Sangakkara zeroed in on compatriot Aravinda de Silva. De Silva is a legend in his own right, but does not stand in comparison to the others in the list making his inclusion a surprise. Sanga defended the choice saying out of his two options- Silva and Mahela Jayawardene, de Silva was the final answer because “they both (Sanga and Mahela) agree that de Silva was the best Sri Lanka batsman ever.”
The staff at Sportscafe think Sanga's decision to leave out Sachin might have something to do with him beating Sachin in the GOAT poll conducted by Cricket Australia.
The number six spot went to a safe choice as he selected former South African Jacques Kallis as the lone all-rounder in the squad.
Recusing himself, Sanga chose Australian Adam Gilchrist for the wicketkeeper-batsman's role.
Moving on to the bowlers, the 38-year old went for leggie Shane Warne and offie Muttiah Muralitharan – two of the greatest spinners cricket has seen although the debate on who is the greater of the two would not find an answer even from Sanga.
For the pace spearhead, Sangakkara chose Wasim Akram. Sanga admired Wasim Akram saying, “I’ll have Wasim as a left-arm fast-bowler [at number ten],” said Sanga. “High skill! Belittles you both with the old and the new ball; a left-armer, just unbelievably challenging to face him,” in a video for Lord’s Cricket Ground.
“Any batsman that I have spoken to, said he always feared facing Wasim,” he added.
The last pacer's spot again found a controversial choice in his compatriot Chaminda Vaas as Sanga preferred him over Glenn McGrath.
Kumar Sangakkara's All Time XI (In batting order): 1. Matthew Hayden (Australia) 2. Rahul Dravid (India) 3. Brian Lara (West Indies) 4. Ricky Ponting (Australia) 5. Aravinda de Silva (Sri Lanka, Captain) 6. Jacques Kallis (South Africa) 7. Adam Gilchrist (Australia, Wicketkeeper) 8. Shane Warne (Australia) 9. Muttaiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka) 10. Wasim Akram (Pakistan) 11. Chaminda Vaas (Sri Lanka)
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