Five Indians in Robin Uthappa’s ODI team of the decade
Robin Uthappa, like other former and current cricketers, has named his ODI team of the decade, that surprisingly has no David Warner in it. He has given the captaincy responsibility to MS Dhoni for his team with four other Indians - Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh and Zaheer Khan - in it.
Indian wicket-keeper batsman who currently plays for Kerala in the domestic circuit, Robin Uthappa has named his ODI team of the decade like many other former and current cricketers. Uthappa has picked Rohit Sharma and Chris Gayle as his openers, discarding Aussie dasher David Warner, who has been prolific in white-ball cricket and has consistently been rated as one of the best limited-overs cricketers in the recent past. And unsurprisingly, Uthappa named Virat Kohli as the Number three batsman.
He has also given the middle-order responsibility to Australia’s Steve Smith and South Africa’s AB de Villiers, with his finishers’ list consisting of the ever-reliable MS Dhoni and man of the tournament award winner in 2011 World Cup Yuvraj Singh.
Uthappa, unsurprisingly, named Dhoni as the captain for his side. Dhoni stepped down as captain of India from Tests in 2015 and limited-overs in 2017 but led India to the 2011 World Cup and the 2013 Champions Trophy titles in this decade.
The keeper-batsman has also picked Ben Stokes, who had an outstanding summer as England's premier all-rounder. From the list of Indians, Zaheer khan, who played a pivotal part in India’s 2011 World Cup triumph, is the fifth one to have found a place in his eleven. The specialist spinner in Uthappa’s side is former New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori, while Sri Lanka’s Lasith Malinga completes the XI.
Uthappa’s ODI team of the decade: Rohit Sharma, Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli, Steve Smith, AB de Villiers, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni (C & WK), Ben Stokes, Daniel Vettori, Zaheer Khan, Lasith Malinga.
