Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli in Andrew Flintoff's all-time T20 XI

03/04/2017

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Andrew Flintoff chose Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli in the middle-order of his all-time T20 XI, while Ravichandran Ashwin was given the nod ahead of Shane Warne. The only surprise was the selection of Adam Gilchrist ahead of MS Dhoni to don the big gloves. He also picked Andrew Symonds at No 5.

While giving his selection to the Metro newspaper, Flintoff picked former England teammate Marcus Trescothick at No 1 and paired him with ex-New Zealand captain Brendan McCullum, an opening pair that would put the fear of God in any bowling attack.

“I’ll go with Kohli at three, who is on a different planet right now, and Sachin at four. You don’t need that much power, you look at the way Sachin played, it’s all about timing and technique and clever batting. You don’t have to hit it into the top tier,” Flintoff explained.

Satisfied with his batting line-up, the Englishman moved on to select all-rounders for his team and picked ex-Australian star Andrew Symonds and the 2017 Indian Premier League’s highest paid overseas player Ben Stokes to round up his top-6.

There’s only one: Gilchrist. Any others are just a poor man’s Gilchrist

“Symonds was an amazing player, I played with him and against him – he was the ultimate team man and just an incredible player. And I wouldn’t put myself in! I’d have Stokes instead, definitely,” Flintoff said.

Flintoff then snubbed former Indian captain Dhoni and instead opted for Gilchrist to keep wickets and justified his decision by stating that Gilchrist "changed cricket".

“There’s only one: Gilchrist. Any others are just a poor man’s Gilchrist. The thing about Gilchrist is he changed cricket – he started the game going where it is today,” Flintoff said.

Surprisingly, the 39-year-old picked just two traditional pacers in the team, having the option to give Stokes a full collection of overs as well. He also opted to go for two traditional spinners in his starting XI.

“Wasim (Akram) was just different class. My old pal Goughy (Darren Gough) has to be in there, and I’ll go with Ashwin as well,” Flintoff said making his selections.

Then came the biggest question of them all! Warne or Muttiah Muralitharan? But Flintoff said that there was just one clear winner in his book.

“Murali every day of the week – he’s a fierce competitor and I’m really good mates with him – I love Murali,” Flintoff concluded.