VVS Laxman picks Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar in his modern day Test XI

SportsCafe Desk
no photo

VVS Laxman chooses his modern day Indian Test XI amidst the ongoing five-match Test series against the three lions. Laxman picked Virender Sehwag and Murali Vijay to open the innings in England while he hands Virat Kohli a spot amongst the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly.

Virat Kohli-led team India currently trail the English cricket team by one game as they pulled off a memorable win in the third Test at Trent Bridge as the series score now stands at 2-1. And amidst the battle, former Indian batsman and Test specialist, VVS Laxman, has assembled together his own modern day Indian Test team from that included players from 1993 - 2018 that he would field in England.

He has opted to go with the opening pair of Murali Vijay and Virender Sehwag, instead of trusted Gautam Gambhir. While Sehwag has been a steady performer at the top of the order, Vijay has been far from his old self on the crease in recent times. The Tamil Nadu batsman scored 20 and 6 in the opening Test while he was dismissed for naught in both innings in the second Test at Lord’s. He was subsequently dropped in favor of U-19 star Prithvi Shaw for the last two matches of the series.

The openers are followed by the famed trio of Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar with Virat Kohli at number five. While Kohli has been in fine form in the ongoing series, nothing like how he performed back in 2014, Tendulkar and Dravid were one of the leading performers in Test cricket for the Indian team.

Dravid, who scored an impressive 95 on his debut against England at Lord’s in 1996, is sorely missed by the current Indian team as he had the ability to stay on the crease like no batsman ever did. Tendulkar averaged 54.31 in Test matches in England from a period of 1993-2013. Sourav Ganguly has been chosen to feature at number six. After his antics at Lord's, Ganguly has never failed to disappoint his fans on English soil.

Laxman then picked world cup winning captain - MS Dhoni to play behind the stumps and bat at number seven in the line-up. Dhoni’s wicket-keeping skills coupled with his tenacious strokes with the bat make him an indispensable commodity for the Indian Test team.

Amongst the bowlers, Laxman opted to go with one spinner in the team in the form of Anil Kumble, who is handy with the ball and the bat as well. Kumble picked up a total of 97 wickets from the from 1993 till he retired in 2007 on English soil, his best figures were 7/115.

In the pace department, Laxman has opted to go with the trio of Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Javagal Srinath and Zaheer Khan to spearhead the bowling attack. Khan was the most trustworthy bowler for the Indian team as he notched up a total 43 wickets in England, while Srinath and Kumar are masters of swing and would prove to be a constant pain for the English batsmen.

laught0
astonishment0
sadness0
heart0
like0
dislike0

Comments

Sign up or log in to your account to leave comments and reactions

0 Comments