Shane Warne picks Sourav Ganguly as skipper in his Indian Test XI he played against

Shane Warne picks Sourav Ganguly as skipper in his Indian Test XI he played against

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Shane Warne, during an Instagram Live session, has picked Sourav Ganguly as his skipper of the Indian Test XI which he played from the pool of players he played against. Considering Warne never played against MS Dhoni, the leg-spinner picked Nayan Mongia as the wicket-keeper in the side.

In an illustrious Test career that spanned over 15 years, Shane Warne had some great moments with an Australian shirt but never ever was he able to crack the Indian code. AveragingĀ 47.18 against India in 14 Test matches, Warne was at the receiving end of some great scathing - something that he had admitted gave him nightmares. While VVS Laxman was one of the major reasons behind the bad numbers that the leggie accumulated, the Victorian had to exclude him from the XI that he played against, majorly down to having Sourav Ganguly at No.5 due to his captaincy brilliance.

"I went for Ganguly because I wanted him to be the captain of my side, that is why VVS Laxman missed out," Warne said in an Instagram Live video.

Warne went with Navjot Singh Sidhu as India's opener alongside Virender Sehwag, his middle-order boasts with Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, and Mohammed Azharuddin. The leggie, who is Australia's highest wicket-taker, revealed the reason why he went ahead with the Punjab batman as the opener and put it down to his excellent batting ability against spinners.

"I had to pick Navjot Singh Sidhu because he was the best player against spin I have ever played against, all the other spinners I have played with, they have also told me that Sidhu was brilliant against them. Dravid became a friend over the years, I got to know him during a stint with Rajasthan Royals, he made plenty of hundreds against us," Warne said on Instagram.

While many were left surprised that why MS Dhoni was not there on the list despite being a better batsman than Nayan Mongia, Warne clarified that he only added players against whom he had played, which ruled Dhoni out of the picture. While the Aussie pickedĀ Kapil Dev as the all-rounder, his spin department boasts of Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble with Javagal Srinath being the other pace alongside the former World Cup-winning skipper.

Shane Warne's greatest Indian XI: Virender Sehwag, Navjot Singh Sidhu, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Mohammed Azharuddin, Sourav Ganguly (c), Kapil Dev, Harbhajan Singh, Nayan Mongia, Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath.

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