Aaron Finch leaves out Rohit Sharma from his combined India-Australia ODI XIÂ
Australia’s limited-overs captain Aaron Finch has named his combined India-Australia ODI XI team that includes one big surprise omission - Rohit Sharma. Finch has also left out the spinning option blank as he couldn’t decide between Brad Hogg, Harbhajan Singh, and Ravindra Jadeja.
India’s limited-overs vice-captain Rohit Sharma, who has three double centuries including one against Australia, has played 224 ODIs so far out of which 40 games were against the Aussies. Sharma, who has a career average of 49.27, averages 61.33 in ODIs against Australia and has also scored eight hundreds against them. However, Aaron Finch left out Sharma from his combined India-Australia ODI XI.
Instead, Australia’s limited-overs captain went with India batting legend Virender Sehwag and Australia great Adam Gilchrist. For the No.3 position, he named the former Aussie captain and batting giant Ricky Ponting followed by India skipper Virat Kohli at the No. 4 spot. For the next two positions, he went with two all-rounders - Hardik Pandya and Andrew Symonds.Â
“Sehwag is my number one pick. He was so dominant. As soon he was on, the game was over. I want to go with Rohit Sharma, his record is amazing, but I want to watch Adam Gilchrist open with Virender Sehwag, hence I would pick Gilchrist,” Finch said, as quoted by HT.
“I will go with Ricky Ponting at no. 3 and then Virat Kohli at 4. It’s such a tough position to bat at no. five. I would probably pick Hardik Pandya at no. 5 and Andrew Symonds at no. 6 position."
While Finch had already named one wicketkeeper - Adam Gilchrist - in his XI, he did not hesitate on naming “cool under pressure” MS Dhoni in his team as well. Moving forward to the bowling department he named the legendary Glenn McGrath, India’s ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah, and the super-fast Brett Lee. However, he couldn’t decide between Brad Hogg, Harbhajan Singh, and Ravindra Jadeja to claim the spot for the spinner.
“Dhoni is a cool head under pressure, he takes the team over the line, be it in IPL or international cricket. If the team is 3 for 10, he comes out and get the runs. If the team is chasing, he finds a way the team to get there,” Finch revealed.
“I would pick Glenn Mcgrath, Brett Lee, and Jasprit Bumrah as my pace trio,” he said. While thinking of a spinner, he said: “Brad Hogg has such a great record, should I go with Harbhajan Singh or maybe Ravindra Jadeja to bat at eight to get extra batting option... I am unable to decide, who would I pick, I am saying players who I loved to watch, but I am unable to decide. It’s too hard to decide,” he added.
Aaron Finch all-time India-Australia XI: Virender Sehwag, Adam Gilchrist, Ricky Ponting, Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, Andrew Symonds, MS Dhoni, Brett Lee, (Undecided spin bowling option), Glenn McGrath and Jasprit Bumrah