Sydney: Australia spin legend Shane Warne on Wednesday included Navjot Singh Sidhu in his all-time Indian XI he played against and picked Sourav Ganguly as the captain of the team.
Warne took to Instagram to name this side and picked all the players against whom he had played during his career.
“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,” Warne said while naming the side on Instagram Live.
Sidhu played 51 Tests and 136 ODIs for India in which he scored 3,202 and 4,413 runs respectively.
The legendary leg-spinner picked Virender Sehwag and Sidhu as openers, followed by Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Mohammad Azharuddin and Ganguly.
He named Nayan Mongia as the wicket-keeper of the team. Warne’s team also included 1983 World Cup winning captain Kapil Dev, ace spinners Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble and Javagal Srinath.
“I am only picking players that I played against and that’s why MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli are not going to be a part of the side. While Dhoni is probably the greatest wicketkeeper-batsman to have played the game, Kohli is one of the greatest batsmen across formats,” said Warne.
The most notable omission in Warne’s Indian side was VVS Laxman because he was called to be the nemesis for Australia.
“I went for Ganguly because I wanted him to be the captain of my side, that is why Laxman missed out,” the former Australian leg-spinner said.
Warne’s all-time India XI: Virender Sehwag, Navjot Singh Siddu, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Mohammad Azharuddin, Sourav Ganguly (captain), Kapil Dev, Nayan Mongia (wicketkeeper), Harbhajan Singh, Javagal Srinath, Anil Kumble.