VVS Laxman picks Sourav Ganguly over MS Dhoni as skipper of India’s best Test XI of the last 25 years
Sourav Ganguly, who captained VVS Laxman for a huge part of his career, got the nod ahead of former skippers like Rahul Dravid, Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni who were also a part of the dream XI.
VVS Laxman picked his best Indian Test XI of the past 25 years and it is Sourav Ganguly who was handed the captaincy role in the fantasy squad.
Ganguly, who captained Laxman for a huge part of his career, got the nod ahead of former skippers like Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni who were also a part of the dream XI.
The opening spot went to the swashbuckling Virender Sehwag and the ‘monk’ Murali Vijay while Rahul Dravid was included in his legendary No. 3 position. Laxman shared a number of brilliant partnerships with Dravid during his playing days and the 376-run stand at Eden Gardens in 2001 guided India to one of their most famous victories against Australia.
At number four, comes the legendary Sachin Tendulkar who holds the record for most Test centuries with 51 and till date, is the highest run scorer of all time in Test cricket. The middle order begins with Tendulkar’s ODI opening partner Sourav Ganguly and it also included modern stalwarts like Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni.
Coming to the bowling line-up, Laxman goes with just one spinner in Anil Kumble and with 619 wickets from 132 wickets, he seems like a natural choice. The pace attack is a mix of experience and youth as Javagal Srinath, Zaheer Khan and Bhuvneshwar Kumar were picked in the XI by VVS Laxman.
Here’s a look at the India XI picked by VVS Laxman -
Virender Sehwag, Murali Vijay, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Sourav Ganguly (c), MS Dhoni (wk), Anil Kumble, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Javagal Srinath, Zaheer Khan