On Saturday, former Indian cricketer turned commentator, Sunil Gavaskar picked his all-time Test XI consisting of players from India and Pakistan only. He was part of a Facebook live chat with Pakistan cricketing legend Rameez Raza, in Sony Ten Pit Stop. Both the legends had a chat about the game and also discussed their unique line-ups.
Though it was a friendly chat, the fans of both nations would be far from pleased with their picks. Some would say that this more of a “sucking-up session” between the two legends.
Gavaskar picked his all-time Test XI consisting of India-Pakistan players
He picked Pakistan’s Hanif Mohammad and India’s Virender Sehwag as the two openers in his Test Team. Hanif scored a triple century way back in 1958 and it is still the highest individual Test score of any Pakistani batsman even after 62 years.
Inzamam-ul-Haq scored a sublime 329 but still could not break Hanif’s record. Sehwag, on the other hand, was a swashbuckling opener. He destroyed opposition bowling attacks single-handedly. Sehwag scored his first Triple century in Tests against Pakistan in Multan in 2004. He went on to score another Triple century in Tests against South Africa, later in his career. Gavaskar picked Zaheer Abbas at No 3. He notched up 19 centuries and 33 half-centuries for Pakistan. He then picked the Master Blaster, Sachin Tendulkar at No 4. Sachin is undoubtedly the greatest batsman and has scored 100 centuries for India.
Tendulkar made his debut against the mighty Pakistan Team back in 1989. From then onwards, he went on to rule the cricketing world. Many of his records are still untouched even after six years of his retirement. Gavaskar then picked Gundappa Vishwanath in his playing XI. He scored 6,080 runs with 14 centuries and 35 fifties. Gavaskar picked Kapil Dev and Imran Khan as the genuine all-rounders in his playing XI.
Fans aren’t pleased- Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble not in Gavaskar’s Test Team? Laxman nowhere to be found?
Both of them are a role model for all the aspiring cricketers. They both led their National Team to World Cup title in 1983 and 1992 respectively. They are also one of the finest all-rounders the game has ever seen. One of the biggest surprises is that Gavskar left out Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble from his team. They are two of the most successful cricketers not only in India but also in the world. So, this was a big call from Sunil Gavaskar to leave them out.
Gavaskar picked Syed Kirmani as the wicketkeeper-batsman in his team. He did not have that many good performances with the bat. He scored 2759 runs with two centuries and 12 fifties. However, he took 160 catches and effected 38 stumpings in his career from behind the stumps. This made him an efficient wicketkeeper.
He then picked Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis as his fast bowling duo. Akram is all-time leading wicket-taker in Pakistan’s cricket history. He scalped over 900 wickets for Pakistan Team. Waqar Younis was also one of the most terrifying fast bowlers. Gavaskar then picked Abdul Qadir as the sole spinner in his team. Qadir passed away last year.
