Sidhu is The Best Batsman Against Spin
Australia great spinner Shane Warne who revealed his favorite Australia XI in Tests recently picked the greatest India XI which consists of only players he played against.
Warne chose the team during an Instagram live session. He nominated Virendra Sehwag and cricketer turned politician Navjot Singh Sidhu as openers.
The surprise choice of Sidhu was because, according to Warne, he said he was the best batsman against spin he ever played against.
The 50-year old said,” “I had to pick Navjot Singh Siddhu 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.”
He nominated Rahul Dravid who was his teammate at Rajasthan Royals and made many centuries against Australia.
He said, “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.”
Laxman Missing Out Is The Biggest Surprise
He chooses Ganguly as he wanted him to captain the side and had to leave out VVS Laxman, for the sake of Ganguly.
“I went for Ganguly because I wanted him to be the captain of my side, that is why V V S Laxman missed out,” he clarified about Laxman’s exclusion.
Laxman omission might raise many eyebrows as the Hyderabad batsman has a great record against Australia.
Warne also wanted Virat Kohli and M.S.Dhoni but did not include them as he did not play a single Test against them, Warne explained.
Warne’s greatest Indian XI: Virender Sehwag, Navjot Singh Sidhu, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Mohammed Azharuddin, Sourav Ganguly (captain), Kapil Dev, Harbhajan Singh, Nayan Mongia (w/k), Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath.
Warne who had an illustrious career where he bagged above 700 wickets has an unimpressive record against India where he took 43 wickets from 24 innings at an average of 45.79.
