The Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack a couple of days ago picked their all-time Team India T20I XI and in doing so, offended a lot of people by excluding a couple of notable players from it.
Despite being the sole Indian skipper to have led the side to a T20I World Cup, Mahendra Singh Dhoni found no place in it.
The case wasn’t much different for the very trendsetter of fearless cricket in India– hard-hitting opener Virendra Sehwag.
Now if the fans of the duo are done pulling their hair and cursing Wisden, they can find the players that indeed got selected in India’s all-time T20I eleven hereon.
India all-time T20I XI as per Wisden (Batting Line-up)
Top Order: Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Suryakumar
Rohit Sharma (3737 runs) and Virat Kohli (3712 runs) were selected as the openers for the Men in Blue.
Kohli –who is the only player to win two Man of Tournament awards in T20 WC history– has a good record as an opener, having struck 2 fifties and his sole T20I hundred at the top of the order.
Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma’s (the only player with 4 T20I tons to his name) selection in the all-time India T20I XI can’t be questioned either.
Following them up at 3 is SKY, who has 1045 runs at an average and strike-rate of 38.70 and 176.81. Dhoni fans can find solace in his helicopter flicks.
Middle-order: Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Hardik Pandya, and Dinesh Karthik (wk)
The SIXER KING of world cricket, Yuvi slots in at 4 with 1177 runs @28 avg. and 8 fifty-plus scores to his name. Then, there’s the attacking duo of Hardik and Raina with SR of 149 and 135 each.
Combined, the trio also offers the all-time India T20I XI offers 8 overs every game. They share a huge 95 wickets between them.
Dinesh Karthik (over MSD) is the team’s designated wicket-keeper and finisher with an SR of 150.31 at No. 6 and 7, miles better than Dhoni’s 121.15.
India’s all-time T20 int’l eleven (Bowling attack)
Spinner: Ravichandran Ashwin
Pacers: Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and Ashish Nehra
Ravi Ashwin can hold the middle overs while also bowl in the first 6 overs if needed. Interestingly, Ravichandran in T20 WCs has an economy of 6.31 and has 18 wickets with the new ball.
No bowler has taken more wickets than Bhuvi at a lower ER and thus, he also found a place in Wisden’s all-time India T20I XI despite uninspired recent form. Overall, his tally reads 85 wickets off 79 games at an ER of seven.
The yorker king, Bumrah rounds up the eleven alongside Ashish Nehra provided they’re both fit to take the field.
Bumrah’s 70 wickets are the 6th most since his T20I debut and no pacer. Moreover, none has a better ER than JB’s 6.62 runs per over.
Nehra, a surprising name on the list is meritorious nonetheless. Having the fourth most T20I scalps (34 at avg. of 22.3) to his name amongst Indian fast bowlers, the retired piercing left-armer is the last player in Wisden’s ballsy all-time India T20 XI picked on October 11.