Ashton Agar picks his all-time XI, includes two Indian players in the team

As the world is observing a complete lockdown for the next few days, there is no clarity on when normal cricket matches will resume. At this time, cricketers are making their all-time XIs. Australian all-rounder Ashton Agar has also joined in the trend.

Agar’s all-time XI was uploaded by Lord’s Cricket Ground’s official YouTube channel. The all-rounder picked only two Indians, five Australians, two West Indian and one each from Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

As the opener, Agar went for Virender Sehwag. He revealed the ex-Indian opener is one of his favourite cricketers. He said he loved the way he used to bat.

“Opening the batting in my all-time XI, I will have Virender Sehwag come in at number one. He is one of my favourites cricketers of all time. He looked to hit the ball for a six from ball one. He is one of the most entertaining players to play the game,” said Agar as he picked Sehwag as the opener in his all-time greatest XI. He also picked up Justin Langer to partner Sehwag in his all-time XI.

‘I don’t think you can go past Tendulkar’: Ashton Agar

Agar picked up Ricky Ponting as the captain of the side and the number three batsman. Other than that, he also picked the West Indian legend, Brian Lara. Another West Indian legend who found their way into Agar’s side was Sir Vivian Richards. Adam Gilchrist was assigned the job of the wicket-keeper.

Ashton Agar picked Sachin Tendulkar as the number four batsman. He recalled that he used to copy Tendulkar’s batting style and technique when he was young.

“Number four is Sachin Tendulkar. I don’t think you can go past him. I remember hitting the balls in the backyard with a ball and a string and trying to model a straight bat and his perfectly straight elbow”, Agar said about Sachin while assigning him the number four spot.

Followed by this, Agar chose Brett Lee and Shoaib Akhtar as two pacers of the side. Both the bowlers were probably the two fastest bowlers during their time. The Australian all-rounder also picked up two spinners in his XI. Shane Warne was one of them while surprisingly Agar chose Rangana Herath, instead of Muttiah Muralitharan.