Kris Srikkanth picks his best set of players during his tenure as Team India’s chief selector

Kris Srikkanth, the former chief of Team India’s selection panel, has named the players, who he feels have grown in stature in the last few years. During his tenure, Virat Kohli, the current Indian skipper, was taking baby steps amongst the big boys of cricket. Almost a decade down the line, he is amongst the toughest batsman to bowl to, having scored over 21,000 runs at the highest level.

Srikkanth picked him along with Ravi Ashwin and Murali Vijay. Both Ashwin and Vijay were pretty new to the team, but didn’t let the pressure unnerve them. Though Vijay hasn’t played for India since the 2018-19 tour of Australia, his contributions, especially in Test cricket can’t be undermined.

Ashwin, on the other hand, became a regular member of the team in all the three formats. However, after the emergence of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal, he lost his place from the limited-overs teams. At the present point in time, he only plays Test cricket for the national team.

Kris Srikkanth names his picks

“Virat Kohli, R Ashwin and Murali Vijay are my top picks as a selector, the way they grew and were groomed, I’m really proud of,” Srikkanth was quoted as saying on Star Sports’ show Cricket Connected.

Recently, Ian Botham, the legendary England all-rounder, heaped praises on Virat. The veteran said that the Delhi-born is the apt choice for taking Indian cricket forward. Botham also mentioned that he would have loved to play against him.

“Virat takes the game to the opposition, he takes a stand for his players. I would have loved to play against him. He is the right guy to take Indian cricket forward,” Botham mentioned in an online chat session with Playwrite Foundation.

Currently, Virat is India’s most successful Test skipper after taking over the mantle in December 2014 during the tour of Australia. Last year, he surpassed MS Dhoni’s tally of most Test victories as India’s skipper in the tour of the West Indies.

With the bat in hand, Virat has been an unstoppable force without a doubt. In terms of all-time highest century makers, he is third on the all-time list after Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting.