MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli miss out on captaincy in Aakash Chopra's all-time India ODI XI

Former Indian cricketer turned commentator Aakash Chopra his all-time Indian ODI XI. Chopra, who has gained much popularity among fans for his insightful analysis, picked an all-time XI for Team India ahead of the ODI series against the Windies. His XI consisted of a good mix of former and current Indian cricketers.

The likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni were almost automatic selections in the side. He also roped in young Jasprit Bumrah as a death overs specialist alongside Zaheer Khan, arguably India’s best left-arm pacer. Chopra, who represented India in 10 Test matches, did not hesitate to pick Sachin Tendulkar at the top of the order.

The Little Master’s partner at the other end would be Rohit Sharma, one of India’s most destructive batsmen, who holds the record for scoring as many as 3 ODI double hundreds. Chopra decided against playing Virender Sehwag in his XI and sided with the Hitman instead.

He assigned the no.3 slot to former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly, who is widely known as the God of the off-side. Kohli found himself at the no.4 position and would be followed by left-hander Yuvraj Singh – the man of the tournament in the 2011 Cricket World Cup which India won in their own backyard.

A formidable top order in Chopra’s all-time ODI XI

Chopra’s top order looks as solid as ever, with four of India’s most potent batsmen in the limited-overs format featuring in the side. While Sachin is the world’s highest run-getter in ODIs, Rohit, Kohli and Ganguly share close to 28,000 ODI runs amongst themselves.

In the middle order, MS Dhoni found himself behind Yuvraj and would don the gloves for this India XI. Yuvraj and Dhoni were unbeaten in the thrilling final of the 2011 World Cup, which was finished off with the iconic six over deep-midwicket by the then skipper.

Dhoni, arguably India’s most successful leaders, remains the only captain ever to have won all major ICC trophies. He won the T20I World Cup in 2007, the 50-over World Cup in 2011, the Champions Trophy in 2013 and the Asia Cup in 2016. However, Kapil Dev was preferred as captain over MSD, the former being India’s first ever captain to lift the World Cup in 1983.

The bowling department picked in this XI has two spin-wizards Harbhajan Singh and the legendary Anil Kumble, who have a combined 606 wickets in ODIs. The pace attack constitutes of Zaheer and Bumrah with skipper Kapil as the all-rounder.

Aakash Chopra’s all-time India ODI XI: Sachin Tendulkar, Rohit Sharma, Sourav Ganguly, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni, Kapil Dev, Harbhajan Singh, Anil Kumble, Zaheer Khan, Jasprit Bumrah

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