Shane Warne picks only one Indian in his World Cup Dream XI

Legendary leg-spinner Shane Warne has picked just one Indian player in his star-studded World Cup XI. The legendary cricketer was asked to pick the eleven players during a show organised by India Today at the Lord’s on Sunday. The former Australia spinner made it clear that he would pick only the players he had played with or played against. As a result, modern-day greats like AB de Villiers, MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli and others missed out.

Warne’s team had four players from Australia, two from Pakistan and Sri Lanka and one each from India, West Indies and England. Warne’s compatriot Adam Gilchrist and Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar would open the innings. The two will be followed by Ricky Ponting who led Australia to two World Cup titles. At number four, Warne picked up the legendary Brian Lara. For the fifth spot, Warne went with Mark Waugh, calling him the greatest all-round cricketer he has played with.

“It’s a pretty good top-four,” Shane Warne said.”No.5 wasn’t as clear-cut as the top-four. I wanted an all-rounder at No.5 and I went with Mark Waugh because he was the greatest all-round cricketer I played with.”

At number six, the spin wizard went for left-handed Sri Lankan Kumar Sangakkara. The former leg-spinner also revealed that he was thinking of picking Andrew Symonds in the team as the all-rounder before going for former England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff because of his ability to bowl good yorkers and good hitting skills.

“For No.6, I wanted a left-hander and I went with Kumar Sangakkara. If you wanted to change it up, he could go up the order. If something happened to the wicketkeeper, Sangakkara could keep wickets. Andrew Flintoff can bowl a good yorker and he has good hitting capabilities. I thought of Andrew Symonds but went with Flintoff at the end,” said Warne.

Bowling lineup:

In the bowling department, Warne picked Shahid Afridi, Muttiah Muralitharan, Wasim Akram and Glenn McGrath, “Shahid Afridi’s bowling was underrated and his fielding was good. Akram at No, 9 is a good fielder and could smash it out of the park. At No.11, there would be so many options but I ended up going with my mate,” Warne said.

Here is Shane Warne’s Dream XI for the World Cup:

Adam Gilchrist (WK), Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Brian Lara, Mark Waugh, Kumar Sangakkara, Andrew Flintoff, Shahid Afridi, Wasim Akram, Muttiah Muralitharan, Glenn McGrath