Six Indians made it to the combined XI picked by the former England skippers.
India’s five-Test tour of England is slated to get underway on June 20 in Leeds, followed by matches at Edgbaston (July 2-6), Lord’s (July 10-14), Old Trafford (July 23-27) and The Oval (July 31-August 4). Best
Ahead of the marquee series, former England skippers Michael Atherton and Nasser Hussain picked their combined India-England Test XI of the 21st century.
India’s star batter Virat Kohli was a notable omission from the side, with the No. 4 spot bagged by none other than the legendary Sachin Tendulkar.
Virender Sehwag, Alastair Cook, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Kevin Pietersen, Ben Stokes, Rishabh Pant, Ravichandran Ashwin, Stuart Broad, James Anderson and Jasprit Bumrah found a place in Atherton and Hussain’s combined XI.
During his illustrious Test career, Kohli played 28 Tests against England, scoring 1991 runs at an average of 42.36. Some of his most iconic knocks, like the hundred at Edgbaston during the 2018 series and the double hundred in the 2016 series at the Wankhede Stadium, have come against the Three Lions.
However, Kohli has endured some tough times against England as well. He averages just 33.21 on English soil, the least among nations where he has played at least five Tests.
“That is a very good team, you would hope so. The combination of two cricketing nations. I mean, who would be upset in that? Kohli would be upset. Root (too)," Hussain said while speaking on Sky Sports Cricket.
“What it shows you is the unbelievable quality of cricketers that these two countries have produced over the last quarter of a century," Atherton said.
Virat Kohli announcement his retirement from Test cricket last month. He finished his Test career with 9230 runs from 123 matches at an average of 46.85, including 30 centuries and 31 fifties, with the highest score of 254.
Apart from Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin have also hung up boots from the longest format lately.
Shubman Gill will lead the young Indian side on the tour of England, which will also mark the beginning of the new World Test Championship (WTC) cycle.