Broad chose some of the best players he played against in Test cricket.
Former England bowling great Stuart Broad has chosen an all-time best Test XI of batters that played against him. Surprisingly, Broad left out Sachin Tendulkar and picked only one Indian in his list.
Broad is considered to be one of the best fast bowlers produced by England, taking 604 wickets in 167 Tests and 178 wickets in 121 ODIs. He also played 56 T20Is and took 65 wickets, while also captaining the England team in the format.
Broad was asked by Wisden to assemble the strongest XI from opponents he personally competed against. It's interesting to see that Broad chose Virat Kohli over Sachin Tendulkar in an XI full of champions from all eras.
Broad chose to combine Sri Lankan veteran Kumar Sangakkara, who also serves as a wicketkeeper, with South African mainstay Graeme Smith at the top of the order.
The only Indian featured was Virat Kohli, and the legendary Australian Ricky Ponting was ranked third. Sachin Tendulkar, a superb blaster, was conspicuously absent from Broad's all-time Test XI.
Broad admitted that he had thought a lot about choosing the middle order before he settled on Steve Smith and Jacques Kallis at five and six. AB de Villiers, who brought both explosiveness with the bat and extra keeping cover, was positioned at No. 7.
However, Broad had no hesitation in picking his bowling attack as he chose Australia’s Mitchell Starc and South African legend Dale Steyn as his premier pacers. He then chose Mitchell Starc to complete a scary-looking pace attack.
However, he chose only one spinner, and that was Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan- the highest wicket-taker in Test history.
Stuart Broad’s Test XI:
Graeme Smith, Kumar Sangakkara (WK), Ricky Ponting, Virat Kohli, Steve Smith, Jacques Kallis, AB de Villiers, Mitchell Johnson, Dale Steyn, Muttiah Muralitharan, Mitchell Starc