Former Pakistani captain and star all-rounder Shahid Afridi is known for having strong opinions and recently was praised for helping out the needy in his home country through his Charitable Foundation, providing food and essentials in the time of COVID 19 pandemic.
Afridi, known for having an extensive career worldwide, especially in the T20 leagues, recently came up with his all-time XI of players he played alongside or against. He made some interesting picks in his chosen XI and let’s have a look at the players.
"Umar Akmal a fine batsman, needs to look at the company he keeps," says Shahid Afridi
The former leg-spinner picked Saeed Anwar and Adam Gilchrist as the openers of his team. Anwar remains one of the best openers Pakistan ever produced with close to 13,000 international runs and 31 centuries.
Gilchrist is considered to be one of the most destructive openers in world cricket in limited-overs and someone who changed the role of a wicketkeeper-batsman to a batsman-wicketkeeper. His aggressive batting helped Australia put big totals even in Test cricket and he once enjoyed the record of the fastest double ton in Tests.
Next, come two of the highest run-getters in international cricket in Sachin Tendulkar of India and Ricky Ponting of Australia. Apart from numbers, the contribution of these two players in the development of their teams into world-beaters is unmissable. Inzamam-Ul-Haq and Jacques Kallis form the middle order of the team.
Imran Khan called Inzamam the most talented batsman produced by Pakistan and he certainly lived up to his name with a stellar record. Kallis, on the other hand, is considered to be one of the two all-time greatest all-rounders ever seen in the game, with Sir Garfield Sobers for company.
Afridi had an interesting choice for a wicketkeeper, as he picked Rashid Latif behind the stumps instead of Gilchrist. He chose Shane Warne as the sole spinner in the team and given that he ended up with 700 plus Test wickets and almost 300 ODI wickets to his name, it seems to be a brilliant pick.
Shahid Afridi then picked Wasim Akram, Shoaib Akhtar, and Glenn McGrath as the fast bowlers to complete his all-time XI and there is nothing to be argued about these three picks. All of them legends in their own right and a great addition to this XI.
Here’s his all-time XI:
Saeed Anwar, Adam Gilchrist, Ricky Ponting, Sachin Tendulkar, Inzamam-Ul-Haq, Jacques Kallis, Rashid Latif (WK), Wasim Akram, Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Shoaib Akhtar
