With no international or domestic cricket going on due to the Coronavirus pandemic, former and current cricket stars are keeping themselves busy with different activities.
While some are engaging with fans on social media, some are picking their all-time XIs and favourite players from the past and modern-day cricket.
Recently, Australia’s white-ball skipper Aaron Finch named his combined India-Australia ODI XI. There were some surprise omissions in his team as the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and Rohit Sharma failed to make the cut.
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While Tendulkar holds the record of most runs (18,426), most centuries (49) and most fifties (96) in the 50-over format, Sharma has three ODI double tons to his name.
Instead of Sachin and Rohit, Finch preferred to go with Virender Sehwag and Adam Gilchrist as his opening choices.
“Sehwag is my number one pick. He was so dominant. As soon he was on, the game was over. I want to go with Rohit Sharma, his record is amazing, but I want to watch Adam Gilchrist open with Virender Sehwag, hence I would pick Gilchrist,” Finch told Sports Tak.
“I will go with Ricky Ponting at No. 3 and then Virat Kohli at 4. It’s such a tough position to bat at no. five. I would probably pick Hardik Pandya at No. 5 and Andrew Symonds at No. 6 position,” he added.
For the No. 7 slot, Finch chose former India captain MS Dhoni to bat. On being asked who would be the wicketkeeper in his team - Gilchrist or Dhoni – the Aussie opener said it does not matter.
“Dhoni is a cool head under pressure, he takes the team over the line, be it in IPL or international cricket. If the team is 3 for 10, he comes out and get the runs. If the team is chasing, he finds a way the team to get there,” he said.
While picking his bowling unit, Finch struggled to settle on a spinner.
“I would pick Glenn Mcgrath, Brett Lee, and Jasprit Bumrah as my pace trio,” he said.
“Brad Hogg has such a great record, should I go with Harbhajan Singh or maybe Ravindra Jadeja to bat at eight to get extra batting option... I am unable to decide, who would I pick, I am saying players who I loved to watch, but I am unable to decide. It’s too hard to decide,” he further stated.
Aaron Finch’s combined India-Australia ODI XI:
Virender Sehwag, Adam Gilchrist, Ricky Ponting, Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, Andrew Symonds, MS Dhoni, Brett Lee, (Undecided spin bowling option), Glenn McGrath and Jasprit Bumrah
