Former India batter Robin Uthappa has picked his all-time India ODI XI, excluding Rohit Sharma, despite the opener being the country's third-highest run-scorer in the format.
Uthappa chose Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar as his opening partnership in an Instagram "This or That" challenge. Uthappa was asked to choose between Rohit Sharma and Sachin Tendulkar and between Sunil Gavaskar and Sourav Ganguly in the challenge.
With 18,426 runs, Tendulkar leads India in the ODI scoring charts, while Ganguly, a new member of the ICC Hall of Fame, scored 11,221 runs in 308 games.
He was asked to choose between Virat Kohli and Rahul Dravid for the No. 3 spot, and Uthappa went for Kohli. Kohli has the most centuries in ODIs, with 54 tons, and is the second-highest run-getter in the format. At No. 4, Uthappa chose 2011 World Cup Player of the Tournament Yuvraj Singh over Mohammed Azharuddin.
MS Dhoni was the sole choice for both the No. 5 position and the wicketkeeper role. Suresh Raina v. Ajaya Jadeja was the option for the No. 6 spot, and Uthappa went with Suresh Raina. Kapil Dev pipped Hardik Pandya for the role of pace bowling all-rounder, while Uthappa picked Ravindra Jadeja over R. Ashwin for the role of spin bowling all-rounder in the all-time India XI.
Anil Kumble and Zaheer Khan were chosen over Harbhajan Singh and Javagal Srinath, respectively, while Jasprit Bumrah got the go-ahead before Mohammad Shami to complete the playing XI.
Robin Uthappa’s all-time India ODI XI:
Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni (captain/WK), Suresh Raina, Kapil Dev, Ravindra Jadeja, Anil Kumble, Zaheer Khan, and Jasprit Bumrah
