The deadly COVID-19 outbreak has forced suspension of all on-field sporting activities. But off the field, while in isolation, cricketers are using social media to continue connecting with their fans, posting messages, videos, expressing their views on different interesting topics.
Among them, Pakistan's Test captain Azhar Ali gave away names that would feature in his country's all-time Test XI. Azhar did so from his home during an Instagram live chat session with his fans.
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The 35-year-old, who has played 78 Tests for Pakistan so far, picked the greats Hanif Mohammad and Saeed Anwar to open for his line-up. Hanif, inarguably Pakistan's first renowned batsman, featured in 55 Tests and scored 3,915 runs at an average of 44.0, whereas Anwar played 55 Tests, scoring 4,052 runs at an average of 45.5.
The middle-order in Azhar's team consists of Younis Khan, Javed Miandad and Inzamam-ul-Haq. Younis, the most recent retiree among the three, is the first and till date the only batsman from his nation to breach the 10,000 run milestone in Test cricket.
Miandad remains the second-highest run-scorer for Pakistan in the longest version, scoring 8,832 runs at an average of 52.57, followed by Inzamam at third, with 8,829 runs at 50.16.
Azhar then picked the great Imran Khan as his team's skipper and premier all-rounder. Imran led Pakistan successfully in Test cricket and retired from the game after scoring 3,807 runs at 37.69, taking 362 wickets.
The team's wicketkeeper is the guy from whom Azhar recently took over as captain. Sarfaraz Ahmed, who was dropped from the Test side last year, has so far played 49 Tests and scored 2,657 runs at 36.39.
Wasim Akram (414 wickets at 23.62), arguably the greatest-ever fast bowler to play the game, his pace mate Waqar Younis (373 at 23.56), leg-spinner Abdul Qadir (236 at 32.80) and speedster Azhar Mahmood (39 at 35.94) round off the team's bowling attack.
Azhar picked off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq as 12th man. Saqlain played 49 Tests for Pakistan and took 208 wickets at an average of 29.83.
Azhar Ali’s all-time Test XI: Hanif Mohammad, Saeed Anwar, Younis Khan, Javed Miandad, Inzamam Ul Haq, Imran Khan (C), Wasim Akram, Sarfaraz Ahmed (WK), Azhar Mahmood, Abdul Qadir, Waqar Younis.
12th man - Saqlain Mushtaq
