Former India fast bowler turned cricket analyst and coach, Ashish Nehra recently picked his playing XI from the ongoing World Cup, during a chat with Cricbuzz. The 40-year-old left everyone surprised by naming MS Dhoni in his playing XI and to add to it, he also appointed him as the captain of his side.
Dhoni struggled all throughout the tournament and scored 273. He did not have a good run behind the wickets as well. In the semi-final against New Zeland, the former India captain failed to get the team past the finishing line and in all likeliness, he will not play another World Cup.
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Rohit Sharma and David Warner are two openers in Nehra’s playing XI. The former sits at the top of the list of highest run-scorer with 648 runs while Warner scored runs 647 runs to finish second. Following them on Nehra’s list is Virat Kohli, who scored 443 runs that included five half-centuries. Surprisingly, Kohli did not get a century in this Word Cup.
New Zealand’s Kane Williamson is next in Nehra’s team. He has scored 548 runs so far and has done the heavy lifting with New Zealand’s opening pair yet to fire in the tournament. All-rounder Shakib-al-Hasan comes next. The Bangladesh all-rounder had a sensation run and he scored 606 runs, apart from taking 11 wickets.
Ben Stokes is the second all-rounder in Nehra’s team. Stokes has done well in the tournament on occasions. Yuzvendra CHahal is sole leg-spinner in Nehra’s team.
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Jofra Archer, Mithcell Starc and Jasprit Bumrah are three pacers in Nehra’s squad. With 19, 27 and 18 wickets respectively, the three have done well in the tournament for their respective sides. Archer will have a chance to add to his tally as England play final of the World Cup against New Zealand tomorrow.
The selection of Warner over Jason Roy is one of the points that can be debated while Dhoni getting a place in the squad is also surprising.
Warner has been among runs but didn’t’ give best of the starts that Australia expected from him. Roy, on the other hand, has scored 426 runs in six innings batting with a strike-rate of 117.03.
Ashish Nehra’ World Cup squad: Rohit Sharma, David Warner, Virat Kohli, Kane Williamson, Shakib Al Hasan, MS Dhoni (Captain, wicketkeeper), Ben Stokes, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jofra Archer, Mitchell Starc, Jasprit Bumrah.