While entire India is currently going through the lockdown period, the former Indian cricketer and present cricket commentator, Aakash Chopra is utilising this leisure time by revealing his favourite teams and players in the different point of views. On Friday (10th April), he revealed his all-time India-Pakistan ODI XI.
Just a few days ago, Aakash Chopra revealed his all-time India-Pakistan Test XI where he picked up seven Indian cricketers and four Pakistan cricketers. He is building up these India-Pakistan teams taking into the mind of possible best playing XIs if the country would never be divided.
Now, Chopra has revealed his all-time India-Pakistan ODI XI where five players are Indians and six cricketers are Pakistanis. Out of his all-time India-Pakistan Test XI squad, a total of seven players (four Pakistan players and three Indian players) have retained their places in his latest all-time India-Pakistan ODI XI. Moreover, during the selection of all-time India-Pakistan ODI XI, Chopra also named the 12th member of this squad, who was an Indian all-rounder.
Aakash Chopra named five Indians (+ one 12th member) and six Pakistanis in all-time India-Pakistan ODI XI
In Chopra’s all-time India-Pakistan ODI XI, the Indian batsmen are dominating along with the domination of Pakistan bowlers. He selected the legendary Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and the present Indian limited-overs vice-captain Rohit Sharma as the opening partners. Chopra named the Indian captain Virat Kohli is in the next position in this list.
Two legendary Pakistan batsmen Javed Miandad and Inzamam-ul-Haq were also named in this list. Just like the Test squad, Chopra chose the Indian wicketkeeper MS Dhoni as the wicketkeeper-batsman of this team, but he also chose the former Pakistan World Cup-winning captain (1992) Imran Khan as the skipper of this team. The legendary Indian all-rounder Kapil Dev was also included in this squad.
In the pace bowling line-up, Chopra selected the former dominant Pakistan pace-bowling partners, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis. Though he also thought about the former Indian left-arm pacer Zaheer Khan, he ultimately missed out the team.
The former Pakistan off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq is the only spinner in Chopra’s all-time India-Pakistan ODI XI. Meanwhile, Chopra also named the former Indian all-rounder Yuvraj Singh as the 12th member of this team.
Aakash Chopra’s all-time India-Pakistan ODI XI: Sachin Tendulkar (India), Rohit Sharma (India), Virat Kohli (India), Javed Miandad (Pakistan), Inzamam-ul-Haq (Pakistan), MS Dhoni (wk; India), Imran Khan (c; Pakistan), Kapil Dev (India), Wasim Akram (Pakistan), Waqar Younis (Pakistan) and Saqlain Mushtaq (Pakistan).
12th member: Yuvraj Singh (India)