Former England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff has selected three Indian players in his all-time fantasy T20 XI.
The 39-year-old, who played 227 international games for the Three Lions, picked Virat Kohli, Sachin Tendulkar, and Ravichandran Ashwin in his star studded line-up. However, a notable absentee from his team is former India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who led India to the title in the inaugural World T20 in 2007.
The 2005 Ashes hero chose his former England teammate Marcus Trescothick and former New Zealand skipper Brendon McCullum as his openers.
“I’d have Trescothick for sure. He’s the best batsman I’ve ever played with. The runs he scored, but also the way which he scored his runs. When he scored runs England seemed to win a lot of the time, and it made my job a hell of a lot easier coming in down the order.And McCullum because he’s just explosive!,” said Flintoff in an interview with The Metro.
At number three and four, the retired player opted for Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar respectively.
“I’ll go with Kohli at three, who is on a different planet right now, and Sachin at four,” he said.
“You don’t need that much power, you look at the way Sachin played, it’s all about timing and technique and clever batting. You don’t have to hit it into the top tier.”
Flintoff, who did not enjoy a fruitful career in the shortest format of the game, went for former Australia all-rounder Andrew Symonds and compatriot Ben Stokes to fill the all-rounder’s slot.
“Symonds was an amazing player, I played with him and against him – he was the ultimate team man and just an incredible player,” said Flintoff.
“And I wouldn’t put myself in! I’d have Stokes instead, definitely.”
When asked to select the wicketkeeper for his team, Flintoff chose Adam Gilchrist over Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Interestingly, Dhoni is considered as one of the finest T20 players and is also one of the most successful captains in the shortest format of the game. But Flintoff justified his decision by saying the former Australia wicketkeeper batsman was the pioneer of the modern game.
“There’s only one: Gilchrist,” said Flintoff, while picking his wicketkeeper.
“Any others are just a poor man’s Gilchrist. The thing about Gilchrist is he changed cricket – he started the game going where it is today.”
He had a difficult task of picking between Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan as the spinner for his team but he went on to pick the Sri Lanka legend.
“Murali every day of the week – he’s a fierce competitor and I’m really good mates with him – I love Murali,” he said.
Flintoff then named Ravichandran Ashwin, Wasim Akram and Darren Gough to complete his team.
“Wasim (Akram) was just different class. My old pal Goughy (Darren Gough) has to be in there, and I’ll go with Ashwin as well.”
Andrew Flintoff’s T20 XI:
Marcus Trescothick (England)
Brendon McCullum (New Zealand)
Virat Kohli (India)
Sachin Tendulkar (India)
Adam Gilchrist (Australia)
Andrew Symonds (Australia)
Ben Stokes (England)
Ravichandran Ashwin (India)
Wasim Akram (Pakistan)
Darren Gough (England)
Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka)