Indian cricket team head coach Gautam Gambhir picked his all-time India playing XI and made some surprise picks, which have sparked debate among cricket fans on social media. Gambhir named himself while there was no place for Indian captain Rohit Sharma or star pacer Jasprit Bumrah, who many have labelled as the greatest pacer ever produced by India.
In an interaction with Sportskeeda; Gambhir picked himself and Virender Sehwag in the role. The number three position went to Rahul Dravid, while Tendulkar was slotted in at number four, where he batted in his Test career.
Both Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni found a place in Gambhir's line-up. While Kohli was slotted in at number five, Dhoni was picked as the lone wicketkeeper batter in the squad. The number six spot in the batting order was reserved for star all-rounder and India's 2011 World Cup-winning hero, Yuvraj Singh.
Gambhir picked two spinners in his lineup, which include India's highest wicket-taker in Test cricket history in the form of Anil Kumble and Ravichandran Ashwin. For those unversed, Ashwin (516) and Kumble (619) at the only Indian bowlers to take more than 500 Test wickets.
Zaheer Khan, who was the pillar of India's pace attack in the 2000s era, was one of the two pacers Gambhir picked, while 2007 T20 World Cup final player of the match (POTM) Irfan Pathan was named as his partner.
Pathan, Kumble, and Dravid are the only players in Gambhir's XI that were not part of India's 2011 World Cup-winning team. No captain was picked by him.
Gambhir was named India's head coach in July this year as Dravid's replacement and took charge of the team during the tour of Sri Lanka.
Gautam Gambhir's all-time India Playing XI – Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni, Ravichandran Ashwin, Anil Kumble, Irfan Pathan, Zaheer Khan.