No MS Dhoni! Dinesh Karthik Picks India's All-Time Playing XI Across Formats

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Dhoni played more than 14 years for India and scored over 15,000 runs in international cricket. In addition to it, he also won the T20 World Cup, the ODI World Cup, and the Champions Trophy as captain.

On the 78th anniversary of India’s Independence Day, former Indian wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik has picked India’s all-time playing XI across formats. In a video uploaded by Cricbuzz on Thursday (August 15), Karthik included cricketers that he played with during his two-decade-long international career.

While he included the likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Jasprit Bumrah, along with Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, and Anil Kumble in his all-time XI, there was surprisingly no place for MS Dhoni. Dhoni played more than 14 years for India and scored over 15,000 runs in international cricket. In addition to that, he also led India to three ICC title wins (2007 T20 World Cup, 2011 ODI World Cup, and the 2013 Champions Trophy).

In his all-time playing XI across formats, Karthik picked five batters, two spin-bowling all-rounders, two spinners, and two pacers. He paired current India captain Rohit with Virender Sehwag as openers and included Dravid and Tendulkar in their usual No. 3 and 4 positions. Kohli was placed at 5, followed by Yuvraj Singh and Ravindra Jadeja at 6 and 7. R. Ashwin and Kumble were picked by him as two specialist spinners, and Bumrah was included as a fast bowler along with Zaheer Khan.

“I will be opening with Virender Sehwag and Rohit Sharma. Good opening combination across formats. At No. 3 would be Rahul Dravid. No. 4 Sachin Tendulkar. No. 5 Virat Kohli. At No. 6, it was a tough one. I was thinking who, but I should fit in two all-rounders. So very similar to the kind of players that India have been producing, Yuvraj Singh. At No. 7, Ravindra Jadeja. At No. 8, R Ashwin, at No. 9, Anil Kumble. At No. 10, Jasprit Bumrah, and No. 11 will be Zaheer Khan,” Karthik said.

“The 12th man will be Harbhajan Singh, and there are many players I have missed out. Gautam Gambhir, what can you say about it and I feel it’s just hard to fit in everybody in this eleven. So, this is an all-time XI across formats that I thought,” he added.

Dinesh Karthik’s all-time India XI across formats: Virender Sehwag, Rohit Sharma, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Anil Kumble, Jasprit Bumrah, Zaheer Khan. 12th man: Harbhajan Singh.