Yuvraj Singh Ignores MS Dhoni, Includes 3 Indians In His All-Time Playing XI

Former Indian all-rounder Yuvraj Singh, who played a big role in helping India win the 2007 T20 World Cup and 2011 ODI World Cup titles, has ignored his former Indian captain MS Dhoni in his all-time playing XI. The 42-year-old Yuvraj had only three Indian batters in the XI and went ahead with four Australians.

He picked legendary Sachin Tendulkar as the opening batter along with former Australian captain Ricky Ponting and preferred Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli as No. 3 and 4 batters, respectively.

Tendulkar is the all-time leading run scorer in Tests and ODIs, whereas Ponting holds the record for scoring most runs in Tests and ODIs for Australia. In addition to that, the 49-year-old cricketer also won two ODI World Cups as captain in 2003 and 2007.

Yuvraj also included former South African captain and star batter Ab de Villiers along with former England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff in his all-time playing XI, and for the wicketkeeper-batsman’s role, he went ahead with former Australian opener Adam Gilchrist.

Gilchrist won three back-to-back ODI World Cup titles with Australia in 1999, 2003, and 2007 and scored a 50-plus score in all three of them. In fact, in the 2007 ODI World Cup final played against Sri Lanka in Barbados, the left-handed batter scored 149 runs.

The four bowlers Yuvraj picked in his all-time XI are Muttiah Muralitharan, Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, and Wasim Akram. He included himself as the 12th man.

Muralitharan holds the world record for dismissing most batters in Tests and ODIs, whereas Warne finished his Test career with 708 wickets. McGrath and Akram, on the other hand, picked up more than 900 wickets for Australia and Pakistan, respectively.

Yuvi’s career for India

The former left-handed batting all-rounder made his international debut for India on October 3, 2000, against Kenya in Nariobi but didn’t get a chance to bat. During his 17-year-long international career for India, the Chandigarh-born cricketer played 40 Tests, 304 ODIs, and 58 T20Is and scored 1900, 8701, and 1177 runs, respectively. He also picked up 148 wickets during his international career, 15 of which came during the 2011 ODI World Cup, which India won by defeating Sri Lanka in the final played at Wankhede Stadium on April 2, 2011.