5 Indian players who deserved to be in the World XI squad
Finally, there is some hope on the horizon for Pakistan cricket as the country has successfully hosted two out of the three T20I matches between the Men in Green and World XI, the Asian country's first big home assignment since the terror attack on the Sri Lankan team in 2009.
The World XI, led by Faf du Plessis consists of five South Africans, three Aussies, two West Indians, one each from England, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and Bangladesh.
Unsurprisingly though, the World XI team does not feature a single player from India.
When World XI coach Andy Flower was asked why there was no Indian in his XI, his answer generally spoke about the tightness of the Indian team's calendar and how it would have taken too much time to sort out the issues around getting an Indian or two over to Pakistan.
But, the reality is that the Indian team is resting during the window in which the three T20Is are being played (first ODI vs Australia begins on September 17 and the final match between World XI will be played on September 15). Even then, there are a lot of fringe players, who are better than the ones playing for World XI, available to take part in the historic series.
The ICC and the PCB could have done better in their bid to bring Cricket back to Pakistan by including the few Indian players.
Let us take a look at the Indian players who deserved to be in the World XI squad.
#5 Suresh Raina
Suresh Raina might be out of the Indian team at the moment but that does not mean that he is not a good T20 player. With 1307 runs in 55 T20I innings at an average of 30 and a strike-rate of 133, he has made a name for himself in the format.
Without a doubt, Raina has been one of the most consistent T20 players in the world and is the leading run scorer in the history of IPL. Raina brings his A game in this format and has tasted a lot of success by doing so. Adding to that, he is a brilliant fielder, something that can make a considerable difference in the format.
Raina in the middle order would have been a big boost for World XI as they would have had a reliable batsman, who brings in a lot of stability to the middle order.