Kumar Sangakkara omits Sachin Tendulkar in his greatest XI

Kumar Sangakkara helped his country win the T20 World Cup final against India

Former Sri Lankan legend Kumar Sangakkara recently picked his greatest XI in a video published on social media by the Lord’s Cricket Ground. According to the former Sri Lanka captain, Sachin Tendulkar is not worthy of being in his XI. His list of greats included a total of four Australian players, three Sri Lankan players, one Indian, one West Indian, one Pakistani and one South African.

The regal batsman chose Aravinda De silva as his captain with Rahul Dravid and Matthew Hayden as the opening pair. Great cricketers like Ricky Ponting and Brian Lara, along with Jacques Kallis and wicketkeeper-batsman Adam Gilchrist make the batting line-up.

Fast bowlers like Chaminda Vaas and Wasim Akram make it to his XI, usurping Glenn McGrath. The spinner lineup includes the likes of Muttiah Muralitharan and Shane Warne to compliment the fast bowlers.

Upon choosing Pakistani Legend Wasim Akram, he said: “I’ll have Wasim as a left-arm fast-bowler [at number ten],” said Sanga. “His skill belittles you both with the old and the new ball; a left-armer, just unbelievably challenging to face him.”

He further added: “Any batsman that I have spoken to, said he always feared facing Wasim.” He also spoke about his decision to choose Aravinda de Silva, who played a crucial role in Sri Lanka winning the 1996 ICC Cricket World Cup, by saying that both him and Mahela Jayawardene agree to the fact that Aravinda was the greatest Sri Lankan batsman ever.

The list has seen some glaring misses as Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar was omitted from this list. Other notable exceptions include Glenn McGrath, Virendra Sehwag and Curtly Ambrose.

Below is the full list of the XI:

Mathew Hayden
Rahul Dravid
Brian Lara
Ricky Ponting
Aravinda De Silva (c)
Jacques Kallis
Adam Gilchrist (wk)
Shane Warne
Muttiah Muralitharan
Wasim Akram
Chaminda Vaas