Ravi Bopara reveals his all-time XI, includes three Indian cricketers
Ravi Bopara revealed his all-time XI and revealed his team on Lord's official YouTube channel. His list includes three Indian players - Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, and Virat Kohli. On the other hand, James Anderson is the only English player that was included by Bopara in his list.
Bopara, the England all-rounder, named Virender Sehwag as his opener. He chose David Warner, vice-captain of Australia as Sehwag's partner in opening the innings. Kumar Sangakkara, former Sri Lankan skipper and batsman, is at No. 3 on his list. Bopara also chose Sangakkara to be the wicket-keeper for his team.
The No. 4 and No. 5 positions in the team has been given to former Indian batting legend, Sachin Tendulkar, and the Indian skipper, Virat Kohli respectively. Needless to say, Bopara included two of the greatest Indian batsmen of all time.
Bopara looks at Sachin Tendulkar as his idol and.attributes his passion for cricket to the Little Master. He, without a doubt, considers Sachin to be the best player to bat at No. 4. Following the batting legend, is one of the best cricketers in the present generation. Bopara selected captain Kohli to bat at No.5 and created a strong batting line up for his team.
Former South African cricketer, Jaques Kallis is at No. 6 in Ravi's team. The legendary all-rounder was included with an intention to aid the batting line-up as well as strengthening the pace unit of the team. The presence of this Protea all-rounder is bound to boost the overall strength of the team.
Bopara brought Brian Lara at No. 7 because he believes that Lara can handle the batting at any position. At No. 8, he named the legendary pacer, Wasim Akram. The latter was also named as the captain of this dream squad.
Following the captain, Bopara named the former Sri Lankan bowling legend, Muttiah Muralitharan at No. 9. He described Muralitharan as the most dangerous man in business when it comes to spinning the ball. The 10th man of Bopara's squad is Anderson who is expected to work his magic in the team's favour.
Shoaib Akhtar was also included in this English player's squad as the 11th man owing to his pace. Ravi combined the players from the past and the present to form his perfect all-time XI member squad.
Ravi Bopara’s all-time XI: Virender Sehwag, David Warner, Kumar Sangakkara (wk), Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Jacques Kallis, Brian Lara, Wasim Akram (c), Muttiah Muralitharan, James Anderson and Shoaib Akhtar