Virat Kohli fails to make it to Cricket Australia’s Greatest India Test XI
India Test Skipper Virat Kohli may have surpassed many feats in his young career, but he does not seem to be as popular with the Australians as he is with Indians, as seen in a recent fan poll. Cricket Australia, after analyzing nearly 50,000 votes from cricket lovers, published their list of India's all-time greatest Test XI.
Kohli, surprisingly, has not found a place in the list based on fan poll, but former test skipper and Kohli’s predecessor Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s name is right in there. Other notable names in the star-studded lineup included Sourav Ganguly, Anil Kumble and Rahul Dravid.
Captain cool topped the list with a whopping 90 per cent votes, winning the tag of India’s all-time greatest wicketkeeper-batsman. While there have been others with a finer glovework, MS Dhoni was a complete package in Tests.
For the best Indian opening combination, 60 percent votes went to Virender Sehwag and Sunil Gavaskar. With 76 percent votes, Rahul Dravid got the No. 3 position while Tendulkar was voted in for No. 4 spot with 77 percent votes.
For the No. 5 and 6 slots, there was a tough choice to make between Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman and Virat Kohli. But the all-time legends seem to have overshadowed Kohli’s contemporary cricket. For the No. 5 spot, VVS Laxman received 37 percent of the votes, 9 more than Kohli, who receive 28 percent votes and Ganguly received 18 percent votes.
Laxman was again the popular choice of the fans for the No. 6 slot with 44 per cent votes, followed by Ganguly who, for the 6th slot, received 25 per cent votes. As Laxman was already selected for the no. 5 spot, therefore Ganguly made it into the team. Kohli received only 16 per cent votes for this slot, to finish third.
For a two-man pace attack, fans went with Kapil Dev (58 per cent) and Zaheer Khan (48 per cent). In the spin bowling department, fans chose Kumble (75 per cent) and Harbhajan Singh (44 per cent).
India's all-time greatest XI: Sunil Gavaskar, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Sourav Ganguly, MS Dhoni, Kapil Dev, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan
Team India is now on their quest to regain the No. 1 spot in Tests. They will face off New Zealand in a three test series set to begin tomorrow. (September 22)