Former England Test cricket team captain Alastair Cook recently named his all-time XI. Interestingly, he did not have a place for former Indian cricket team captains Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid. In fact, not a single Indian player made the cut to the all-time XI that Cook picked.
He started the XI by picking former England batter Graham Gooch and former Australian batter Matthew Hayden as the openers. Cook named Gooch as the captain of the team. The next four names on the team were Ricky Ponting, Brian Lara, AB de Villiers and Kumar Sangakkara. Cook named de Villiers as the wicket-keeper of the team.
Fans should note that Alastair Cook placed de Villiers in the number five position, meaning Kumar Sangakkara will bat below him. Generally, Sangakkara batted in the top-order during his time as an international cricketer for the Sri Lankan cricket team. The middle-order completed with none other than Jacques Kallis, who is reckoned by many as the greatest all-rounder to have played the game.
“I’d pay a lot of money to watch that middle-order bat,” Cook said after naming his team’s middle-order. All in all, the batting unit does look very strong. However, it could have been stronger had Cook went for an Indian name in the top seven of his team.
None of them need explaining, really, absolute guns of players: Alastair Cook picks his bowling attack
After picking seven batting options, Cook formed the dream bowling attack of his all-time. He described them as “None of them need explaining, really, absolute guns of players.” and named the quartet of Muttiah Muralitharan, Shane Warne, James Anderson and Glenn McGrath. The first two names are spin bowlers, while the other two are pacers.
Alastair Cook’s All-Time XI: Graham Gooch (C), Matthew Hayden, Brian Lara, Ricky Ponting, AB de Villiers (wk), Kumar Sangakkara, Jacques Kallis, Shane Warne, James Anderson, Glenn McGrath and Muttiah Muralitharan.
